Private and Charitable Agencies as a Critical Strategy for improving the Inmates’ Well-being

The importance of other social agents in maximizing inmates’ well-being is examined in the paper. It responds to the research question, “Should prisons collaborate with other Australian public, private, and international nonprofit organizations to improve the welfare of the inmates? ” The subject was changed in reaction to ongoing discussions about convicted criminals’ rights to civil liberties. Supporters of this viewpoint contend that despite having committed the preponderance of the world’s worst crimes against humanity, prisoners have a right to fair treatment under the constitution and international law. A significant number of the individuals are also being convicted of crimes they did not commit. Achieving the project’s objectives will require types of qualitative and quantitative data. For example, the data needed to construct a comprehensive background include historical facts about the civil rights abuses and injustices perpetrated against the inmates. However, quantitative information will also play critical roles in establishing the correlation between the growth in strategic alliances and the percentage decrease in recidivism as well as changes in the gross domestic product associated with the increase in the inmates’ participation in economic activities.

Introduction

The deleterious conditions characterizing the prisons have dire consequences on the inmates’ physical, social and mental wellbeing According to Hanna (2016) leading human rights institutions have launched campaigns against the life-threatening risk factors associated with the correctional facilities such as overcrowding, sexual abuse, and bullying (p.43). The released offenders are more likely to engage in greater crimes than the general population due to the economic and social hardships that they face while reintegrating into the community (Broadhurst et al., p. 2).

However, virtually all correction facilities across the world are not able to deliver adequate support services without partnering with the community-based organizations such as mental health centers, vocational training, and other learning institutions among other social agencies (Gideon et al., 2017, p. 202; ). As a result, the researcher modified the project topic to cover the roles of these agencies in greater depth (Phelan 2017: week 4, slide 20). It focuses on how the agencies should collaborate to respond appropriately to the changing welfare needs of the inmates and the society as a whole.

Developing the topic was interesting due to the easy access to multiple articles on the offenders’ rights and civil liberties. The concern over the inmates’ physical and mental health stators first caught the public attention in the 1980s (Shepherd et al., 2016 p. 2). Since then, a myriad of prisoners’ rights crusaders and social work experts have been publishing articles on the issues. However, most of the publications do not comprehensively cover the importance of the agencies in addressing the dilemmas over the management of the inmates’ welfare (Personal Reflection 2017: tutorial week 6, slide 14). The researcher, therefore, employed a new approach in order to enlighten various Australian public, private and non-governmental institutions on their roles in transforming the inmates from troublemakers to responsible and productive members of the society.

The researcher was also dedicated to coming up with a topic that would add significant value to the topic (Personal Reflection 2017: tutorial week 4). Nevertheless, it was time-consuming to review the articles and identify the knowledge gap. It was also challenging to create a question that provides an opportunity for the researcher to find the right balance between his/her interests and existing theories on the ethical concerns over the inmates’ well-being (Booth et al., 2008, p. 35). However, thorough and critical analysis of the class notes and topics offered the needed guidance in managing these challenges (Personal Reflection 2017: tutorial week 4).

Data Needed

Qualitative data on the progress that the correctional facilities and partnering agencies have made towards enhancing the inmates’ well-being will account for the highest parts of the results, discussions, recommendations and conclusion (Denscombe, 2014, p. 297). However, quantitative information will also be employed to provide the audience with better insights on the partnerships effects on the increase in orderliness as well as economic growth of the society. The inmates’ input through word of mouth, experts’ opinions and published articles would provide this information.

The stakeholders’ respondents will be used to establish the correlation between the rise in strategic alliances and the percentage drop rate of recidivism; the changes in the gross domestic product associated with the increase in the inmates’ participation in economic activities; as well as the income of the released offenders’ families. The data will be crucial in constructing graphs, pie charts and co-relational diagrams (Personal Reflection 2017: tutorial week 6). As such, the secondary data will be supplemented with information generated from the primary sources in order to deliver a high-quality paper.

Data Creation Techniques

Document analysis, semi-structured questionnaire, and interview will be the paper’s primary data creation methods. According to Vogt et al. (2017), document analysis will continue dominating social and qualitative studies due to their growing importance in gaining background about particular phenomena (p.83). In this case, the methodology will involve a systematic analysis of various scholarly documents relating to changes in the inmates’ welfare resulting from the joint projects between prisons and other institutions (Personal Reflection 2017: tutorial week 6, slide 20). It follows a step and step procedure in identifying relevant data sources and reviewing the information vis-à-vis the research question.

The researcher will use the Boolean operator (and) to create appropriate search terms (Morgan, 2013, p. 77). For example, employing the phrase “agency partnerships and changes in inmates’ well-being” will help to generate credible sources from the scholarly databases such as the Google Scholar (Personal reflection 2017: week 4, slide 28). In-depth review of the selected document’s yield valuable information on the known benefits of the alliances as well as the potential values to be achieved by taking new approaches to delivering better social and health services to the offenders. Denscombe (2014) found that the data triangulation involved in such document analysis often create a confluence of evidence thereby enhancing the paper’s overall credibility (p.154). Corroborating the most important points across the data sets and evaluating various researchers’ perspectives about the inmates’ stators would eliminate biases.

However, shortcomings such as the significant difference between the research question and the documents’ focus limit their relevance to only a few issues under investigation. As Flynn and Goldsmith (2012) explain, the secondary sources do not always provide all the critical information on the new study topics (p.29). The inconsistencies among the various selected resources present impediments to deriving coherent conclusions. For example, in cases where two professionals have contradicting opinion as to whether collaboration between the prisons and the other rehabilitation institutions should be encouraged, the researcher may ignore article with dissenting views. Nevertheless, the paper emphasizes the importance of diversity and critical and creative thinking hence it eliminates chances of engaging in such biases.

Questionnaires and interview as the primary data source will be well structured to cover the information that is hardly accessible via other means (Phelan 2017: week 6, slide 6). According to Vogt et al. (2017), semi-structured questionnaires or interviews involve posing carefully selected queries to the respondents (p.110). As opposed to the structured questionnaires, the participants have the opportunity to deviate from the script thereby providing broader views on the issues under investigation. For example, the inmates will be free to express their opinion on how access to public services would improve their experiences. The questionnaires will be further used to encourage the social workers currently working at the correctional facilities to identify the emerging partnership opportunities and their positive consequences on the society (Personal reflection: week 7). Similarly, managers at various levels human rights organization will be contacted to update the audience on the ongoing partnerships, the achievements so far and the need to foster more strategic alliances.

Besides having the ability to cover the special aspects of the topic, questionnaires and interviews are also cost-efficient, scalable, and confidential. (Phelan 2017: week 8, slide 14). The researcher will have options of distributing the printed versions to the inmates in the nearby correctional facilities or emailing the social workers. They can also be reproduced and delivered to the respondents across the globe within a few minutes. The online tools such as SSPS allow the users to analyze the responses quickly and categorize the findings into appropriate segments depending on their similarities and variance in opinion (Vogt et al., 2017, p. 231).

Nevertheless, the use of semi-structured questionnaires and interviews are also characterized by challenges. Some participants may lack the capacity to provide conscientious responses (Denscombe, 2014, p. 203). This is because of inadequate knowledge as well as reluctance to think deeply about the questions asked. Lack of personal touch during the analysis also means that the researcher may struggle to account for the variance in attitudes and opinions of the participants. The researcher will first sensitize the targeted respondents about the importance of the study on their future to avoid cases of conscientious responses. The study will further avoid leading questions and jargons that might not be understood by the respondents. The contacts for the participants will also be obtained to allow for clarification. However, the researcher would maintain high levels of ethics by seeking permission from the relevant authorities and respecting the respondents’ confidentiality (Personal reflections 2017: week 5; Hammersley and Traianou, 2012, p. 82).

Potential Data Sources

Publications by agencies such as Human Rights Watch and Civil Liberties Associations, not document ethical matters surrounding the inmates’ welfare (Personal Reflection 2017: week 8). They also provide profound insights on the developments in the campaign against the degrading conditions of the correctional facilities. Although the agencies’ input will come in handy in developing the problem statement section, the researcher requires vast and updated knowledge on the contemporary risks factors undermining the relevant institutions’ efforts to maximize the inmates’ welfare(Phelan 2017: week 4, slide 26; week 8, slide 15). Therefore, access to recent peer-reviewed journals notably those published within the last three years is critical to developing and justifying appropriate thesis (Denscombe, 2014, p.229).

The literature review, methodology, findings, discussions as well as the conclusions require a combination of the historical facts and timely empirical evidence on the real situations at the correctional facilities. The literature review will comprise theories explaining the past and current relationships between the correctional facilities and leading public and private agencies (Personal reflections 2017: week 8). Books covering various branches of ethics such as utilitarianism, deontology, and Kantianism will help to construct a comprehensive theoretical concept to guide the study (Hanna, 2016, p. 44).

Moreover, the number of similar past studies analyzed is positively correlated with choosing ideal sampling techniques, and research designs. According to Vogt et al. (2017), the more knowledgeable a researcher is, on the advantages and shortcomings of particular research designs the higher the chances of reaching valid and reliable conclusions (p.347). Given the sensitive nature of the inmates’ rights to civil liberties, reviewing multiple pieces of information further plays leading roles in minimizing conflicts between the study’s participants. For example, the ethical implications sections of the previous studies would allow the researcher to implement the best action plans for eliminating issues that might compromise the respondents’ rights to confidentiality, and beneficence (Phelan 2017: week 5, slide 6). However, accurate interpretations of the theories consume a lot of time thereby affecting efforts applied in other areas. The time constraints will be eliminated through proper planning.

References

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Ferguson, C. (2015). Parole in Western Australia: An analysis of parole cancellations of female offenders. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (501), 1- 15.

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Shepherd, S. M., Ogloff, J. R. P., Shea, D., Pfeifer, J. E., & Paradies, Y. (2017). Aboriginal prisoners and cognitive impairment: the impact of dual disadvantage on Social and Emotional Wellbeing. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 61(4), 385-397.

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