PRISON authorities in the US are seeking new ways to keep inmates occupied, because idle prisoners make jail life dangerous, the conference was told.
Many prisoners "spend their time watching television, listlessly playing board games, and frequently brooding over real or imagined insults from fellow inmates and staff," Dr Barbara Raffel Price, of John Jay College, told delegates.
This meant that "aggressive behaviour is likely to erupt at any time." Although the US constitution prevents pre-trial prisoners from being forced to work, their "voluntary participation" in work programmes is essential, she said.
Delegates were told that 11 per cent of US jails (386 of the country's 3,500 prisons) have now developed some sort of work programme. The average work week is 39 hours. The programmes include education, counselling and drug abuse elements.
"While the financial incentive is often insufficient, additional inducements may include expanded visit and telephone privileges, extra exercise time and an enhanced menu," Dr Price said.
According to Dr Price, idleness in jails not only wastes the opportunity for prisoners to develop work habits and job skills, it also makes jails more expensive to run.
"Maintaining control over an idle jail population requires more staff than would be necessary to secure a structured, steadily working population," she said.