Authors of Research: Rok Hacin and Gorazd Meško

Year of Research:  2016

Key words: prison system, imprisonment, employees, legitimacy, prison, prison worker, justice, relations

Recent studies have highlighted the limited applicability of Western models for explaining self-legitimacy in non-Western prison systems. Consequently, the authors developed a dual-nature model of legitimacy based on the quality of relationships between prison workers and prisoners. The study assessed the suitability of these models for researching prison workers’ self-legitimacy in the Slovenian prison context. In 2015 and 2016, the authors conducted 139 structured interviews with prison workers across the entire prison system in Slovenia.

A related data publication is also available: Legitimacy and Self-Legitimacy in Prisons in Slovenia, 2016, which includes survey data collected among prison workers and prisoners, carried out as part of the same basic research project https://doi.org/10.17898/ADP_LEGIT16_V1.

Cite the Study:

Hacin, Rok; Meško, Gorazd, 2026, "Samozaznava legitimnosti zaporskih delavcev v Sloveniji, 2016: Intervjuji z zaporskimi delavci", https://doi.org/10.17898/10091, Arhiv družboslovnih podatkov, V1

Based on the research data, several publications were created:

1. Hacin, R. (2018). Comparison of self-legitimacy of the prison staff and prisoner’s perceptions of prison staff legitimacy: doctoral dissertation. Ljubljana: R. Hacin. https://dk.um.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=68894
2. Hacin, R. & Meško, G. (2020). The dual nature of legitimacy in the prison environment : an inquiry in Slovenian prisons. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32843-6
3. Meško, G., Hacin, R., & Pirnat, U. (2019). A qualitative study on the self-legitimacy of prison workers in Slovenian prisons. In Po co nam kryminologia? Księga Jubileuszowa Profesor Ireny Rzeplińskiej (pp. 515–536). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo INP PAN. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3379827
4. Meško, G., & Hacin, R. (2018). Prisoners' and prison workers' views on the prison subculture in Slovenia. Revija za kriminalistiko in kriminologijo 69(4), 333–345. Ljubljana: Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve Republike Slovenije. https://www.policija.si/images/stories/Publikacije/RKK/PDF/2018/04/RKK2018-04_Gorazd%20Mesko_PrisonersAndPrisonWorkersViews.pdf