Exploring some challenges of prison life; a review of hunger strikes, and an exploration of transitions into adult prisons

This research thesis focuses on prison experiences and phenomena either through the offending individuals or through the staff that work with them.

Paper one is a narrative literature review, examining nine papers, investigating current research about prevalence, gender differences, mental health for eating disorders and hunger striking within prisons, as well as the known rationales for hunger striking. Mental health difficulties were commonly reported across the studies and the impact of the environment on mental health is considered. The majority of the research on eating disorders focused on females, while hunger strike research focused mainly on male offenders. The literature was challenging to synthesize due to a lack of similarity in methodological design.

Paper two is an empirical study exploring prison staff’s experiences of transitions of young adult offenders from youth offending institutions to adult prisons. Seven prison staff were interviewed on their experiences of young offenders’ transition. Reflexive thematic analysis identified four core themes; ‘Being unprepared’, ‘inconsistencies’, ‘maturity and independence’, ‘relationships and attachments’. The results highlighted poor coordination across various organisational systems and a lack of staff support meaning staff felt unprepared for the transition. Clinical implications, limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

Paper 3 is an executive summary of the empirical research, in a style accessible for prison, NHS and managerial staff working within prisons. The paper consists of an overview of the research background, methodology, results, key discussion points and clinical implications that derive from the research.