Addressing Trauma in Prisons: The Potential for Trauma-Informed Practice to Reduce Re-Traumatisation.

By Megan Byford,

Leeds Beckett University.

Trauma exposure amongst the prison population is extremely high, with research finding over 80% of prisoners report experiencing at least one adverse childhood experience (Ford et al., 2020. In comparison, research in the general population finds just under half of participants report experiencing no adversities in their childhood (Witt et al., 2019). Inside the prison environment, which is described to be dangerously depriving (Haney, 2012), trauma can manifest itself in behaviours that many label as ‘maladaptive’ (Armour, 2012). Adopting a critical literature review, this research thematically found these behaviours include but are not limited to: mental health, drug use, self-harm, self-inflicted deaths, and inmate-on-inmate assaults. Such behaviour appears to be extremely high, for example almost 70% of incarcerated women felt their mental health had worsened during their time in prison (Augsburger et al., 2022). This is consistent with the combined model, which contends the prison environment can exacerbate imported experiences of trauma in the depriving prison environment (Dye, 2010). The implementation of trauma-informed practices in prisons is assessed to determine whether they can prevent re-traumatising people in prison. Using an array of research, including findings from Massachusetts Correctional Institution Framingham, this research finds trauma-informed practices have the potential to perform very successfully, but not without radical change (Benedict and CORE Associates, 2014; Levenson and Willis, 2018). This research suggests this radical change must focus on funding, leadership, staff turnover, and overcrowding in order for trauma-informed practices to succeed in preventing re-traumatising those who live and work inside prisons (Uglean, 2024; Jewkes et al., 2019).  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16911337

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