ABSTRACT
Well-designed and delivered sports initiatives can evidently have a positive effect on prisoners’ well-being and the wider prison community, but evidence of its impact on rehabilitation (or re-entry) and successfully reducing reoffending is less clear, with only a handful of studies addressing these issues. Contradictory findings have emerged from activity-based interventions targeting behavioural and attitudinal changes alongside efforts to reduce reoffending. For example Farrington et al. (2002) presented evaluations of two controversial regimes for young offenders introduced in England by the then Conservative government – Thorn Cross High Intensity Training Centre in the North of England and the Colchester Military Corrective Training Centre in the South of England. Both regimes were based on military activities, such as drilling and physical training and Outward Bound courses. The Colchester Centre operated for only 13 months in the late 1990s and was run partially by military staff and overseen by an Army Commandant Governor. The Thorn Cross regime combined military activities with a rehabilitative element, which included educational, life skills and vocational training, programmes designed to address offending behaviour based on developing thinking skills and a prerelease work placement in the community. In addition to studying reconviction rates, Farrington et al.’s evaluation assessed changes in cognitive patterns relevant to criminal behaviour, the ability to control aggression and attitudes to staff and inmates. The psychological assessments showed mixed findings, with those participating in the Thorn Cross regime displaying improved attitudes, self-esteem and control of aggression, along with reduced reoffending rates. However, the same offenders displayed increased pro-offending attitudes, and responsibility and behaviour assessments did not improve following participation. Although the Colchester sample displayed improved attitudes, self-esteem and physical fitness, there was no improvement in attitudes towards offending, control of aggression or self-control. However, fewer reconvictions were observed in the Thorn Cross sample, which Farrington et al. attributed to the cognitive-behavioural skills element of the programme and the considerable efforts made to find work placements for participants in the final weeks of the programme and after release. Such findings highlight the challenge of locating the effective component in holistic sports-based interventions and demonstrate the difficulties faced when trying to draw conclusive evidence from a range of highly diverse sports initiatives.
