Background

Incarcerated persons rank themselves according to the crime they have committed. Due to which, those lower in this hierarchy (e.g., paedophiles) are bullied. The goal of this paper was to better knowledge on older incarcerated adults' experiences of crime and social hierarchy in prisons.

Methods

Our results comprise data from 50 semi-structured interviews with older incarcerated persons. Data was assessed following thematic analysis.

Results

Our research showed that crime hierarchy occurs in prison and is recognized by older incarcerated individuals. Also, a social hierarchy based on various characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, education, language, mental health) is established within detention centres. This hierarchy is put forth by all persons deprived of liberty, but mostly by the ones at the bottom of the crime hierarchy, thus using it to portray themselves as better human beings than other incarcerated adults. They use the social hierarchy to cope with bullying whilst exhibiting coping mechanisms, such as the narcissistic facade. A concept we put forth as a novel idea.

Discussion

Our results show that crime hierarchy prevails in prison. Also, we explain the social hierarchy based on ethnicity, education, and other characteristics. Hence, being a victim of bullies, make lower-ranked (on the crime hierarchy) persons resort to social hierarchy to portray themselves as better individuals. This should not be considered as a personality disorder, but rather a narcissistic facade.

中文翻译：

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瑞士老年被监禁者心理健康定性研究的犯罪等级、受害和应对结果

背景

被监禁的人根据他们所犯的罪行对自己进行排名。因此，该等级中较低的人（例如，恋童癖者）被欺负。本文的目的是更好地了解年长的被监禁成年人在监狱中的犯罪经历和社会等级制度。

方法

我们的结果包含来自 50 次对老年被监禁人员的半结构化访谈的数据。在主题分析之后评估数据。

结果

我们的研究表明，犯罪等级制度出现在监狱中，并被年长的被监禁人员所认可。此外，拘留中心内还建立了基于各种特征（例如，种族、教育、语言、心理健康）的社会等级制度。这种等级制度是由所有被剥夺自由的人提出的，但主要是由处于犯罪等级制度底部的人提出的，因此利用它来将自己描绘成比其他被监禁的成年人更好的人。他们利用社会等级来应对欺凌，同时展示应对机制，例如自恋的外表。我们作为一个新颖的想法提出的概念。

讨论

我们的结果表明，犯罪等级制度在监狱中盛行。此外，我们还解释了基于种族、教育和其他特征的社会等级制度。因此，作为欺凌者的受害者，使排名较低（在犯罪等级上）的人诉诸社会等级制度以将自己描绘成更好的人。这不应被视为人格障碍，而是一种自恋的表象。