PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS ON LONG- TERM SERVING INMATES AND ATTENDANT COPING STRATEGIES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Florence Chukwudi

Department of Psychology

Nasarawa State University, Keffi

ABSTRACT

The general aim of this study examined and analysed the psychological distress and level of coping in inmates. The concept of imprisonment was expressed. The researcher looked at the pattern of sentence in Nasarawa, the trends and perspectives of prisoner’s mental assessment, the general review of Nigerian prisons system as different from other areas. All these are in literature review. In the discussion, human rights of prisoners in Nigeria, the health and safety practices in the prisons, how prisoners distress are handled by the authorities, what to do to reduce the distress, the range of prison sentences and the age group of the prisoners that are likely to suffer from distress are highlighted. The study consists of one hundred respondents (100). They were sampled from Keffi Prisons Nasarawa state. Age ranges of respondents were aged 18 to 60 years, randomly selected from the prisons in Keffi town. A validated instrument known as questionnaire on psychological distress were administered on the respondents in groups of A and B that is male and female respondents. There was no difference between the long term and short term inmates hence the calculated value is 0.16 at 0.5, df = 1 in hypothesis one. In hypothesis two there is coping adjustment between male and female inmates hence it is accepted with 4.17 at 0.5, df = 1. Base on these findings, it was recommended that the prison environment should be free of stressful events, such as using shift buckets and should encourage more religious activities in the prison yard.

Keywords: Psychological distress, long term serving inmates, short term serving inmates, prisons, coping strategies