Within the Walls of a Human Warehouse: Sex Differences in Aggression among Prisoners in Ghana

The purpose of the study was to assess inmate-on-inmate aggression in Ghanaian prisons with a focus on sex differences regarding the prevalence of victimization and perpetration of various forms of aggression.A total of 1,717 inmates of which 299 were females (17.4 %), and 1,418 males (82.6%) completed a questionnaire consisting of two parts: one for the measurement of victimization from other prisoners’ aggression, and the other for the measurement of perpetration of aggression against other prisoners. Both parts consisted of five subscales: (1) Physical Aggression, (2) Verbal Aggression, (3) Indirect Aggression, (4) Property Aggression, and (5) Sexual Aggression. The data showed that males used physical aggression more than females while females used indirect aggression more than males. The other three forms of aggression were equally often perpetrated by both sexes. Females were more often victimized from sexual aggression than males.