Pageau Félix, Cornaz Corinne Devaud, Seaward Helene, Elger Bernice Simone, Wangmo Tenzin
Institute for Biomedical Ethics (IBMB), University Basel, Bernoullistrasse 28 - 2nd Floor, Basel 4056, Switzerland.
Unité Thérapeutique, Centre de Psychiatrie Forensique, Réseau Fribourgeois de Santé Mentale, RFSM Marsens, Centre de soins hospitaliers, L'Hôpital 140, Marsens 1633, Switzerland.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2023 Mar-Apr;87:101870. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2023.101870. Epub 2023 Feb 28.
Incarcerated persons rank themselves according to the crime they have committed. Due to which, those lower in this hierarchy (e.g., paedophiles) are bullied. The goal of this paper was to better knowledge on older incarcerated adults' experiences of crime and social hierarchy in prisons.
Our results comprise data from 50 semi-structured interviews with older incarcerated persons. Data was assessed following thematic analysis.
Our research showed that crime hierarchy occurs in prison and is recognized by older incarcerated individuals. Also, a social hierarchy based on various characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, education, language, mental health) is established within detention centres. This hierarchy is put forth by all persons deprived of liberty, but mostly by the ones at the bottom of the crime hierarchy, thus using it to portray themselves as better human beings than other incarcerated adults. They use the social hierarchy to cope with bullying whilst exhibiting coping mechanisms, such as the narcissistic facade. A concept we put forth as a novel idea.
Our results show that crime hierarchy prevails in prison. Also, we explain the social hierarchy based on ethnicity, education, and other characteristics. Hence, being a victim of bullies, make lower-ranked (on the crime hierarchy) persons resort to social hierarchy to portray themselves as better individuals. This should not be considered as a personality disorder, but rather a narcissistic facade.
被监禁者会根据自己所犯罪行对自己进行排序。正因如此，在这个等级体系中处于较低层级的人（如恋童癖者）会受到欺凌。本文的目的是更深入了解老年被监禁成年人在监狱中的犯罪经历和社会等级情况。
我们的研究结果包含对50名老年被监禁者进行半结构化访谈的数据。数据在进行主题分析后进行评估。
我们的研究表明，犯罪等级在监狱中存在，并且被老年被监禁者所认可。此外，基于各种特征（如种族、教育程度、语言、心理健康状况）的社会等级在拘留中心内得以确立。这种等级划分由所有被剥夺自由的人提出，但主要是由犯罪等级底层的人提出，他们以此来将自己描绘成比其他被监禁成年人更好的人。他们利用社会等级来应对欺凌，同时展现出诸如自恋表象这样的应对机制。这是我们作为一个新颖观点提出的概念。
我们的研究结果表明犯罪等级在监狱中普遍存在。此外，我们解释了基于种族、教育程度和其他特征的社会等级。因此，作为欺凌行为的受害者，犯罪等级较低的人会借助社会等级来将自己描绘成更好的个体。这不应被视为一种人格障碍，而更应看作是一种自恋表象。
