Predictive Validity of the HCR-20V3 With Incarcerated Males in Mexico City

This prospective study investigated the predictive validity of the Historical-Clinical-Risk Management–20, Version 3 (HCR-20V3) in a sample of incarcerated males in a Mexico City prison. Data were collected from 114 male adults incarcerated in a medium-security prison in Mexico City. Participants were an average of 36.86 years old ( SD = 9.93 years) and were all born in Mexico. Data collection for HCR-20V3 ratings involved clinical interviews and a review of institutional documents. Aggressive incidents for a 3-month period following each completed risk assessment were collected through document review, self-report follow-up interviews, and guard reports. Participants who engaged in institutional violence during the 3-month follow-up period were given significantly higher summary risk ratings and had higher HCR-20 total scores than the participants who did not engage in violence (area under the curve [AUC] ranged from .71 to .77). The study demonstrated support for the cross-cultural utility of the HCR-20V3 for institutional violence in a Mexican prison.

An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Recent findings suggest that emotional instability and psychological disorder rate in prison is three times higher than in the general population. Prisoners – especially males – are also at increased risk of all-cause victimization including violence and self-harm. This research sought to identify and analyze the emotions that incarcerated males at the Correctional Institutions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have had and or were encountering, as well as the manner these emotions were being dealt with. It also sets out to ascertain some of the factors that were playing prominent roles in the lives of incarcerated males regarding those emotions. Up to date, there has been no research work done on males and their emotions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines nor any study regarding inmates in the correctional institution. The administration of a short questionnaire formed the quantitative collection instrument, which provided data from 150 inmates. The data analysis was performed via SPSS, and the findings point to a cross-section of relational factors that are relevant to males and their emotions (namely, abuse, crying, bonds, and suicidal thoughts). It was found that males are struggling emotionally with understanding their identity and are inadvertently pressured to adhere to societal directives by restricting their emotional expression.

Forgotten Variables and Incarcerated Males

Religiosity tends to mitigate mental health challenges for incarcerated males. Further, negative life events experienced during childhood tend to exacerbate young adult challenges, resulting in incarceration. The current study, based on Koenig (2015) and the Developmental Adaptation Model (DAM; Martin & Martin, 2002), used self-report data from 261 older male inmates, ages 45-82 (M=57.59; SD =8.41) to test a path analytic model regressing religiosity (public religious attendance and private activities) on to known correlates and antecedents. Nested model testing found that the association between self-reported life events experienced as a child and later life religiosity was mediated by forgiveness of self and social provisions, controlling for age, race, and education (IE = -.014; p=.03, one-tail). Distal and proximal assessments influenced religiosity in this sample. Future research will want to explore assessing religiosity and possible therapeutic interventions relative to childhood difficulties and forgiveness of self for incarcerated males.

Childhood Abuse Classes for Incarcerated Men and Women: Are There Unique Gender Patterns in Abuse Classes?

Childhood adversity is predictive of poorer health and behavioral health outcomes in adulthood. Males and females are known to experience different types of childhood adversity, with females experiencing more sexual and emotional harm in childhood. Latent class analysis (LCA) has been used to identify patterns among types of childhood adversity. These studies have constructed class structures using single gender or blended gender samples. Class structures based on blended gender samples, however, may misrepresent the nuances of gender-specific adversity histories through averaging, potentially distorting the relative need for gender-specific types of intervention. This study investigated whether latent class structures of childhood abuse are equivalent for incarcerated males and females. Our sample included 4,204 residents (3,986 males, 218 females) drawn from a single prison system. Residents completed an hour-long audio computer-assisted self-interview that included questions on 10 types of childhood abuse, depression, and anxiety symptoms, the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and Criminal Sentiments Scale-Modified (CSS-M). Overall, female residents were both more likely to experience childhood abuse and have more extensive victimization experiences. Small subgroups of males, however, had even more extensive victimization experiences. Abuse patterns for males and females, while optimally clustering in four classes, are rather unique, especially for higher abuse classes, in terms of distribution of membership and types of abuse. These differences may matter in terms of identifying the relative need for therapeutic intervention among incarcerated males and females and targeting those interventions in ways that reflect the gradient and density of therapeutic need. The next step is to test whether using blended or gendered latent class structures matters in terms of predicting outcomes, such as prison-based behavioral health problems, suicidality, and victimization.