Research With Prisoners

The only research that is allowed to be done on prisoners is material about their lives or conditions within incarceration.

Prisoners can also include individuals in hospitals or drug treatment facilities, work-release, or house arrest, all by court order no matter if they are adults or minors

However, it does not include those on parole


Minimal Risk for Prisoners

includes the probability and mangitude of harm within nromal of medical, dental, or psychological examination of healthy persons

Non-prisoner minimal risk

This definition includes discomfort, not just physical or psychological harm

Who regulates this?

  • The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP)


Prisons can be involved in 4 categories of risk in research


Challenges to Consent with Prisoners

  • free choice

    • without coercion or undue influence

      • need to be informed that participation has no effect on status of charge or sentence

  • the use of incentives

    • keep them appropriate to the research setting and population

    • should not infringe on ability to make a sound and informed decision e.g. if incentive is food, money, extra calls, medical care, quality of food, earnings, living conditions, creating pressure to participate

  • Descriptions of Confidentiality

    • need to be written at a reading level that is accessible for participants

    • risk and minimization plan explicitly states

    • state what info would be available to correctional staff

  • Limits to Confidentiality

    • let them know what kind of information has to be reported such as escape plans or self harm

    • consent forms may expose if prisoner has a certain condition, illness, conviction, or other info they may not want staff or other inmates to know about, so they need to make informed decisions

Assessing Risk for prisoners

Harm in asking questions

  • limited support system to allow them to debrief afterwards, or means and skills to process thier feelings, even going for a run or talking to a friend afterwards. So researchers need to provide strategies to help prsioners when talking about senstive or emtionally heavy topics

Breaches of confidentilaity

  • unique to prison setting and strategies to manage the risk

  • nature of conviction

    • can interview a variety of convictions and only keep the ones you needed to conceal those who don’t want to be exposed

  • Health status

    • quality of life for those with HIV, can do the same as first scenario, and talking in private

  • Prison life

    • e.g. if focus groups are used, still make the same statement about not being able to guarantee

    • some things shared can be used against them by other inmates, so individual interviews for sensitive topics is best

IRB Requirements for Prsion Studies

  • composition required for prison studies boards

    • no association with prisons involved

    • one must be a prisoner or representative with background experience to step in the shoes of prisoners

    • e.g. former prisoners, chaplains, psychologists, social workers, service workers, rights’ advocates, etc.

      • must be a voting member on the board

  • Required findings can only include

  • additionally must:

    • be presented in a lnaguage that is understandable to population

    • be clearly informed about pparole status being unaffected

    • have adeqaute provisions for follow-up examination or care, and be infromed that the provisions have been made

  • expempt and expedited reveiw of prisoner research

    • expedited is usually discouraged by OHRP

    • some studies incidentally involved prisoners in broader studies, and in some corcumstance that is ok

  • use of waivers

    • is fine as long as no effect on parole is communicated


If a research participant gets incarcerated

How to actually Access Prisoners

  • jurisdiction can be local, state, or federal level

    • policies differ in various counties

    • juvenile facilities have different processes and policies

    • incarcerations has different phases, as well.

    • must get familiar with policies of target prisons

Usually have a review process sometimes similiar to the IRB within facility

  • superintendent has final say for if researcher gets access

    • seek safety of ALL involved

      • is there office space? will it get in the way of good daily routines? Is there enough staff?

  • Can form relationships and partners with prison social workers, psychologists, and custody staff while conducting study

  • can somteimtes further gals of different departments