ABSTRACT
The perception of prisons by their prisoners has been an object of research for decades. Rehabilitation being an important aim of confinement, especially among youth inmates, it is essential to examine the influence of the prison officers on prisoners' pains of imprisonment and interpersonal violence. Sykes distinguishes six different pains of imprisonment: deprivation of liberty, deprivation of heterosexual relationships, deprivation of autonomy, deprivation of security, deprivation of goods and services, including the deprivation of education and work. In general, the most frequently used type of violence is verbal violence whereas sexual violence is reported rather seldomly. Nevertheless, the individual deprivation of imprisonment does not automatically lead to interpersonal violence to salve the feelings of pain. The data used in the current analysis came from the German longitudinal research project 'Violence and Suicide in Youth Correctional Facilities'. The German juvenile correctional facilities are legally restricted to inmates between 14 and 24 years.
