Mental health and well-being of men in prison

This chapter describes the Active Choices Rugby Programme that aimed at enhancing mental well-being of prisoners. It provides an insights into the specific challenges to mental well-being faced by young men in prison, and outlines how sporting interventions can be used to help tackle these challenges. The chapter presents a reflexive account of implementing and evaluating a sporting intervention within the unique prison environment, and analyses researchers and practitioners alike with lessons learned to help shape future research, theory and practice in this field. The Active Choices Rugby Programme was offered within the prison as an intervention designed, in part, to use the context of sport to engage young men within prison to improve their mental well-being. Results revealed that the short duration of the Active Choices Rugby Programme and a lack of opportunity to play rugby upon the programme conclusion within the prison prevented any longer-term maintenance of increased feelings of competence.