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Research Found
Joe Prince-Wright's Research
Sports can change a person, according to Joe Prince-Wright (2013), a former University of Pittsburgh and a current freelance editor for MLSsoccer.com, a contributor for Eurosport.co and NBCsports.com, and is a talkSPORT radio MLS correspondent. Prince-Wright has no experience with the criminal justice system, but he acknowledges the opinions, stories, and statistics about sports in prison from researchers, community members, prison administrators, and inmates; he understand firsthand what love for a sport can do.
In Prince-Wright's 2103 article "Prison team containing inmates and officers given ho-ahead to join league", he discusses the Les Nicolles Prison that established a soccer team that allows well-behaved inmates and the correctional officers to play alongside each other against adult community soccer teams. David White, a physical educator for Guernsey Prison believes that there are many benefits to the league including health and wellness, social interaction, and lower aggression levels among the participating inmates (Prince-Wright, 2013). White believes that 90 minutes of freedom to play is enough of a privilege to keep more inmates interested; therefore, their behaviors improve to ensure they are permitted with the freedom to participate in the next game. The sport allows the inmates to create bonds with each other, their officers, and members of the community. The sport allows the inmates to create bonds with each other (which are essential to the rehabilitative process), their officers, and members of the community. The community understands the value of the league and know that the sport is a form of rehabilitation and deterrence, so they encourage more community interaction with the prisoners (Prince-Wright, 2013).
This is an image of the Guernsey
Island prison located on an island near France.
For Prince-Wright, soccer is an essential piece of his life, so he understands the positive influence sports can have on anyone, especially when those people are dedicated and care about the game. For the inmates at Guernsey Prison, soccer has has become their freedom. Soccer has become one of the few daily activities that the inmates look forward to. Taking the freedom away was referred to being worse as being sentenced to more years in prison. The attitude of the inmates was proved to change when the love for the game became a greater priority than starting a prison riot or making a name for themselves in the Guernsey Prison (Prince-Wright, 2013).