Self-legitimacy of prison workersHacin, Rok (Avtor) Meško, Gorazd (Avtor) comparative studyprison workersrelationshipsself-legitimacySloveniaBuilding legitimacy in a coercive prison environment presents a significant challenge for prisonworkers. Drawing on data from a survey of 465 Slovenian prison workers collected in 2016and 2022, this study aims to test the stability of prison workers’ sense of self-legitimacy, asprior research strongly suggests that the nature of such legitimacy is fundamentally unstable.Multivariate analyses showed that relationships with prisoners and the internalisation of subcul-tural norms influenced the self-legitimacy of prison workers in both periods studied.Relationships with colleagues, satisfaction with pay, and with workplace conditions also influencedprison workers’ self-legitimacy in 2016, and education and years of service proved salient in 2022.Results indicate that traditional ‘core variables’ (relationships with colleagues, supervisors’ proced-ural justice, and audience legitimacy) used to explore legitimacy in criminal justice have limitedinfluence on prison workers’ self-legitimacy. Significant differences were also found in prisonworkers’ perceptions of self-legitimacy, audience legitimacy, and prison staff subculture in differenttime periods. Overall, the findings reported here suggest that the self-legitimacy of prison workersis relatively unstable over time. The implications of these findings for both theory and practice areexplored.20252026-01-19 16:19:26Znanstveno delo96568UDK: 343.8COBISS_ID: 202387971DOI: 10.1177/14773708241255843ISSN pri članku: 1741-2609slSlovenija;