Prisons are full of strong opinions about “who can still perform”. In a 2025 Journal of Clinical Medicine pilot we compared 19 men with a documented substance-use history and 28 without, all in a semi-open facility (total n = 47). Physical battery: countermovement jump, handgrip, Functional Movement Screen, FitLight reaction. Psychology: problem-/emotion-/avoidant coping, PHQ-9 depression, PSS-10 stress, self-compassion (SCS).
What did not separate the groups
No statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) appeared between addicted and non-addicted inmates on the physical tests. Handgrip leaned slightly higher with lower variability in the addicted group; CMJ leaned slightly better in the non-addicted group. FMS quality and reaction speed were similar. Questionnaire scores — coping styles, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, self-criticism — likewise showed no significant between-group gaps in this sample.
How to read a null pilot
Absence of a p < 0.05 contrast is not proof that addiction never matters for motor or mental function. It is evidence that, in this facility, with these tools and this n, group means did not separate cleanly. The paper itself flags limited sample size and context-specific caution. Subtle correlations between motor capacity, stress perception and coping still deserve clinical attention inside prison healthcare — without turning a pilot into a stereotype.
Practice angle
If you design movement or psychosocial programmes behind the fence, start with individual assessment rather than addiction labels alone. The same CMJ/FMS/PHQ stack can track change over a sentence even when baseline group contrasts are quiet.
Coping inventories covered problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidant styles; depression used PHQ-9; stress used PSS-10; self-compassion used SCS. That stack is clinic-familiar on purpose: if prison healthcare already speaks PHQ, the pilot can plug into existing pathways without inventing a boutique battery.
Slight directional leans (handgrip, CMJ) without significance are exactly the kind of whisper that social media turns into slogans. Resist that. Report the null, keep measuring individuals, and size the next study properly before anyone claims “addiction does not affect fitness in custody”.
Semi-open custody is not closed prison; generalisation to other regimes needs its own data. Still, the ethical tone matters: addiction history is a clinical covariate, not a character summary.
Coping inventories covered problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidant styles; depression used PHQ-9; stress used PSS-10; self-compassion used SCS. That stack is clinic-familiar on purpose: if prison healthcare already speaks PHQ, the pilot can plug into existing pathways without inventing a boutique battery.
Slight directional leans (handgrip, CMJ) without significance are exactly the kind of whisper that social media turns into slogans. Resist that. Report the null, keep measuring individuals, and size the next study properly before anyone claims “addiction does not affect fitness in custody”.
Semi-open custody is not closed prison; generalisation to other regimes needs its own data. Still, the ethical tone matters: addiction history is a clinical covariate, not a character summary.
Where this sits in the lab
Biokineticum’s public notes exist so practitioners can reach the DOI without drowning in jargon — and so athletes, teachers and clinicians see that combat-sport science also publishes on prisons, faith, fair play, sauna physiology and disability policy. Soft topics still deserve hard methods: sample sizes, instruments, effect directions and explicit limits.
If you teach, treat or coach from these findings, copy the reference list into your syllabus, open the full text, and write down what you will measure next week. That is the only CTA that always fits.
Reading notes
Psychosocial and public-health papers describe associations in defined samples — not moral verdicts about individuals. We keep the language descriptive, avoid stigma, and point you to the DOI for methods and limits.
If the topic touches your clinic, classroom or programme design, treat this post as a map to the paper, not a substitute for it.
References
- Błażkiewicz M, Wąsik J, Kędziorek J, Bandura W, Kacprzak J, Radecki K, Radecka K, Mosler D. Comparative Analysis of Psychological Profiles and Physical Functioning in Addicted and Non-Addicted Male Prisoners: A Pilot Study. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2025. 14(21):7579. doi:10.3390/jcm14217579
Measurement-led biomechanics, health psychology and clinical tools at Biokineticum.
