title: Sex Offenders in Prison: Are They Socially Isolated?
abstract: Empirical literature has revealed that social isolation can affect the rehabilitation of sex offenders after serving their sentence. This process of social isolation can already start during incarceration due to strained relationships with fellow prisoners and correctional staff. The current study examined to what extent sex offenders felt socially isolated during incarceration, using survey and registered conviction data on a large sample of male adult prisoners from the Prison Project. It was found that support from and relationships with correctional officers and fellow prisoners were perceived less positive by sex offenders than nonsex offenders. No evidence was found for higher levels of loneliness in sex offenders compared with prisoners convicted for a nonsexual offense. In sum, although the effects were small, sex offenders reported more social isolation during imprisonment compared with nonsex offenders.
authors.affiliation: 1 VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|2 Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.affiliation: 3 Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Beijersbergen
authors.affiliation: 4 Leiden University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nieuwbeerta
authors.affiliation: 2 Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dirkzwager
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D012742:Sex Offenses; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: loneliness; prison; sex offenders; social isolation