Does Nature Contact in Prison Improve Well-Being? Mapping Land Cover to Identify the Effect of Greenspace on Self-Harm and Violence in Prisons in England and Wales

This article presents crucial new evidence that prisons with a higher proportion of the area within their perimeter given over to natural vegetation exhibit lower levels of self-harm and violence (both between prisoners and toward staff). Extending prior qualitative prison-level studies that find th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Annals of the American Association of Geographers 2020-12, Vol.111 (6), p.1779-1795
Main Authors:	Moran, Dominique, Jones, Phil I., Jordaan, Jacob A., Porter, Amy E.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Aggression bienestar carceral geography contacto con la naturaleza Crowding espacio verde geografía carcelaria Geographic information systems Geographical information systems greenspace Information systems Land cover Land use Mapping Natural vegetation nature contact prisión prison Prisoners Prisons Remote sensing Self destructive behavior Self injury Stocking density Vegetation Violence Well being 接触大自然监狱地理
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Summary:	This article presents crucial new evidence that prisons with a higher proportion of the area within their perimeter given over to natural vegetation exhibit lower levels of self-harm and violence (both between prisoners and toward staff). Extending prior qualitative prison-level studies that find that nature contact influences prisoners' self-reported well-being, it uses geographic information systems mapping to generate a new prison greenspace data set, capturing-for a cross section of prisons in England and Wales-the percentage of greenspace within their perimeters. Econometric estimations confirm that greenspace fosters prisoner well-being, in that there are lower levels of self-harm and violence in prisons with more greenspace. These relationships are statistically robust, and they persist when we control for prison size, type, age, and level of crowding. These findings are noteworthy in that they both extend understandings of well-being in custodial environments and have the potential to significantly influence future prison design. The article also provides important new insights demonstrating links between greenspace and well-being that have significance beyond the specifics of carceral environments.
ISSN:	2469-4452 2469-4460 1467-8306