Attitude of inmates towards the prison library
a predictor of psychological wellbeing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36311/1981-1640.2019.v13n2.08.p78Keywords:
Penal system, prison library, inmates, information, attitude, bibliotherapy, psychological wellbeingAbstract
Information has been a veritable mechanism in the constant search for knowledge so as to attain developmental objectives. In the same vein, information is vital in the life of all individuals towards the realization of socio-political, economic, and developmental goals, it also serves just the same importance for the survival of incarcerated persons. Adopting correlational study method, this study seeks to define the attitude of inmates toward the prison library and its effect on their psychological wellbeing. Two prisons - Port Harcourt Maximum Prison, Rivers State and Oko Prison, Benin City, Edo State, both in Nigeria, were selected for the study. From the population of convicted inmates in both prisons, 440 males and females were randomly sampled to generate data.A structured questionnaire divided into two sections - attitude scale and psychological wellbeing scale, was used in data collection. Out of the 440 sampled inmates, 393 responded correctly to the questionnaire resulting to 89% response rate. Data was collated and analyzed using descriptive analysis of mean and standard deviation, and linear regression. The results indicated that inmates in both prisons have a positive attitude towards the prison library, and they are also psychologically adjusted in prison. The result also reveals that there is a high positive relationship between inmates' attitude towards the prison library and its psychological wellbeing (r = .540).The study concludes that bibliotherapy can further enhance the effectiveness of other reformation and rehabilitative programs for inmates, and therefore, recommends that the penal system should embrace bibliotherapy as a rehabilitation program for the reformation and rehabilitation of societal offenders.
Downloads
References
Anafulu, J. C (1998). Funding of university and research libraries in Nigeria. Policy directions and options for the next century. (Research project for the award of member of NIPSS, Kuru)
Ayuk et al. (2013). The Impact of prison reforms on the welfare of the inmates: acase study of Afokang Prison, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. // Global Journal of Human Social Science Sociology & Culture, 13:2(2013). Bank, F. (1958). Teach them how to live, London: Parrish, 1958.
Brockway, Z. (1912). Fifty Years of Prison Service, New Jersey: Patterson Smith, 1912.Chotitham, S., and Wongwanich, S. (2014). The reading attitude measurement for enhancing elementary school students’ achieve-ment. // Social and Behavioral Sciences 116(2014)3213 –3217.
Clarke, R.V.G. (1977). Psychology and Crime. // Bulletin of the British Psychology Society 30(1977)280-283.
Conrad, S. (2014). Collection Development and Circulation Policies in Prison libraries: An Exploratory Survey of Librarians in US Cor-rectional Institutions.// The Library Quarterly: Information Commu-nity Policy 82:4(2014) 407-427.
Costanzo, E. & Montecchi, G. (2011). Prison libraries in Italy.// Library Trends 59:3(2011)
Cothern, N. and Collins, M. (1992). An exploration: attitude acquisi-tion & reading instruction. reading research and instruction 31(1992)84-97.
Coyle, W. (1987). Libraries in Prisons, New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.
Curry, A., Wolf, K., Boutilier, S., and Chan, H. (2003). Canadian federal prison libraries: A national survey.// Journal of Librarianship and Information Science35: 3(2003)141–152.
Darby, L. T. (2004). Libraries in the American penal system.// Rural Libraries 24:2 (2004) 7–20.
Diener, E. and Emmons, R.A. (1984). The independence of positive and negative affect. // Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47(1984)1105-1117.
Emasealu, Helen Uzoezi. Attitude of inmates towards the prison library: a predictor of psychological wellbeing.// Brazilian Journal of Information Studies: Research Trends. 13:2 (2019) p78-91.ISSN 1981-1640.
Ellis, A. (1987). How rational-emotive therapy (RET) helps to actu-alize the human potential. New Jersey // Journal of Professional Counseling 50: 2(1987).
Emasealu, H.U. (2015). Information needs and the enhancement of the psychological well-being of prison inmates in Nigeria. // Library Philosophy and Practice. (e-journal). (2015) 1365.
Emasealu, H.U.; Popoola, S.O. (2016). Information needs, accessibility and utilization of library information resources as determinants of psychological well-being of prison inmates in Nigeria. Brazilian // Journal of Information Studies: Research Trends, 10: 2(2016)29 -46.
Engelbart, R. (1972). Books in Stir Metuchen, New Jersey: Scare-crow, 1972.
Field, H. E. (1931). The Attitudes of Prisoners as a Factor in Rehabilitation. // Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 157(1931)150 -163 http//www.jstor.org/stable/1018591
Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T., Lindzey, G., Jongsma, G. (2010). Hand-book of social psychology. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2010.
Forsythe, W. (1987). The Reform of Prisoners, London: Croom Helm, 1987.
Fyfe, E. (1992). Books Behind Bars, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992.
Gerken, J. L. (2003). Does Lewis v. Casey spell the end to court-ordered improvement of prison law libraries?// Law Library Journal, 95: 4 (2003) 491–513.
Greenway, S. A. (2007). Library services behind bars.// Bookmobile Outreach Services10:2(2007) 43–61.
Harrell, K. (2005). Attitude is everything, New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
Henry, J. (2010). The meaning of well-being. Retrieved from, 2010. http//www.mountainvalleycentre.com.htm
Hermon, D.A.; Hazler, R. J. (1999). Adherence to a wellness model and perceptions of psychological well-being. // Journal Counseling and Development 77:3(1999)339 –343.
Huff, G. (1987). Social skills training 228-238.//McGurk, B., Thornton, D., and Williams, M. (1987). Applying Psychology to Imprisonment-Theory and Practice, London: HMSO.
Iloeje, M. U. (2001) Libraries and librarians, making a difference in the knowledge Age in a compendium of papers presented at the 39th National Conference and AGM of the NLA, Owerri: NLA. 22-26.
Jordet, J. (2008). Reading and prison libraries. Corrections.com. 9, 2008. http//www.corrections.com/news/article/19578
Kjelsberg, E., Skoglund, T. H., & Rustad, A. B. (2007). Attitudes towards prisoners, as reported by prison inmates, prison employees and college students. BMC Public Health, 7: 71(2007).
Lillyquist, M. (1980). Understanding and changing criminal behav-iour, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1980.
Marshall, A.M.J. (2011). Library services in correctional settings. Information Outlook. 15:1(2011)24-26.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation.// Psychologi-cal Review,50:4(1943) 370–396.
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality, New York: Harper,1954.
Maslow, A. H. (1966). The Psychology of Science, New York: Harper, 1966.
McGuire, J. and Priestly, P. (1985) Offending behaviour, skills and strategies for going straight, London: Batsford, 1985.
McKenna, M. C. (1994). Toward a model of reading attitude acquisition. // E.H. Cramer & M. Castle (Eds.). Fostering the love of read-ing: the affective domain in reading education. (pp. 18-40). Newark, DE.: International Reading Association.
Mefoh et al. (2016). Psychological well-Being in awaitingtrial inmates, The Roles of Loneliness and Social Support. Social Sciences. 5: 5(2016) 64-69. http,//www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ss
Meri, B. (2015). Information needs and reading interests of prisoners. Gerhard Lustig award papers, 523-527. https//zenodo.org/record/17931/files/general_1.pdf
Mfum, C. (2012). Prospects and challenges of prison libraries in Ghana, A case study of the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons. Library Philosophy and Practice, http,//digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/851
Oladunjoye, M. T., Ojinga, G. M., and Yomi-Owojori, T. O. (2018). Information behavior of students towards the use of library infor-mation resources in Universities in Oyo State, Nigeria. // Library Philosophy and Practice. 1834, e-journal. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1834
Otu, S. E., et al. (2013). Coping strategies and adjustment patterns among female inmates in a Nigerian prison. The Journal of the American Correctional Association 37:3(2013) 1–7/12.
Pretorius, E. J. (2008). Reading ability and academic performance in South Africa: Are we fiddling while Rome is burning? // Language Matters: Studies in the language of Africa 33 (2008)169-196.
Punchng.com (2015). Without prison’s vocational training, we’d be back to crime. https://punchng.com/without-prisons-vocational-training-wed-be-back-to-crime-ex-inmates
Rogers, C. R. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality, and interper-sonal relationships, as developed in the client-centered framework. // S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology, A study of a science, 3, 184–256.
Ryff, C.D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. // Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57: 6(1989)1069–1081. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069
Saunders-Wilson, D. (1992). The need for sexual glasnost In Prison Reform Trust (1992) Beyond Containment, the penal response to sex offending. London: Prison Reform Trust,1992.
Shirley, G. (2003). Prison libraries and the internet. ALA’s Office for Diversity and, literacy and Outreach Services. http//olos.ala.org/columns/?p=117
Stern, V. (1989). Bricks of shame, London: Penguin, 1989.
Steven, T. (1995). The role of prison library in the reform and reha-bilitation process. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation: The University of Sheffield, 1995.
Watson, R.F. (1951). Prison libraries, London: Library Association, 1951.
Wilfley,D. E., C. J. Rondon; W.P. Anderson. (1986). Angry women offenders, Case study of a group. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 30:1(1986) 41-51.
Wilson, T.D. (2000). Human information behaviour.// Informing Science 3(2): 49–55.
Wines, E. C. (1871) Transactions of the National Congress on Peni-tentiary and reformatory discipline. Albany, NY: Argus, 1871.World Health Organization (n.d).The determinants of health. http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/Last.(15/07/2018)
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 Helen Uzoezi Emasealu
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
When submitting an article, the authors retain the copyright of the article, giving full rights to the Brazilian Journal of Information Science to publish the text.
The author(s) agree that the article, if editorially accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) Readers/users are free to: - Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format - Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms: - Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. - ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. Notices: - You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation. - No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.