Cognition of fair social interaction and public order in a correctional institution

Abstract

According to traditional corrective education, sincere and emotional interaction is effective in changing prisoners'personalities. However, some recent studies insist that certain psychological operations such as counseling are not effective and occasionally have a negative effect on rehabilitation. In this study, on the other hand, we predicted that keeping public order by treating prisoners with fairness is effective. We asked prisoners to rate staff at their correctional institution, to describe their attitude toward decisions made there, and to give their view of public order in society. We found that fair treatment of prisoners promotes acceptance of investigation results regarding violations or punishments, volition of rehabilitation after release, and internal-ization of public order. Furthermore, we confirmed that fairness by staff indicates to prisoners that public order within the institution is being maintained.