Judicial Complex Zaanstad, Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency, Ministry of Justice and Security, Westzaan, The Netherlands; Section Forensic Psychiatry, Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Handb Clin Neurol. 2023;197:55-63. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-821375-9.00012-8.
Imprisonment is a common punishment in most countries. Goals of imprisonment are often not only retribution, but also prevention. Specific prevention aims to reduce the risk of reoffending of the imprisoned offender. The question is whether the goals of retribution and specific prevention contradict each other. Retribution is not only expressed in taking away ones freedom, but also in the prison environment itself. Prisoners live in a sober regime, with a minimal amount of autonomy. There are few cognitive challenges, meaningful social interaction is reduced significantly, and many prisoners are highly sedentary. In other words, prison can be viewed as an impoverished environment. In the last few decades, much knowledge has been gained on the influence of enriched versus impoverished environment on the brain. In this chapter, we discuss the influence of the impoverished prison environment on brain functions of prisoners, with an emphasis on self-regulation and executive functions, since these functions are (1) often impaired in offenders, (2) highly sensitive to environmental influences, and (3) crucial for successful resocialization. We conclude this chapter by discussing possibilities for and potential effects of enriching prison environments.
监禁是大多数国家常见的惩罚手段。监禁的目的通常不仅是报应，还有预防。具体预防旨在降低被监禁罪犯再次犯罪的风险。问题是报应和具体预防的目标是否相互矛盾。报应不仅表现在剥夺一个人的自由，还表现在监狱环境本身。囚犯生活在清醒的制度下，自主权最小。认知挑战很少，有意义的社会互动大大减少，许多囚犯久坐不动。换句话说，监狱可以被视为一个贫困的环境。在过去的几十年里，人们已经获得了大量关于丰富环境与贫困环境对大脑影响的知识。在这一章中，我们讨论了贫困的监狱环境对囚犯大脑功能的影响，重点是自我调节和执行功能，因为这些功能（1）在罪犯中经常受损，（2）对环境影响高度敏感，（3）对成功再社会化至关重要。我们最后讨论了丰富监狱环境的可能性和潜在影响。
