Exploring the role of communication skills among natives and immigrants on their misconduct behaviour in prisons

As Norwegian society becomes increasingly multicultural and linguistically diverse and prison services continue to see larger numbers of immigrants, our knowledge about the interplay between communication and language and behavioural problems needs to be improved and addressed. The study focuses on language and communication problems associated with misconduct behaviour among immigrant and Norwegian prisoners. A cross-sectional study of immigrant and Norwegian inmates took part in six prisons in Norway, with a total of 250 inmates, where 88(35%) were immigrants and 162(65%) were Norwegian. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups: manslaughter/murder (p=.045) and assault/robbery (p=.008) and crime against property (p=.004). Norwegian inmates presented three times more risk of misconduct behaviour than immigrant inmates. Those who had communication problems less then once a month presented higher risk of misconduct behaviour than those who had communication problems more ofte...