Does nature contact in prison improve wellbeing? Greenspace, self-harm, violence and staff sickness absence in prisons in England and Wales

Dominique Moran*, Phil Jones, Jacob Jordaan, Amy Porter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter draws together a set of recent findings which demonstrate a statistically robust relationship between green space and wellbeing of prisoners and prison staff. Extending prior prison-level qualitative studies which find that nature contact influences prisoners’ self-reported wellbeing, this work used GIS mapping to generate a new prison greenspace dataset, capturing—for a cross-section of prisons in England and Wales—the percentage of greenspace within their perimeters. Econometric estimations confirm that greenspace fosters prisoner and prison staff wellbeing, in that there are lower levels of self-harm and violence, and lower levels of staff sickness absence, in prisons with more greenspace. These relationships persist when prison size, type, age, staffing level, and level of crowding are controlled for. The findings have the potential to significantly influence future prison design. In addition to summarising these findings, the chapter also reports exploratory investigations on whether and how the inclusion of prison layout type might impact on the wellbeing effects of greenspace.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Palgrave handbook of prison design
EditorsDominique Moran, Yvonne Jewkes, Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, Victor St John
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Pages657-678
Number of pages22
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9783031119729
ISBN (Print)9783031119712, 9783031119743
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Dec 2022

Publication series

NamePalgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
ISSN (Print)2753-0604
ISSN (Electronic)2753-0612

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