The events are largely linked to the prison conditions the informants live under, where different burdens of prison life are highlighted as important explanations. These include living in close quarters with other inmates, numerous lockups and pent-up frustrations, or situations where the informants feel overlooked or treated in a manner they feel is demeaning. These are described as frustrating aspects of an everyday prison life that is otherwise characterised by routines, rules and very little opportunity to influence one’s surroundings, something that leads to increased levels of conflict between the inmates as well as an increased risk of threats and violence. Power structures within the prison population are also emphasised as important parts of the cause for threats and violence. The informants describe a culture between inmates where it is important to make your mark and stand out, and they provide examples of situations where they feel it is of particular importance to position oneself in order to ensure one’s own position
or to avoid being subjected to violence or demeaning treatment.

Some stigmatised groups are singled out as being particularly at risk for threats and violence: snitches, sexual offenders or inmates that in different ways differentiate themselves from the others. The reason why these groups are more at risk than others seem to be connected to several factors, but as a whole it can be seen as a result of an inmate culture where certain groups being stigmatised constitute a lower threshold for subjecting them to bullying, threats and violence.
Other causes for conflict, threats and violence are less obvious, but still of great importance for the informants they apply to. These include language problems, ethnicity or the informants’ perception of what constitutes good behaviour and mutual respect. Drugs, gang-related problems and gambling were also relevant causes, but for different reasons they made up a smaller part of the material than anticipated.

As a whole, it seems that conflicts, threats and violence are closely tied with the conditions of prison life the informants live under, both in terms of the organisation’s structure but also the culture among the inmates that characterise the prison. The seriousness of the incidents varies, and there are substantial variations in how the violence occurs. It is widely accepted that the social, psychological and symbolic forms of violence are most common and the informants describe how they take place, often hidden from the staff.

The informants describe many after-effects of having been subjected to threats and violence, including loneliness, restricted movement or seclusion. The majority say that they at one time or another have felt unsafe in prison. For most of them these seem to be of a temporary nature, but others feel unsafe daily and at times experience fear. The informants’ views of why violence doesn’t occur are also of significance here.

The majority of the informants have views on prevention and how one best can deal with such events. Some of the main points are:

1. A more constructive grouping of inmates based on age, how far they are in their sentence, and splitting up strong groups that represent negative forces.
2. More motivational units
3. Interaction and communication as a whole should be strengthened in prisons, both between inmates and between inmates and staff.
4. Increased use of programs such as Alternatives To Violence (ATV) and stress and life coping programs, as well as increasing the interaction and communication skills of the instructors.
5. Offer individual counselling with psychologists when needed.
6. More initiative and increased attention from the staff when conflict arises between inmates.
7. Mediation following conflicts between inmates.

Common to several of the suggestions are the informants desire for increased dialogue skills, both between inmates and between inmates and staff. Many informants express a wish for the prison officers to act in a more proactive manner with increased initiative and a more noticeable presence and interest during conflict situations. The officers should be more attentive towards individual inmates who are struggling, as well as initiating mediation between inmates who are in conflict with one another. This can be important both as a means to stop conflicts from escalating as well as preventing new conflicts from arising.

Increasing this type of mediation skills among the prison officers may be a wise thing to do in order to reduce the tensions and distresses causing violence and threats among inmates.