Exploring the therapeutic and rehabilitative climate of three prisons for men with sexual convictions

Journal article

Blagden, N. and Penford, E. 2025. Exploring the therapeutic and rehabilitative climate of three prisons for men with sexual convictions. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2025.2454574
AuthorsBlagden, N. and Penford, E.
Abstract

There is a lack of research on the rehabilitative climate of prisons for men with sexual convictions and the impact this could have on their rehabilitation. This research aims to explore the therapeutic and rehabilitative climate of three prisons for men with sexual convictions and to provide new understandings on what is important for a prison to be rehabilitative. It compares the rehabilitative and therapeutic climate of three prisons housing men with sexual convictions. It explores key pathways through which correlates of prison climate, for example, prisoner-staff relationships and beliefs about change, are associated with rehabilitative climate and treatment readiness. The results found that prisons with established rehabilitative track records scored more highly on key determinants of a rehabilitative climate. Path analysis revealed prisoner–staff relationships predicted treatment readiness but that this relationship was fully mediated by rehabilitative climate, suggesting that rehabilitative climate plays a pivotal role in how prisoner–staff relationships affect treatment readiness. Implications for practice are discussed.

Keywordsprison; rehabilitative prison climate; therapeutic climate; readiness for treatment
Year2025
JournalPsychiatry, Psychology and Law
PublisherRoutledge - Taylor and Francis
ISSN1934-1687
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2025.2454574
Web address (URL)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13218719.2025.2454574
FunderUniversity of Derby
Publisher's version
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File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online18 Mar 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted08 Jan 2025
Deposited01 Apr 2025
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