Peer support as a bridge for participation in prison activities and services: A qualitative study with foreign national prisoners
| Author | Flore Croux,Liesbeth De Donder,Bart Claes,Stijn Vandevelde,Dorien Brosens |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211031347 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211031347
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2023, Vol. 23(1) 39 –59
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/17488958211031347
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Peer support as a bridge for
participation in prison
activities and services:
A qualitative study with
foreign national prisoners
Flore Croux
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Ghent University, Belgium
Liesbeth De Donder
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Bart Claes
Avans Hogeschool, The Netherlands
Stijn Vandevelde
Ghent University, Belgium
Dorien Brosens
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Abstract
This paper investigates the role of informal peer support as a bridge for participation by
foreign national prisoners in prison activities (e.g. education, work, sports activities, library)
and services (e.g. psychologist, doctor). A total of 51 individual interviews, following an
Corresponding author:
Flore Croux, Department of Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussel 1050,
Belgium.
Email: Flore.Croux@vub.be
1031347CRJ0010.1177/17488958211031347Criminology & Criminal JusticeCroux et al.
research-article2021
Article
40 Criminology & Criminal Justice 23(1)
appreciative inquiry perspective, were conducted with foreign nationals in four prisons in
Flanders (Belgium). In terms of leading foreign nationals to prison activities and services,
the findings reveal four types of informal peer support: informational support, instrumental
support, emotional support, and social companionship. Moreover, during participation
in these prison activities and services, three types of informal peer support emerged:
informational support, instrumental support, and social companionship. Peer support seems
to be a ‘form of survival’ for foreign nationals to overcome barriers experienced in accessing
prison activities and services and difficulties during participation in such prison activities and
services.
Keywords
Foreign nationals, informal peer support, participation, prison activities and services, social
support
Introduction
This paper focuses on the role of informal peer support as a bridge for participation
in prison activities and services by foreign national prisoners. Prison activities
relate to group activities and include sports activities, library, cultural activities,
prison yard, (vocational) education, work, and worship. Services include individual
services such as psychosocial services, psychologist, judicial welfare work, and
doctor.
Foreign national prisoners are prisoners who do not hold the nationality of the
detaining country (Atabay, 2009). Their representation in Belgian prisons has
increased sharply in the last several decades. While in 1980, 21.4% (n = 1212) of the
Belgian prison population consisted of foreign nationals (Beyens et al., 1993), this
increased to 44.6% (n = 4601) by 2018 (Croux et al., 2019b),1 which is remarkably
higher than the European average (21.2% in 2016) (Aebi et al., 2017). In general,
several explanations may contribute to this higher presence in prisons, such as a
higher likelihood of detection and apprehension, a limited awareness of, and unequal
access to, legal support (Atabay, 2009), or a selective and differential judicial treat-
ment at the sentencing level (Beyens, 2007). Despite their high number, ‘it is star-
tling how little we have until recently known about foreign nationals in prison, and
the challenges they experience and represent’ (Ugelvik, 2015: 108). This is also true
regarding knowledge of the role informal peer support plays in foreign nationals’
participation in prison activities and services. Based on research among the general
population that has cited the importance of social support for participation (e.g. in
leisure/physical activities (Mendonça et al., 2014; Sasidharan et al., 2006) and edu-
cation (Wang and Eccles, 2012)), we can assume that informal peer support can play
a role regarding participation in prison activities and services. This study aims to
better understand the role of informal peer support as a bridge for participation by
foreign nationals, by (1) studying the types of informal peer support leading foreign
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