Correctional recreation and the self-esteem of prison inmates

Institutions of incarceration have always had some type of recreational program but the outcomes of these types of programs have not been well documented. Historically, they have been time fillers to keep inmates busy, and have been used as an element of social control. In this study, we examined the outcomes of a correctional recreational program, especially its impact upon prisoners’ (N = 177) self-esteem. It was found that inmates use recreation as a coping mechanism for their incarceration because is the only time during the day in which they can freely express their personality and, thus, have some type of activity for positive development.