Abstract
PRISM (Promoting Risk Interventions by Situational Management) has multiple uses. In this paper we describe case studies that consider, first, the riot and the consequent loss of Glendairy prison in Barbados, and second, the functioning of the temporary prison at Harrison's point created to contain, on a short-term basis, over 1000 prisoners. We analyze the organizational processes that led to the violence at Glendairy and we consider the processes that maintained the high level of violence at Harrison's Point. We conclude by providing recommendations about changes in institutional practice designed to prevent the transmission of the culture of acceptance of violence to the new state-of-the art prison being created. Moving from the practical to the theoretical, we argue that the application of PRISM can promote the understanding of the theoretical processes—risk processes—that operate to increase or decrease the likelihood of violence in institutions, whether prisons or forensic mental health facilities.
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