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Control and choice in English prisons: developing health-promoting prisons
James Woodall1, Rachael Dixey2, Jane South2
1School of Health and Wellbeing, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK j.woodall@leedsmet.ac.uk.
Health Promotion International
|April 12, 2013
Summary
The health-promoting prison concept faces implementation challenges. Prisoners navigate control and choice within secure environments, highlighting the need to embed health promotion values for successful reintegration.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Criminology
- Health Promotion
Background:
- The health-promoting settings approach views health as a responsibility of all social environments.
- The concept of a health-promoting prison, supported by organizations like the World Health Organization, is nascent.
- Policy rhetoric for health-promoting prisons has not been uniformly implemented across diverse correctional settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the application of health promotion principles—choice, control, and empowerment—within the context of imprisonment.
- To analyze how these principles are negotiated by prisoners within the constraints of the prison environment.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews.
- Conducted in three Category-C (secure) prisons in England.
- Data collected from 36 male prisoners and 19 prison staff.
Main Results:
- Prisoners actively negotiated prison norms, structures, and rules by both relinquishing and asserting control.
- Evidence of resistance and the exercise of choice was observed among prisoners.
- A paradox exists where the agency needed for release is constrained during incarceration.
Conclusions:
- The study highlights the complex interplay of control, choice, and agency for prisoners.
- For the settings approach to advance in prisons, health promotion values must be integrated.
- Practical implementation requires embedding health promotion principles within the prison system to support prisoner well-being and future reintegration.
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