ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the elements of deprivation of liberty that inmates find most tedious or vexatious. It refers to psychological damage as institutionalization, infantilization, and mortification. Other processes, such as stigmatization, defeatism, and alienation can in the same manner result in psychologically detrimental states and may lead to renewed criminality. The harm most often pointed out by the inmates themselves is of a psychological nature and could most accurately be described as a process leading to neuroses. An index for psychological status at the institution has been constructed for the various subquestions. Whether it is the physical, psychological, or social isolation that is the most discomforting is probably very hard to answer. The intensity of suffering is measured only by the number of phenomena in the institutions that the inmates declare they dislike. Escapes can be seen as more concrete expressions of dissatisfaction at the institutions. The variations are relatively small among types of institutions and the individual institutions.
