Why does bullying occur among prisoners - Essay Example

Why Does Bullying Occur Among Prisoners? Introduction Bullying is fundamentally described as the execution of coercion or force in order to threaten or abuse others. It is considered to be one the general forms of violence existing in any society. The prime target of bullying is to dominate others by performing any sort of violent actions. It has been apparently observed that there normally exist three modes of bullying which include psychological, verbal and physical. In this similar context, the physical forms of bullying generally include destruction of any property, hitting and stealing. On the other hand, threatening, malicious teasing along with taunting are associated with verbal bullying. Finally, the psychological forms of bullying comprise manipulating societal interrelations, extortion and scattering rumours (Blazer, 2005). The behaviours concerning bullying take place in every sphere of life such as in families, schools as well as in the workplaces. The effects of bullying behaviours might result in increased level of depression, fear, sadness and illness among others. In general, it can be stated that certain individuals generally perform bullying behaviours with the intention of exercising full control as well as domination particularly over the weaker individuals (Lines, 2007). The significant aspect of bullying amid the prisoners has undoubtedly become a significant concern and it is regarded as a behaviour that generally takes place amid every sort of prisoners whether young, men, adult or women. Different sorts of bullying can impose significant impacts upon the attitudes as well as the behaviours of the prisoners by a greater extent. Moreover, the effects of bullying can severely affect the lives of the prisoners in terms of generating fear as well as tension, physical injuries, depression and illness (Ireland, 2002). This paper intends to conduct a detailed literature review based analysis about the significant aspect of bullying that occurs among the prisoners in prisons. The structure of this paper will be designed by considering a descriptive as well as a critical evaluation along with a conclusion concerning the aforementioned subject matter. In this connection, the source materials that would be used for analysing the aforesaid topic are renowned published journals and books along with pertinent online sources. 1. A Descriptive Evaluation According to Tahir and Konstantinos (2011), bullying is regarded to be a persistent problem wherein the incident rates are incessantly rising significantly in the developed as well as underdeveloped nations. This particular problem of bullying has been existing for a longer time period and has been observed to occur in every field such as in the schools, families, and workplaces as well as even in prisons. As stated by Tahir and Konstantinos (2011), prisons are considered to be the effective locations for the incidence of adult bullying. This is owing to the reason that both the organisation as well as the structure of the prison system can itself promote bullying in the prisons amid the prisoners by a greater extent. In this regard, the preservation of authority as well as discipline within the prison arrangement has been connected to bullying. Tahir and Konstantinos (2011) noted that bullying comprises certain major elements that include engagement of an inequality of power, repeated and unprovoked. Moreover, the other core elements of bullying are that it must encompass any sort of physical or psychological attacks and intend to cause harm or fear to the victims. According to Ireland (2002), there are various kinds of severe bullying practices that are usually performed by the prisoners in the prisons. In this similar context, the various practices of bullying include physical abuse in the form of throwing blankets over the head of the prisoners’, making any practical jokes and providing threats or intimidation. Moreover, the other practices of bullying that occur in the prisons include verbal abuse as a form of encouraging the prisoners in the prisons to hang themselves and sexual abuse along with other bullying forms such as scattering rumours, ostracising and gossiping (Ireland, 2002). As per the observation of Ireland (2002), bullying largely occurs in the prisons amid the prisoners. This is owing to the reason that bullying is an interaction that takes place between an individual and the different facets of prison environment. Apart from this factor, another significant feature i.e. the link that exists between physical as well as social prison environment also encourages bullying which results in occurrence of bullying in the prisons. In this connection, the different facets of social and physical prison environment include high density in the population, organisational arrangement of the prisons and existence of capitalist economic based structures. Besides, the other characteristics include the persistence of prisoner subcultures, behavioural approaches of the inmates and the significance of governance hierarchies (Ireland, 2002). Ireland (2002) identified that the organisational arrangement of a prison is one of the imperative features that broadly promotes bullying in the prisons amid the prisoners. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the prisons are normally considered to be authoritarian environments which impose the significance of discipline based on clear as well as legitimate hierarchical arrangements. These particular elements contribute largely towards promoting bullying in the prisons amid the prisoners by a considerable level. As stated by Ireland (2002), the attitudes as well as the behaviours of the prisoners also play an imperative part in causing and encouraging bullying in the prisons. This is because there lay certain evidences revealing that bullying is viewed to be a dominant behaviour particularly in a prison where bullies are often provided with a certain level of status both by the staff as well as the prisoners (Ireland, 2002). In order to determine the causes of occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners, one British researcher described prisons as “violent environments” which is liable to cause different bullying behaviours amid the prisoners at large. Moreover, the researcher added that the “violent environments” of the prisons offer the prisoners with inadequate resources that ultimately promote a capitalist financial arrangement and greatly contributes in occurrence of bullying in the prisons amid the prisoners at large (Ireland, 2000). Thus, on the basis of the above discussion, it can be stated that bullying imposes considerable impact on the prison as well as the prisoners by a significant level. If it is permitted to prosper then it can cause huge disruptions as well as can facilitate the criminal subculture to attain supreme power and domination over others. Moreover, the incessant growth of bullying can weaken the security of the prisoners in the prison and also can raise tensions amongst the staff. All these negative consequences that arise from bullying can prove to be quite harmful especially for those who are engaged in the entire prison system as a whole (Tahir & Konstantinos, 2011). By taking into concern the research that was conducted by Tahir and Konstantinos (2011), it has been recognised that the methods such as the calculation of Direct and Indirect Prisoners Checklist (DIPC) and Rehabilitation in Correctional Settings Attitude Scale (RICS) have been executed in the study to obtain necessary findings. This particular study which was conducted by Tahir and Konstantinos (2011) attempted to redefine bullying within the context of prison inmates in cultural perspective of one of the developing nations i.e. Pakistan. The major finding of the study that has been recognised from this research study is that the victims experienced similar levels of physical as well as psychological bullying, wherein, the psychological bullying was the most common one as compared to physical bullying. With regard to the research that was conducted by Ireland (2000), it has been viewed that the researcher used several methods in order to obtain necessary findings. The methods include structured as well as semi-structured interviews and self-report in the form of questionnaires. The major finding of this research study was that the victims can react to their victimisation in several ways either through emotionally or behaviourally or both (Ireland, 2000). According to South & Wood (2006), it was envisaged that the prisoners who were engaged in performing bullies might demonstrate greater moral disengagement levels in comparison with the prisoners who were not involved with bullying. Moreover, South & Wood (2006) also predicted that the prisoners demonstrating higher prisonisation levels were more liable to value the significance of social status within the prison and were more engaged in bullying as compared to those who were less prisonised. In order to conduct this research study, a questionnaire method had been used in order to obtain the necessary findings. The main finding that had been noted in this research study is that the significance of social status broadly affects the involvement of bullying amid the prisoners in the prisons by rising moral disengagement (South & Wood, 2006). 2. A Critical Evaluation In order to critically evaluate the research that was conducted by Tahir and Konstantinos (2011), it can be stated that the position of the researcher is determined on the basis of standardised instruments that have been used in the research study. In this similar context, the researcher had designed questionnaires as a form of standardised instrument based on DIPC and RICS. The necessary data were mainly gathered from 400 male as well as female prison inmates belonging to different provinces of the major prisons of Pakistan. The findings of this research advocated that both the male as well as the female prisoners were victimised by similar degree of physical along with psychological bullying. However, it was identified that the aspect of psychological bullying prevailed more as compared to physical bullying. In this regard, psychological bullying can take place in the form of manipulating social interrelations, extortion and spreading rumours. These findings can be considered as an advanced one rather than out of date as these endeavoured at redefining the aspect of bullying along with its features as well as scope particularly in the cultural perspective of Pakistan. Moreover, the relevance of the findings of the research that was conducted by Tahir & Konstantinos (2011) was quite advanced as these findings intended to determine the category as well as the pervasiveness of bullying along with victimisation amid the prisoners in prisons. Finally, the research revealed that the practice of bullying has become quite common irrespective of developing or developed communities and collectivism or individualism in the different prisons of Pakistan. Moreover, the research findings also revealed that bullies or bullying were given greater status in the prisons. One of the important areas, which has not been covered in this research study, was about providing valuable proposals towards the enhancement of the conditions as well as the governance system of the prisons. In order to cover the aforementioned area, the research should have considered the limits, actions and the attitudes of the prison of authorities in order to widen the continuum of the bullying phenomena. In addition, the research should have concentrated on carrying out various researches on different age groups like juvenile prison inmates (Tahir & Konstantinos, 2011). These activities could ultimately support the research study to cover its unidentified area. According to the research conducted by Ireland (2000), the position of the researcher can be identified concerning various methods that have been employed in the research study. In this similar context, the researcher employed structured interviews in a British young offender institute in which 23 prison inmates were sampled. Moreover, a self-report questionnaire was also designed that was administered to 20 juvenile male offenders belonging to one Canadian institution. Besides, another self-report has been framed concerning 707 juvenile male offenders belonging to five Scottish penal establishments. After exercising the aforementioned methods, the research revealed that all the juvenile male offenders had experienced a kind of verbal bullying or threats in comparison with any other forms of bullying such as physical or psychological. Moreover, the research also represented that the victims i.e. the juvenile male offenders reacted to their victimisation in several ways either through emotionally or behaviourally or both. It can broadly be affirmed that the relevance of the findings of this particular research is quite advanced and not an outdated one as it emphasised upon discussing the problems that were surrounded within the perception of bullying in the background of prison environment. Moreover, the research also intended to address the nature as well as the extent of bullying, different facets of bullies along with their victims and most significantly the initial reactions of the victims towards different bullying activities. In order to identify the uncovered areas of the research, it has been noted that the research failed to deliver a comprehensive picture about which particular groups need to be targeted and how to identify the bullying indications or symptoms. These two significant aspects were quite important for the research in order to make the intervention programs more effective. It can be suggested that the research should have developed effectual intervention programs and also address the motivation behind bullying in an efficient manner (Ireland, 2000). With regard to the research study that was conducted by South & Wood (2006), it has been noted that the researchers used questionnaire as a method in the research study. The questionnaire was mainly based upon demographic questions that were asked to the prisoners. The questions include their age, ethnic origin, total time spent in penal establishments and sentence duration among others. Initially, the participants involved in the research study were observed to be 149 male prisoners but the final sample comprised of 132 male prisoners belonging to six prisons throughout the UK. The prime intention of this research study was to examine that if the significance of social status within the context of prison environment motivates the factor of bullying by a significant level. Moreover, the research also aimed at exploring whether the aspects such as prisonisation and moral disengagement influence the practices of bullying or not. In this regard, the major findings of the research revealed that the facet of moral disengagement fundamentally mediated the interrelation between social status and bullying. Another main finding of the research was that the facet of prisonisation was directly related as well as positively related with bullying, social status and moral disengagement. In this similar context, the research predicted that the prisoners who envisaged greater prisonisation levels were more inclined towards valuing the significance of social status in the prisons and also were more interested in bullying as compared to those who were less prisonised. The relevance of the findings of the research can be affirmed as an advanced one as the research broadly focused upon recognising the environmental causes of occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners in the prisons. Besides, the research suggested that the inmate subcultures were quite significant in elucidating the different behaviours of bullying. However, it has been apparently observed that the research neglected in paying much attention towards the inherent features of bullies. In addition, as it has been apparent that the significance of social status has been considered as one of the imperative factors in influencing bullying, no such empirical research had addressed this crucial aspect. These two vital aspects can be treated as the uncovered areas that have not been taken into concern in the research. In order to cover the aforementioned significant areas, the research should have investigated the ideas along with addressing the important aspect concerning the value of social status in prison stimulating the significant concern of bullying. Furthermore, the research should have conducted a thorough analysis about determining the different bullying practices that were performed by the prisoners in the prisons. In addition, the research should have considered the findings related to indirect bullying forms as well as to the female along with young prison populations. All these actions could ultimately support to overcome the various limitations of the research as well as to cover the unidentified areas (South & Wood, 2006). 3. An Evaluation of the Literature One of the gaps that can be identified from the aforementioned researches concerning the literature about the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners is about the knowledge regarding particular prison populations. As the area of research concerning the happening of bullying amid the prisoners in prisons is increasing rapidly, the researchers need to focus more upon exploring detailed analysis of the nature as well as the level of bullying (Towl, 2008). The findings of the researches that have been mentioned above have one thing in common which signifies that bullying broadly occurs in the prisons amid the prisoners similar to those which takes place in schools and workplaces. Moreover, another aspect that has been identified to be common in the aforesaid researches is regarding the definition of the term ‘bullying’. All the researches that have been taken into concern for this literature review described bullying as the performance of aggressive behaviour by the individuals in order to dominate as well as exercise full control over others. Moreover, the researchers in their respective researches also highlighted that there exist different sorts of bullying that include physical, social, verbal or psychological. In addition, the researchers identified that there are various causes that lead towards the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners in the prisons. In this similar context, the various reasons for the happening of bullying in the prisons among the prisoners are the organisational arrangement of a prison, prevalence of a prisoner subculture, attitudes of the prisoners and the dominance hierarchies that pertain amid the inmates (Ireland, 2000; South & Wood, 2006). It can be affirmed that there exist substantial inconsistencies while determining the causes of bullying that takes place amid the inmates in the prisons. In this regard, one of the major inconsistencies is about focusing upon the neglected areas that concern reactions of the victims towards bullying and the different features of bullies. These neglected areas are fundamentally considered as the imperative inconsistency owing to the reason that these particular aspects possess crucial implications upon bullying intervention programs by a significant level. Moreover, another major inconsistency concerning the subject matter of occurrence of bullying amid the inmates in the prisons is about carrying out a detailed analysis towards recognising the indications of bullying along with identifying the major target groups. These two specific factors are much significant in order to make the intervention programs of bullying more effective (Ireland, 2000). The overall messages of the aforementioned researches reveal that the augmented population density is directly correlated with the enlarged degree of bullying in the prison environment amid the prisoners and the social as well as the physical based environmental factors support bullying by a considerable level (Allison & Ireland, 2010). The other important message that can be revealed from the literature is that the aspects of social status as well as social interrelations are regarded as the imperative factors that broadly influence bullying. Moreover, it has also been viewed that the different aspects such as prisonisation, moral disengagement and social status are linked with the practice of bullying in prison systems by a greater extent (Ireland & Qualter, 2008). After identifying the core reasons behind the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners, it has been observed that an effective framework has been introduced as well as developed in order to encourage the prisoners towards behaving responsibly. Moreover, the framework also aims at developing the behavioural attitudes of the prisoners and also to generate a better as well as a safer environment for the staff and other involved parties (Adlard, 2011). In order to restrict the increased level of bullying amid the inmates in a prison environment, a greater attention should be paid on the different practices of bullying that are taking place amid the prisoners (Department of Justice, n.d.). Moreover, it is quite essential to devise effective strategies by anticipating that dissimilar groups of inmates would perform bullying practices differently with the intention of lessening the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners by a significant level (Ireland & et. al., 2007). Conclusion After acquiring a brief idea about the perception of bullying, the major insight that can be gained from the aforesaid resources is that there exist several major reasons for the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners in a prison environment. The causes are the prevalence of inmate subcultures, attitudes of the prisoners, organisational arrangement of a prison environment and greater population density. Moreover, another insight that has been gained from the researches is that the significance of social status is one of the imperative factors that broadly influences bullying. In this similar context, social status and prisonisation are directly linked with the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners in a prison system by a greater extent. In order to take the area forward concerning the occurrence of bullying amid the inmates, further research needs to focus upon certain decisive aspects that include determining the facets of bullying and most importantly identifying the reactions of the victims towards bullying. These areas would ultimately support in making the intervention programs with regard to bullying more effective. Besides, apart from the aforementioned aspects, further research also requires to seek out the different indications of bullying in order to take the concerned area forward. The literatures focusing upon the reasons behind the occurrence of bullying amid the prisoners can provide a link towards other areas of knowledge or interest concerning the enhancement of the behavioural attitudes of the inmates within a prison environment. References Adlard, G., 2011. Experiences of Subculture within a Prison Community. Learning Disability Practice, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.27-31. Allison, M. D. & Ireland, J. L., 2010. Staff And Prisoner Perceptions Of Physical And Social Environmental Factors Thought To Be Supportive Of Bullying: The Role Of Bullying And Fear Of Bullying. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Vol. 33, pp.43-51. Blazer, C., 2005. Introduction to Bullying. Literature Review on Bullying. [Online] Available at: http://drs.dadeschools.net/Reports/Bullying.pdf [Accessed January 02, 2012]. Department of Justice, No Date. The Treatment of Prisoners. Assets. [Online] Available at: http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/172158/Part_4_published_version_Chapter_7.pdf [Accessed January 02, 2012]. Ireland, J. L., 2002. Bullying in Prisons. The Psychologist, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.130-133. Ireland, J. L., 2000. “Bullying” Among Prisoners: A Review of Research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 201–215. Ireland, J. L. & Qualter, P., 2008. Bullying and Social and Emotional Loneliness in a Sample of Adult Male Prisoners. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Vol. 31, pp.19-29. Ireland, J. L. & et. al., 2007. Characteristics of Male and Female Prisoners Involved in Bullying Behavior. Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 33, pp.220-229. Lines, D., 2007. The Bullies: Understanding Bullies and Bullying. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. South, C. R. & Wood, J., 2006. Bullying in Prisons: The Importance of Perceived Social Status, Prisonization, and Moral Disengagement. Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 32, pp.490-501. Tahir, M. A. & Konstantinos, B., 2011. Bullying Among Prison Inmates in Pakistan: An Exploration of the Problem. Bi-Annual Research Journal, Vol. XXIV, No. 1, pp.1-16. Towl, G. J., 2008. Psychological Research in Prisons. John Wiley & Sons. Bibliography Benitez, J. L. & Justica, F., 2006. Bullying: Description and Analysis of the Phenomenon. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, Vol. 4, No. 9, pp.151-170. Donegan, R., 2012. Bullying and Cyberbullying: History, Statistics, Law, Prevention and Analysis. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.33-42. Flynn, N., 1998. Introduction to Prisons And Imprisonment. Waterside Press. Ireland, J. L., 2002. Bullying Among Prisoners: Evidence, Research and Intervention Strategies. Psychology Press. Martinez, M., 2001. Prevention and Control of Aggression and the Impact on its Victims. Springer. Organization of American States. Bullying: An Introduction To Prevention And Intervention. The Idea. [Online] Available at: http://www.oas.org/es/ried/PDF/Sinopsis_Bullying_Prevention.pdf [Accessed January 03, 2012]. Rigby, K., 2002. New Perspectives on Bullying. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Sekol, I. & Farrington, D. P., 2009. The Nature And Prevalence Of Bullying Among Boys And Girls In Croatian Care Institutions: A Descriptive Analysis of Children’s Homes and Correctional Homes. Kriminologija i socijalna integracija, Vol. 17, pp.1-138. Read More