Social distance behind bars: comparing inmates’ and prison officers’ perceptions of the social climate during the COVID-19 pandemic in German prisons

Abstract

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges to prison officers and inmates alike. Since it impacted all areas of the working and living environment, it was assumed that the social climate in prison changed as a result. As part of the Corona Behind Bars project, this study had two objectives: first, to compare how the social climate (Essen Climate Evaluation Schema) is perceived by inmates (N = 956) and prison officers (N = 502) as a result of the pandemic. Second, to analyze the impact of the burden of contact restrictions between inmates and prison officers on their respective perceptions of the social climate. In line with the differences between inmates and prison officers reported in the literature, inmates reported significantly higher values on the dimension experienced safety than did prison officers, while prison officers reported significantly higher values on the dimension therapeutic hold. No significant difference was found for the dimension inmate cohesion. Compared to norm values both the prison officers and the inmates rated the social climate as clearly below average. The moderation analysis revealed an interaction of status group × burden of contact restriction: The impact of the burden of contact restriction on social climate perception was more pronounced for inmates than for prison officers. Overall, the results suggest that the perception of the social climate was adversely affected by the pandemic for the prison officers and the inmates. However, the specific factors contributing to this deterioration appear to be group-specific.