Risks of imprisonment

For authorities in prison policy and administration, most often risk is about people who commit crime and the probability that they will commit additional crimes after release. But prisons also bring risks to other groups and situations.

This paper discusses the perception and position of risk when prisons are seen as a state institution, in a prison policy and administration perspective; in an ethical perspective; and from prisoners’ perspectives seeing prisons as places for human beings and social encounters. Also, in a prison sociology perspective (seeing prisons as institutions in society), prisons may represent a risk.