ADAPTATION OF YOUNG INMATES TO INCARCERATION: MACEDONIAN CASE

The incarceration is stressful and traumatic experience for everyone. The inmates can adopt different coping or adjustment strategies to the new environment. What they adopt depends on the environmental factors and personal characteristics, as well as of their own sense of protection from victimization. In the literature, three types of adaptation are predominantly recognized: cooperation, withdrawal and resistance and violent behavior. Based on that, this paper examines the manifestation and connection of different adopting strategies of young inmates with their personal as well as institutional features during incarceration. The analysis is based on qualitative data collected by using in-depth interviews with incarcerated young inmates in one educational-correctional facility. The main findings pertain to the recognition that young inmates have adopted several coping strategies in order to adopt to the prison life, but mainly develop violent behaviour during their incarceration. This small scale survey is particularly valuable in filling up the exiting empirical gap and findings within criminological literature and might be used as basis for developing prerequisites for eliminating, or at least, mitigating negative consequences of the deprivations related to loss of liberty, security, autonomy etc. generated by pains of imprisonment. Key words: adaptation, young inmates, incarceration, correctional facility, circle of violence