Preventing Prison Violence

<p><strong><em>Preventing Prison Violence</em></strong> introduces the idea of ‘prison ecologies’ – a multi-layered perspective to understanding prison violence as a ‘product’ of human environment (social and physical) systemic and societal influences – and how an ecological approach is helpful to prevention efforts.</p><p>Interpersonal violence is a global concern and a significant cause of death around the world. In prisons the human financial and health burden of violence presents a significant social issue – as well as a ‘wicked problem’ that does not permit of simplistic solutions. Recent innovations in data capture means that questions about violence gang-affiliations and prisons that could not be answered previously can now be explored. The central theme of this book is that prisons are ‘ecologies’ – spaces where people resources and the built environment are interrelated – and that violence is a product of a complex of interpersonal and environmental factors that increase the likelihood of assault – but also provide opportunities for solutions. Drawing on psychology geography indigenous knowledge gang culture and predictive modelling this book expands beyond the conventional individual-focused ‘assessment-intervention-prevention’ approach to research in this field towards a holistic and ecological way of thinking that recognises individual organisational and cultural factors as well as the role of the physical environment itself in the facilitation and prohibition of aggression.</p><p>Providing a comprehensive resource for those who are interested in making prisons safer; firmly based in contemporary research and theory<i> <strong>Preventing Prison Violence</strong> </i>will be of great interest to students and scholars of Penology Violence and Forensic Psychology as well as to professionals working in criminal justice settings.</p><p>The Open Access version of this book available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.</p>