-20 2.1.2. Structural Violence Structural violence (or indirect violence) implies systematic, structural or institutional ways through which people are kept from accessing the resources needed to meet their basic needs and from ‘achieving the quality of life that would otherwise be possible.’16 Thus, prisons are places of structural violence per se, as in prisons ‘autonomy and choices are severely curtailed; human wellbeing, potentials and development are undermined; feelings of safety and sense of security are weak; and human needs are systematically denied through the restrictive and inequitable distribution of resources.’17 Examples of structural violence occurring in prison are often linked to inadequate detention conditions. This includes the lack of separated toilets, over-crowding and insufficient living space, understaffing, lack of privacy and intimacy, budget constraints, overuse of security restrictions and insufficient personal possessions, insufficient access to educational and treatment programmes, insufficient opportunities to engage in work, religious activities, sports and other leisure provisions, inadequate training of staff as well as limited meaningful human contact and relationships. Furthermore, structural violence exists if rules or sentences are applied disproportionately or if they are discriminating against a prisoner or group of prisoners. 2.1.3. Cultural violence Cultural violence has its roots in the values, religion and ideology of a society. It exists if social norms justify or legitimize direct or structural violence. In prison, it plays a key role in naturalizing violent behaviour or neglect, shaping how conflicts are handled, and whether violence in prison is celebrated, condoned, or condemned. Cultural violence may include a cynical attitude by staff towards prisoners, feelings of superiority of one group over the other, a culture of ‘them against us’, as well as language 16. Bandy X. Lee, Violence: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Causes, Consequences, and Cures (WileyBlackwell 2019) 123-142. 17. David Scott, ‘Eating Your Insides Out: Cultural, Physical and Institutionally-Structured Violence in the Prison Place’(2015)221, Prison Service Journal (PSJ) 58-62.