A Socio-Psychological Study of the Modes of Adaptation Utilized by Prisoners

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the problems that inmates at the National Bilibid Prisons initially face when they enter a prison institution and the coping mechanisms they employ in their effort to adapt to their environment. Corollary to this an attempt was made to ascertain what kind of prison subculture exists within the walls of the National Penitentiary, Fifty respondents located within the maximum-security compound of the NBP were randomly selected and an interview schedule and an open-ended questionnaire designed by the researcher was utilized. The results of the survey showed that the problems prisoners face in prison are those which pertain to the fact that they have no physical freedom, their failure to provide for their families financially, suffering within the prison itself and rejection of certain family members. Regarding the ways in which inmates dealt with their problems, it was seen that prisoners mostly utilized indirect coping mechanisms. They either turn to religious modes of coping or carry out numerous activities to pass the time. Only a small minority take direct action against particular problems by carrying out such activities which will lawfully and directly resolve their predicament.