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Imprisonment is associated with far-reaching restrictions of personal autonomy, which critically depends on the sense of agency (SoA), i.e. the experience of control over one’s own actions and the consequences of these actions. Lack of personal choice and coercion to engage in specific actions disrupt the neurocognitive basis of SoA, which can have a profound impact on social behaviour, self-reliance and well-being. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to address the relationship between autonomy, choice restrictions and SoA in prisoners and the ability to reenter society after release.

This conceptual paper integrates existing empirical evidence from research on the role of personal autonomy and lack of freedom in prison and recent research using neurocognitive methods to study the processes underlying the effects of choice restrictions and coercion on SoA.

Building on prior empirical observations, the authors suggest that investigating how and when imprisonment undermines SoA through the restriction of personal choice can provide valuable insights into prisoners’ challenges in regulating and organizing their behavior and to accommodate the rules of society.

This conceptual paper offers directions for future research to further our understanding of autonomy restrictions on SoA in prison and its downstream consequences for societal reintegration.

The use of mindfulness interventions (MIs) as means to manage unwanted or undesirable affect and behaviour has increased in popularity recently. This has resulted in the trial of MIs as a means to benefit well-being within prisons, with some intention of reducing recidivism. This study aims to examine current research regarding the use of MIs within prisons.

A total of 14 studies were manually selected for review inclusion according to their determined eligibility. All studies were required to have taken place in a prison and to include an explicit mindfulness intervention, including mindfulness theory and practice.

Most interventions reviewed demonstrated success, particularly when tailored to the unique needs of a prison environment. Positive changes reported included improvements in participant mental health symptoms, as well as reduced stress and increased mindfulness skills. Some preliminary evidence was provided to indicate the potential longevity of some of these benefits. This review further highlighted some significant questions regarding the generalisability of the proposed suitability of MIs within prison environments including practical delivery constraints and the lack of acknowledgment of the unique challenges and circumstances faced by prisoners.

The findings of this review show positive potential for the use of MIs within prison populations, where these are well-linked to mindfulness theory and to the needs of inmates. The review also suggest that MIs should be investigated thoroughly, examining potential negative implications alongside positive changes. There needs to be further review of the role of MIs within prison populations to ensure their suitability in the custodial environment.

MIs are somewhat inflated in terms of predicted outcomes and sometimes applied to potentially unsuitable groups. A significant gap within the literature also persists regarding potentially negative implications associated with MIs, particularly within unique prison populations. Prison treatment programmes should be developed with careful consideration of unique prisoner needs in comparison to a general population.

Competitively multipolar international system demands bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Joint innovation signals close partnerships. Regional proximity of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to the European Union (EU) defines its research and development objectives. These objectives are additionally subjected to the USA’s geopolitical strategy in this geographical area. Hence, CEE’s limited resources require limited resources make international innovation cooperation. This paper aims to analyse whether and how CEE countries make international innovation cooperation decisions.

This paper used Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database of total patent applications filed to the patent cooperation treaty (PCT) with co-applicants from abroad, where co-patents with at least one foreign inventor present a measure of international innovation partnership. A vector autoregression analysis and impulse response function were used to analyse international innovation partnership choices of eight CEE OECD countries for the period 1990–2018.

Innovation with the EU is of collaborative nature, commonly displaying complementary properties with the rest of the examined innovation partners, while co-patenting with the Russia and China act as substitutes or complements. Co-patenting with Russia is the most versatile, displaying both properties of collaboration and competition. Some countries exhibit complementarity in co-patenting activities with multiple partners. The significance levels of these relationships vary, indicating varying degrees of impact. Overall, these findings highlight the complex dynamics of co-patenting activities and the influence of different partners on countries’ collaborative innovation strategies.

In addition to significant relationships, insignificant relationships as well as those that could bring about greater synergy are flagged in the paper. Those relationships portray possible direction into which national funds could be channelled to incite cooperation between different sectors and countries, especially as innovation partnerships are not always successful and require a long time period to materialise.

By examining bilateral innovation partnerships, this study provides an insight into the strategic political and economic spheres of influence in the CEE region.

Suicide prevention and intervention in prisons is a challenge. Prisons were not designed to be clinical facilities, yet with the growing numbers of people who face mental health challenges in prisons, staff require knowledge and skills to adequately address mental health crises, especially suicide. This study aims to: describe trends in suicide attempts and completions within one state’s prison system and measure staff knowledge and preparedness to address suicide.

This research uses a nonexperimental research design and two data sources. Administrative data from 2000 to 2017 on serious suicide attempts and completions were analyzed, and all correctional staff employed in the state’s Department of Corrections were surveyed at one point in time. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted.

The number of serious suicide attempts trended up but completed suicides decreased. Correctional staff demonstrated high suicide knowledge of risk factors and warning signs of suicide. Staff who viewed a media-based suicide training displayed significantly more knowledge of suicide and perceived greater preparedness compared to staff who did not or did not recall viewing the training.

Corrections staff play a key role in preventing suicides in prison. Innovative intervention is needed to increase suicide awareness, improve communication and enhance prevention skills.

The current review aims to focus on how risk and protective factors for self-harm in secure mental health hospitals are captured in the literature.

Fifty-seven articles were included in a systematic review, drawn from an initial 1,119 articles, post duplicate removal. Databases included Psycinfo, Psycarticles, Psycnet, Web of Science and EBSCO host. A thematic analysis was used, which included a meta-ethnographic approach for considering qualitative papers.

There was a clear focus on risk factors, with eight identified (in order of occurrence): raised emotional reactivity and poor emotion regulation; poor mental health; traumatic experiences; personality disorder diagnosis and associated traits; increased use of outward aggression – dual harm; constraints of a secure environment and lack of control; previous self-harm and suicide attempts; and hopelessness. Protective factors featured less, resulting in only three themes emerging (in order of occurrence): positive social support and communication; positive coping skills; and hope/positive outlook.

This includes a proposal to move focus away from “risk” factors, to incorporate “needs”, in terms of individual and environmental factors. There is also a need for more attention to focus on developing high quality research in this area.

The research captures an area where a synthesis of research has not been comprehensively undertaken, particularly with regards to capturing protective as well as risk factors.

Parkruns are weekly, free, community-based, 5 km runs around open spaces, with a growing body of research indicating their social, physical and psychological benefits. Thirty-one custodial establishments in England and Wales regularly offer parkruns. The purpose of this paper is to consider prisoners' experiences of parkrun in custodial settings, and these are discussed in the context of the evidence base regarding parkrun in the community and the wider literature on prison sport, desistance, and rehabilitation culture.

Using an inductive, qualitative approach, data was collected at three English prisons, via semi-structured interviews with 24 adult male prisoners who participated in parkrun. Data was subjected to thematic analysis.

In total, five themes reflecting positive experiences associated with custodial parkrun were identified: connection with others; healthy living; a safe and predictable exercise environment; a sense of purpose; and a re-humanising experience. Factors appearing frequently in the wider parkrun research are present in the perceptions of parkrunners in custody. In addition, factors deemed important to desistance and promoting a rehabilitation culture were also found in the experiences of the sample.

The work emphasises the successes of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and parkrun working in partnership to support custodial events. By highlighting the positive experiences of custodial parkrun on prisons and prisoners, the authors anticipate that their findings may encourage further sites to consider launching parkrun events and prompt existing sites to consider their events in line with efforts to promote desistance and a rehabilitation culture.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to explore custodial parkrun. The findings indicate that custodial parkrun supports HMPPS strategic goals by offering an opportunity for prisons to promote desistance.

This paper aims to consider stalking as an offending behaviour and the prevailing narratives associated with this offending behaviour given the increased attention of society and criminal justice. The stereotypes and labels associated with the offending behaviour often sensationalise aspects of those who engage in stalking. Frequently, individuals are portrayed as disturbed, psychopathic, mentally ill, violent and culturally deviant. Sometimes stalking behaviour is perversely downplayed as romantic perseverance. The impact of the stalker label extends outward from the act of marking legal and societal transgression, which impacts upon prospects for rehabilitation and desistance through the shaping of assumptions and maintenance of disempowering connotations.

This paper considers the impact of the stalking label as a therapeutic-, and perhaps rehabilitation-interfering problem for those who have stalked, drawing on recent research by Wheatley, Winder and Kuss (2020a).

It discusses the wide-ranging implications of labelling in this context and considers therapeutic approaches for intervention that may encourage rehabilitation engagement, mitigate shame and support desistance from a strengths-based perspective.

This paper draws on recent research exploring stalking case narratives of their own experiences of what drives stalking behaviour, existing labelling literature, and on specialist practitioners’ experiences of working with this group, to influence future thinking and research to address nuances highlighted.

There is evidence that music programmes can have a positive impact on people in contact with the criminal justice system. However, little attention has been paid to the potential role of music programmes as people leave prison and re-enter the community. Providing support for former prisoners “through-the-gate” is important to aid resettlement and reduce the risk of reoffending. This paper aims to present research on a programme called Sounding Out: a two-year, London-based programme providing ex-prisoners with longer-term rehabilitative opportunities upon their release to bridge the gap between life inside and outside of prison.

The study aimed to understand the impact of the Sounding Out programme on ex-prisoners from the perspective of participants, staff and family members. Semi-structured interviews took place with 17 people: ten participants across two Sounding Out projects; six members of staff – three from the Irene Taylor Trust, two musicians and one former prison worker; and one family member of a participant.

The research provides an understanding of the impact of involvement in a carefully designed programme of music creation, skills development and work placements. Thematic analysis of the data resulted in three key themes: personal impact, focus and direction and interpersonal relationships. The findings are consistent with the body of research that demonstrates the impact of music programmes on prisoners.

The current study adds to the relatively limited body of evidence on the role of music programmes in the reintegration of former prisoners into the community.

There is an absence of qualitative research with individuals who have stalked. This special issue of articles draws on one study, rich with the meaning-making of experts by experience. That is, people who have stalked, been convicted and detained in UK prisons. The purpose of this issue is to provide forensic practitioners with an overview of current considerations for intervening with individuals who stalk. It does this by drawing together empirically derived interpreted experiences of men who stalk, expanding key discussions with expert practitioners in the field, working with those who stalk. It highlights current thinking on the psychology of stalking and multidisciplinary options for risk management. Furthermore, it provides an overview of necessary future directions.

Research findings from a recent, novel, mixed methods study (Wheatley, 2019 and Wheatleya et al., 2020) are discussed with other experienced stalking practitioners in the UK for reflection and discussion. The papers synthesise the research findings, existing psychological literature and practitioner experience to discuss implications for psychological practice with those who stalk.

The key findings resonated with current practitioners, providing a springboard for expanding thinking around stalking and crucial themes such as narcissistic vulnerability, deterrence, labelling and developing alternative meaningful activities.

In providing this marriage of experiential expert insights, this Special Issue advances the practice of psychology in relation to those who stalk, having clear applications to the processes of risk assessment, intervention and management. Pivotally, how to enhance engagement opportunities to develop working and therapeutic relationships.

This issue introduces new subtopics, some of which have never been written about before. It provides discussion papers marrying research with practitioner experience, with a focus on practical applications within criminal psychology and future directions.