Understanding Health and Well-being in Custodial Settings: Interdisciplinary Research Approaches from Psychology, Health, Law and Criminology

This timely book offers an overview of how to understand health and wellbeing in custodial settings. It draws on cutting-edge research for a big picture perspective on the issues of prisoners' health and wellbeing in prison settings. Bringing together international experts from research psychology, health and criminology, the volume creates a multidisciplinary narrative to highlight contemporary issues within prisons concerning health and wellbeing. It also explores how these issues can be effectively researched and subsequently understood.

The book covers how to navigate ethics in prisons research, the practicalities of conducting research in custodial settings, as well as discussions and case study examples from custodial settings in different countries. Chapters include illustrative examples and practical guidance from those working in the area, offering rich and in-depth insights into the different factors that affect health and wellbeing within prisons. The book also reflects on contemporary changes to prison research following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The book will be essential reading for postgraduate and upper-level undergraduate students of research psychology, criminology and health psychology. The book will also be highly relevant for postgraduate students and professionals studying or working on health and wellbeing in prisons and custodial environments.

Paul M.W. Hackett has wide experience in social science and humanities research and is the originator of the declarative mapping approach to qualitative research. His research interests span many aspects of behaviour and experience focussing upon the investigation of ontologies and epistemologies that have originated in the African continent. He has around 300 publications including more than 30 books. He is a visiting research professor in the department of philosophy at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria, an honorary fellow in the philosophy department at University of Wales Trinity St David and a PhD supervisor at the same university, and a visiting professor in health research methods at the University of Suffolk. He holds a PhD in psychology and a PhD in fine art. He has held appointments at several universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Tufts, Harvard, Cardiff, Durham and in the department of criminology at the University of Suffolk, UK.

Ava Gordley-Smith is a PhD research student at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her research aims to develop a multidimensional psychological framework for understanding the relationship and intersection of attitudes toward environmental and social justice issues. Outside of her PhD research, Gordley-Smith focuses more broadly on both theoretical and applied methodologies in the social sciences, creative disciplines and communication studies. Gordley-Smith received a Bachelors’ degree from Emerson College with a major in Journalism and a minor is Sociology and a Masters’ degree from Emerson College focusing on utilizing ecology-centric and sociological methodologies in order to construct more effective and equitable communication strategies. Gordley-Smith is a passionate researcher regarding the topics of intersectional inequalities and proposes ethical advancements in gender, sex, sexuality, environmentalism, and race studies.

Christopher Hayre is an Associate Professor in Medical Imaging at Monash University, Australia. He holds an Adjunct position with Charles Sturt University, coupled with a Senior Visiting Fellowship for the School of Health and Sport Sciences at the University of Suffolk. He has published both qualitative and quantitative refereed papers and brought together several books in the field of medical imaging, health research, technology, and ethnography.