Empirical research on the impact and experience of open prisons: state of the field and future directions

Introduction The term 'open prison' can be used to mean different things depending on the jurisdiction or institution, but generally refers to a prison into which residents are not fully or always locked. 1 Relative to their 'closed' counterparts, open prisons generally afford detainees a greater connection to the outside world, often through access to family and day release for employment, volunteering and education. As such, progressive prison reformers and scholars often tout the potential benefits of open conditions for the wellbeing and reintegration of people in custody2 - relative, at least, to the generally deleterious effect of entirely closed regimes. 3 Yet, compared with research on closed prisons, there remains only a modest quantity of empirical work on open prisons, even considering the low proportion of incarcerated people in open prisons in most countries. 4 Similarly, few studies attend to the experience of staffing open prisons, despite a burgeoning literature on prison officers. 5 There must be further research on the impact and experiences of living or working in open prisons to enhance our understanding of different prison regimes and inform penal policy.