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The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes towards prisoner-to-prisoner bullying, further considering the association between attitudes and characteristics of the prison environment thought to promote prisoner bullying.

Questionnaires were administered to 423 adult male prisoners and 195 correctional officers from three prisons in Canada. Participants completed the Prison Bullying Scale and the Prison Environmental Scale.

Convergence in attitudes between prisoners and officers were noted although staff were more likely to consider bullies to be skilled, whereas prisoners were more likely than officers to feel that victims of bullying should be supported. Associations between attitudes supportive of bullying and environmental characteristics likely to promote prison bullying were found primarily among prisoners; the strongest predictors of such attitudes were poor relationships (e.g. prisoner to officer; prisoner-to-prisoner).

The study highlights the importance of the social aspect of the prison environment. It further provides an outline of two measures that could have utility in evaluating interventions designed to reduce prisoner-to-prisoner bullying.

Interventions into prisoner-to-prisoner bullying should attend to the wider environment and not focus solely on individual pathology approaches. A “whole prison” approach to intervention should be adopted, with recognition that officers and prisoners are part of the community. A focus on the perceived relationships between all those in this community requires consideration, with a community centred approach recommended for intervention. A concentrated effort is needed on evaluating and publishing interventions into prisoner-to-prisoner bullying.

The study is the first to examine attitudes in a combined sample of prisoners and officers and focuses on the role of the wider prison environment. It also utilises a sample from three prisons as opposed to focusing on a single establishment.

The main aim of the study reported was to explore the nature and extent of bullying at a category C prison. The sample consisted of 51 adult male prisoners, who were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to assess their experiences of victimisation and witnessing bullying in the prison during their time there. The results indicate that more than half (51%) of the prisoners report being victimised and more than three‐quarters (76%) report witnessing bullying. The most common forms of bullying were less direct forms of aggression (for example namecalling and teasing). No significant associations were found between being a victim of bullying and the type of prisoner, or whether the prisoner was new to the prison system.

Consequences of workplace bullying include increased stress, poor physical and psychological health and low job satisfaction. Workplace bullying is particularly prevalent in professions that may involve a degree of aggression. Despite this, little information exists about the nature of workplace bullying in a prison context. The current study aims to investigate the presence of workplace bullying at one British prison.

Employees (n=72) were invited to complete the Work Harassment Scale and the Work Stress Symptom Scale.

A standard multiple regression revealed that direct experience of bullying significantly predicted stress. Factor analyses identified four types of bullying experienced and three types of bullying witnessed by prison employees. Subsequent analyses revealed that experiencing one specific bullying behavior (i.e. dismissive of individual and their work) predicted physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms of stress. Witnessing one form of bullying (i.e. dismissive, personal attack and threats) also predicted the physical and psychological symptoms of stress.

The study is reliant on self reported data and employs a relatively small sample.

Dismissive behavior in particular is associated with employee stress. Interventions should prioritise this type of workplace bullying.

Few studies have considered the nature of workplace bullying in a prison context. The current study details the prevalence of bullying amongst prison employees, the extent to which bullying impacts on employee stress, and the components of bullying that may be most harmful.

This study explores the association between fear of bullying and psychological distress. Participants were 293 adult prisoners, including men (n = 169) and women (n = 124), split into groups of ‘pure bullies’ (ie. solely reporting perpetration), ‘bully/victims’ (reporting perpetration and being victimised), ‘pure victims’ (reporting being victimised) and those ‘not‐involved’. All completed the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist ‐ Revised (DIPC‐R), a measure of psychological health (General Health Questionnaire: GHQ‐28) and the Fear of Bullying Scale (FBS). The FBS was piloted on a sample of adult male prisoners (n = 69) prior to the main study. It was hypothesised that experience of victimisation would associate with higher levels of fear; that bully/victims would present with higher levels of fear than pure bullies (perpetrators); that fear would be associated with increased levels of psychological distress; and, finally, that women would report higher levels of fear than men. Pure victims reported higher levels of fear than pure bullies and those not‐involved, with bully/victims reporting increased levels of fear in comparison to those not‐involved. These findings did not, however, hold across sex, with women overall reporting higher levels of fear than men. Structural equation models indicated no direct relationship between experiencing victimisation and psychological distress, but rather an indirect relationship through fear of victimisation. The results are discussed with reference to the association between victimisation and psychological distress and the importance of this finding to the wider research field.

The current study examines the association between fear of bullying and actual behaviour among male prisoners (n =234: 84 adult, 86 young and 66 juvenile). It explores if developmental models of aggression can assist with understanding fear and if there is evidence to support an application of the Applied Fear Response model. Participants completed the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Checklist‐Scaled Revised and the Threat Appraisal Bullying measure. Fear of bullying did not differ across age. There were no significant relationships between fear and actual victimisation or perpetration for juveniles. Fear was a significant predictor of increased emotional and help‐seeking behaviours in juveniles, and inhibited negative behaviours in adults. Fear of bullying was highest among young and juvenile ‘bully‐victims’. The need to account for fear of victimisation as opposed to focusing solely on victimisation experience is outlined, particularly in relation to younger prisoners (i.e. young adults and juvenile offenders). The value of developmental and environmental models in understanding aggression and victim reactions are discussed.

The current research explores the prevalence of bullying behaviour at HMYOI Warren Hill and the Carlford Unit. The introduction of the no‐smoking policy at the establishment was also explored in relation to its effect on bullying behaviour given that tobacco has historically been the main item that young people have been bullied for. The Direct and Indirect Prisoner behaviour Checklist ‐ Revised (DIPC‐R) and a questionnaire designed to identify the effect of the introduction of the no‐smoking policy on bullying behaviour were used within this study to answer the following questions: what is the prevalence of bullying behaviour at Warren Hill and the Carlford Unit, and do young people at Warren Hill and the Carlford Unit think that the rate and nature of bullying has been affected by the introduction of the no‐smoking policy? One hundred and fifteen young people took part in the study. At Warren Hill, Bully/Victims were the most prevalent type identified and this was significantly greater than the number of young people identified as Pure Victims or Not Involved. On the Carlford Unit, Not Involved was the most prevalent type identified, and this finding provides limited support for the theories of bullying behaviour identified within the present study. The study found that the rate of bullying decreased following the introduction of the no‐smoking policy at Warren Hill. The findings from this study are being used in the development of a new Violence Reduction Policy at HMYOI Warren Hill.

The term “workplace bullying” migrated to the UK from Scandinavian countries in the early 1990s as an interpretation of persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, abuse of power or unfair penal sanctions which makes the recipient feel upset, threatened, humiliated or vulnerable, undermines their self‐confidence and which may cause them to suffer stress. This article traces the emergence of workplace bullying in UK media presentations, trade union publications, self‐help literature and academic discussions. An analysis is offered of whether workplace bullying should be considered a new problem, or instead whether it might be viewed as a new interpretation for an existing problem. I draw from qualitative interviews with bullied men and women to discuss how workers are deploying the concept of workplace bullying. My analysis demonstrates that “workplace bullying” supplies a helpful interpretation for a range of unfair practices, but that the current emphasis on persistent and/or harmful experiences should be problematised.

A number of initiatives within Her Majesty’s Prison Service have explored how best to support the needs of vulnerable young people. One such is the Access programme, which employs a combination of simple cognitive‐behavioural techniques and physical activity to build confidence and increase levels of coping. Results from the evaluation of three Access courses facilitated at Her Majesty’s Young Offender Institute Warren Hill, a UK institution for juvenile offenders, indicate a significant reduction in reports of bullying and fear of bullying, and significantly reduced levels of self‐injury and the desire to self‐injure. Psychometric measures of hopelessness, self‐esteem, locus of control and assertiveness were administered before, immediately after and six weeks after the course. Measures of hopelessness were reduced after the course, and reduced levels were maintained six weeks post‐intervention. Locus of control and self‐esteem scores rose by the end of the course and were maintained or increased six weeks later. In general, findings were encouraging, given the level of need in this vulnerable group of young people. It is suggested that programmes such as this may provide a promising addition to strategies for dealing with problems of bullying and self‐injury in juvenile prisoners.