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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
fifteen items in the final rankings. The third position belongs to
the value of Freedom. Similarly, Justice (6th position) is closely
related to the imprisonment and subsequent isolation. In general,
we can say that Slovak convicted women perceive the following
values as the most significant values in their lives: traditional
values (Health), integrating values aimed at interpersonal
relationships and family structures (Family, Children) and
traditional values reflecting the sense of order (Freedom, Justice,
Dignity, Tolerance) concerning their current situation and
environment.
Spiritual values such as Travelling, Art, Belief in God achieved
the lowest score. This result is consistent with the Czech
research results again. The fact that the value of Travelling
achieved the lowest score among all fifteen variables is related to
convicted women`s social situation, i.e. with the strict isolation
they have to live. The second variable with the lowest score was
the value of Art. The imprisonment sentence fulfils the
retributive function. If it also fulfilled the re-educational or re-
socialising function, the support and development of spiritual
values should belong to the essential tools for re-socialisation,
enculturation, cultivation and personalisation of adult people's
personalities. The Slovak penitentiary system provides cultural-
educational activities which represent essential tools for re-
socialisation. Moreover, there is a work position of a pedagogue
in the educational system who carries out cultural-educational
activities and is responsible for their realisation. Correctional
facilities organise various cultural-educational events such as
debates with famous people from social life (artists, actors,
painters, singers) or concerts. Despite this fact, art is not
important for convicted women.
A very interesting result is the low-scored value Belief in God
(the third value with the lowest score). Based on Spearman`s rho
coefficient`s statistical analysis, we obtained a weak negative
relationship (rs=-0,173*) between the Belief in God and
convicted women`s age. It means that older convicted women
attribute the lowest importance to this value. In their isolation,
we would assume that they would recur to belief, religion and
God more and that this value would have greater importance for
them. According to the Decree no.368/2008 about the
Imprisonment Policy (§ 68), correctional facilities provide
spiritual and pastoral services and activities such as masses,
debates, pastoral visits, religious sacraments and consecrations.
They also lead study groups, provide religious literature, solve
social problems and provide cultural-educational activities. They
have rooms for educating and supporting convicted women in
their re-socialisation. These facilities also provide specialised
preparation for its employees. These activities include holy
masses, homilies, dialogues, catecheses, biblical lessons, singing
choirs, TV and videos, cultural programmes, lectures and
debates, prayer meetings, Rosaries and the Stations of the Cross
prayers. Also Clear, Hardyman, Stout, Lucken, Dammer (2000)
interpreted the Belief in God by convicted women, and they
defined its importance in this specific group as intrinsic
orientations (dealing with guilt, finding a new way of life,
dealing with the loss – especially of freedom), and extrinsic
orientations (safety, material comforts, access to outsiders,
inmate relations). However, it is evident from our research that,
despite their isolation, convicted women do not consider this
spiritual value, Belief in God, very important.
However, a statistically significant relationship (a weak negative
relationship) was evident to the value Family (rs=-0,202*)
concerning convicted women`s age. Older convicted women
perceive this value as less important as well. The research set
considered Family to be the second most important value, but
there is a reverse situation by older convicted women. This
attitude may be related to the higher age of their children who
are already not so dependent on their mothers (convicted) and
persistent isolation and weakening of extramural relationships.
Vanková (2018, p. 580) also points to this fact, and she says that
„in most cases, a person released from the execution of a prison
sentence has no place to return to, is jobless, homeless, and his
closest family, friends and acquaintances turned their backs to
him.“ Nedbálková (2003, p. 481) compares the prison
environment to various microworlds where roles from social
macro cosmos take place, and convicted women focus on
creating relationships there. For this reason, they may create
relationships that substitute extramural relationships and copy
the world outside. There even arise the so-called pseudo families
in women`s prisons. From the sociological point of view, we can
perceive these families as „an effort to bring along the everyday
life in the facility to the structures of broader society to achieve a
better reality for their lives.“ Pseudo families are „direct
conscious substitutions of family relationships, and they alleviate
the pain in prison everyday life. However, these relationships
cannot be reduced only to friendly relationships. Friendships
differ from family relationships, and they emerge among their
peers.“ (Heffernan, 1972, p. 88, cited in Nedbálková, 2003, p.
481). Lukáč (2015, p. 54) also emphasises the specific features
of life in the penitentiary environment. According to him,
prisonization, e.i. the adjustment and acceptance of prison rules
and norms, is „often the only way how to survive in prison
without severe damage to mental health. However, it is the way
of gradual depletion of such behavioural patterns that are
indispensable for healthy acting in freedom“.
Analysing the relationship between values and achieved level of
education, we found out that respondents with education 2A and
3C (low education) perceive values Money, Freedom, Family,
Children, Job and Justice as more important when compared to
convicted women with education 3A and 3B (medium
education). However, we observed a reverse tendency in the
variable Dignity – respondents with higher education scored this
variable as more important than respondents with the lowest
education. Paradoxically, the value Education achieved the
lowest score by convicted women with primary education (low
education). It is evident that they are not aware of the need and
importance of education. There can be several reasons for this
attitude: incarcerated learners are less educated, have a higher
drop-out rate and a more often negative experience with
education, they often have learning difficulties they are addicted
to drugs or alcohol and are more impulsive and frustrated
(Champion, 2012, Ross, Fabiano, 1985, cited in Lukáčová et al.,
2018, p. 64-65).
4.1 Research limitations
Various factors have an impact on the validity and reliability of
quantitative research in penitentiary conditions. The main reason
lies in the fact that, in Slovak conditions, it is impossible to carry
out research directly with accused and convicted people. These
factors include administering a questionnaire, the time provided
for its filling, possible (undesired) cooperation between
respondents when answering the questionnaire items. Another
relevant factor is understanding the questionnaire items –
convicted people form a heterogeneous group, and there are
respondents of various educational and personal levels. Even
though researchers try to formulate the items as clearly as
possible, they cannot be sure that all convicted people will
understand them. We could not use the standardised research
tool in this environment because its length and complexity
would provide less valid results than our designed tool. For this
reason, it is not possible to compare our research results with the
results which fulfil the norms. Comparing with other researches
is more difficult as well. To achieve the research objectivity,
researchers must ensure the objective interpretation of obtained
results. It is crucial to take into account that the penitentiary
world differs from the world outside. This difference is valid
also for the words and their meanings – convicted people can
perceive them with a different meaning than the majority
society. Nedbálková (2003) mentions an example of this
difference. She found out that convicted women perceive the
concept "friend "as a reliable person in prison, as a person for a
sexual relationship. However, there is a reverse situation in the
lesbian community and broader public too.
Literature:
1. Clear, T. R., Hardyman, P. L., Stout, B., Lucken, K., Dammer,
H. R.: The Value of Religion in Prison. An Inmate Perspective.
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