Oxford don runs young offenders experiment
An Oxford don has been given approval to experiment on young offenders in a £2million experiment into the effects of nutrition on behaviour. Dr Bernard Gesch, from Oxford University’s department of physiology, anatomy and genetics, will be using inmates from the Polmont Young Offenders Institute in Scotland as guinea pigs in order to investigate the effects of healthy eating on antisocial behaviour.
Pam Rodway, who is working on the project, told The Oxford Student: “I feel this research is important and also that there is a link between diet and behaviour.” Similar studies undertaken in the past have shown a clear improvement in the behaviour of inmates who were fed greater amounts of vitamins, fatty acids and trace minerals.
Gesch has previously worked with 231 inmates from Aylesbury YOI, and he found that a group whose diet had been enriched committed an average of 26 per cent fewer violations of the prison code than before the experiment began. Serious breaches, usually involving serious violence, dropped by 37 per cent. The Scottish Executive and Scottish Prison Service are looking into using diet in prisons.
Dr Andrew Fraser, the Health Chief of the SPS, has formed the Good Food Group in order to investigate the issues. He said: “The SPS welcomes evidence-based research that will improve the wellbeing of prisoners. We are willing to be a setting for research into nutritional content of food in relation to behaviour and all other aspects of well-being.” The Soil Association is involved with the Food For Life project, which is working to look into similar issues.
Emma Noble, a spokesperson for the Soil Association, added the group’s backing to the Polmont experiment. She said: “Every school we are involved with has shown an improvement in behaviour and attention span in pupils who have a greater nutritional intake. There is no reason why this can’t apply too to young offenders.” The Home Office is waiting to establish a nutritional regime for prisoners until it hears of the results of a pilot scheme being run in Dutch jails.
4th May 2006