Yahoo – AFP,
9 Sep 2015
The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch study aims to get a grip on violence in prisons by prescribing vitamins and minerals for inmates with anger management issues, justice officials said Wednesday.
The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch study aims to get a grip on violence in prisons by prescribing vitamins and minerals for inmates with anger management issues, justice officials said Wednesday.
Starting
early next year prisoners at seven institutions who show violent tendencies
will receive added vitamins, minerals and fish oil, the justice ministry said.
"Two
previous experiments have shown that aggressive prisoners who receive food
supplements show less aggression than those who do not," said Ap Zaalberg,
a researcher at the ministry.
A British
study carried out in the late 1990s showed violent incidents in prison dropping
by at least a quarter after supplements were added to prison food, Zaalberg
told AFP.
A similar
study of 200 prisoners in the Netherlands in 2006-2007 showed a drop of 34
percent in incidents, Dutch daily De Volkskrant recently reported.
"We
are now checking whether the addition of food supplements can be introduced in
prisons as common practice, including as a form of treatment for
aggression," said Zaalberg.
Boys and
men at five prisons and two youth detention centres, aged from 12 to
"quite old", would take part in the study, he said, adding "the
aspect they'll have in common are anger issues."
Aggression
is a feature of prison life in many countries.
Roughly a
quarter of prison workers in the Netherlands experience threatening behaviour
by inmates, De Volkskrant reported.
Food
scientists at Wageningen University near Utrecht however said although
supplements could have a positive effect, Dutch prisons should instead focus on
improving prison cooking.
A positive
effect on prisoners "really starts in the kitchen," nutritional
scientist Frans Kok told NOS public broadcaster.
Low heart rate in teen boys linked to violent crime http://t.co/Unlvl8Aa8r pic.twitter.com/LdxhicTJ8r
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 10 september 2015
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