Marieke Liem: ‘On the meaning of life for long-term prisoners’
Marieke Liem wrote a contribution for DJIzien, a magazine published by the Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency (Ministry of Justice and Security), about her meetings with long-term prisoners. ‘For my research on long-term prisoners I made numerous visits to Dutch prisons. During these visits, I came to realise that they form a unique group of detainees.’
‘In many ways they are different from short-term prisoners,’ continues Liem. ‘First of all, long-term prisoners experience a lack of fulfilment.’ This group of detainees is a special group. ‘Long-term prisoners try to maintain as much self-determination and control over their own life as possible,’ says Liem.
Marieke Liem is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague.
You can read the full article (in Dutch) on the DJIzien website.