Receiving visits in Dutch prisons: a study on the determinants and consequences of prison visitation

Abstract

One of the few ways individuals can have meaningful contact with the outside world while incarcerated is through prison visits. Prison visitation has steadily gained academic attention in the past decade as theoretical accounts highlight that receiving visits in prison is beneficial and empirical studies largely reinforce this, leading to increased calls for stimulating prison visits. Yet not all results lead to unequivocal conclusions, and little is known about whether, how often, and from whom individuals receive visits and under which circumstances visits affect behavior, especially across different contexts and populations. Work on this topic is complicated as visitation is a heterogeneous experience and the social and incarceration contexts in which visits take place are complex. By taking a comprehensive approach and using multifaceted measures of visitation from several sources, the current dissertation furthers our understanding of prison visitation, its impacts, and its likelihood across people. This dissertation demonstrates that a substantial number of individuals do not receive visits in Dutch prison. While some individuals are less likely to receive visits, this dissertation finds that prison policies can also enable or hinder the receipt of visits. Receiving visits is not always positive for life in prison, but receiving frequent visits, especially before release, seems important for reentry success.