Survey of inmates' perceptions of needs and attitudes in Nova Scotia Prisons, spring, 1977

Abstract

For the purpose of exploring the prison inmates' perception of needs and attitudes, a survey was carried out with randomly selected inmates in all prisons and jails in the Nova Scotia area. A self-administered questionnaire containing 31 major questions was used.

The major findings are: 1) the inmates' association with those who were in conflict with the law at the time of their first offense is related to the type of offense they had committed, 2) there was no sign the inmates perceived themselves as being treated poorly by their families, while expression of a relatively positive attitude towards the family was related to the variable of the type of offense committed, 3) there was high unemployment or unstable employment prior to entering the prison and a belief that employment is helpful to keep straight, 4) the variable of prior incarceration affected their attitude towards legal institutions and their own sentence, 5) there was no specific common agreement of the inmates' complaints concerning physical milieu and treatment in prison, 6) more than half of the inmates felt they had changed their behaviour since incarceration,which was related to two status variables, 7) the majority of the inmates anticipated facing difficulties with the basic needs of living upon release, and 8) almost one-half of them were uncertain whether they would be involved in further criminal activity.

Along with these findings and a literature review, this study makes seven recommendations as to future improvement of correctional policy in Canada.