Predictors of prison adjustment amongst male incarcerated offenders in a private maximum-security correctional centre

English: Offenders adjust to incarceration in different ways. When adjusting to a highly structured, austere and unique maximum-security correctional centre, this adjustment process is further compounded. The aim of this research was to determine which variables are the best predictors of correctional adjustment amongst male incarcerated offenders in a private maximum-security correctional centre in South Africa. The subsequent purpose of the research was to determine how male offenders with different coping strategies, aggression levels, perceived social support, ages, offender type classifications (first time offender vs repeat offender) and sentence lengths adjust to incarceration in a private maximum-security correctional centre. The conceptualisation of this research was based on existing literature albeit very little prior research could be contextualised due to the very distinctive private, maximum-security correctional system in South Africa. N=418 offenders voluntarily participated in this study and the Prison Adjustment Questionnaire was used to measure the offenders’ Internal (uncomfortableness around other offenders, correctional staff, anger and trouble sleeping), External (heated arguments and fights with other offenders and correctional staff) and Physical Adjustment (frequency of illness, injury, fear of being attacked and taken advantage of). This study was the first South African research endeavour that made use of the PAQ. The PAQ indicated good internal consistencies and this validates the use of the instrument on a sample of male incarcerated offenders in a private, maximum-security correctional centre in South Africa. Participants conveniently situated within pockets of the correctional centre, such as the school, the skills development workshops and social work group sessions were invited to participate in this study. The results of this study indicated that offenders’ Internal and External Adjustment were predicted by a number of variables used in this study and these findings were of medium practical importance. Firstly, the combination of Friends and Avoidance Coping significantly predicted an offenders’ Internal Adjustment. The combination of Friends, Avoidance Coping and Problem-Solving also significantly predicted and explained 12.4% of the variance in the Internal Adjustment of offenders and the results were of medium practical importance. Furthermore, the combination of Anger and Friends significantly predicted the offenders External Adjustment. The combination of three predictor variables namely Anger, Friends and Verbal Aggression significantly predicted and explained 11.2% of the variance in the External Adjustment of the offenders and the results were of medium practical importance. None of the identified independent variables (coping strategies, aggression levels, perceived social support, age, offender type classification or sentence length) that predicted the Physical Adjustment of the offenders were of any practical importance. More research on offender adjustment to private, maximum-security correctional centres in South Africa is required to validate these findings.