Generativity, defined as the actions of an individual or group that enable others to care in meaningful ways for themselves and their significant others, has become an important concept for thinking about desistance from crime. In this article, we explore opportunities for prison officers in metropolitan and regional South Australia to model and/or engage in generative conduct. We find the emergence of generativity to be idiosyncratic—linked to individual officer’s capacities to resist the dominant "us" versus "them" culture—and to be often thwarted by a fatalistic outlook. Correctional policy implications are discussed.
Current prison management models strictly prohibit inmates from assisting with prison administration or governance. This is feasible in developed countries where governments can provide adequate resources, security, and personnel. It is not, however, realistic in developing countries like the Philippines, which is characterized by poverty, corruption, and underresourcing of correctional facilities. In such circumstances, inmate leaders tend to share governance with prison administrators. Despite occurring out of necessity, not by design, this system normalizes social conditions within a prison. This article examines the ramifications of such a shared governance model for correctional management by means of ethnographic research.
This study focuses on two primary control orientations in corrections—punishment and rehabilitation. Based on data collected from 225 community correctional officers in Hubei, China, in 2013, officers’ control orientations toward offenders and the effects of job characteristics, agency characteristics, and sociodemographics on these orientations were investigated. The research found that Chinese community correctional officers integrated punishment and rehabilitation orientations. Agency characteristics and rehabilitation views affected the officers’ views, while only one (age) of the job characteristics and demographic variables was significant.
The Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) is a widely used risk assessment tool with demonstrated predictive validity among incarcerated offenders. However, researchers have yet to examine the predictive validity of the LSI-R with adult inmates of different ages. We examined the predictive validity of the LSI-R and its 10 subcomponents across developmentally defined age groups of men confined in prisons in a Midwestern state. We found that the LSI-R predicted the prevalence of misconduct similarly across the groups, but there were a number of differences in the magnitude of the effects when we examined the incidence of prison misconduct.
Juxtaposing the sociology of time with the sociological study of punishment, we interviewed 34 former inmates to explore their memories of how they constructed time while "doing a bid." Prison sentences convey macro-political and social messages, but time is experienced by individuals. Our qualitative data explore important theoretical connections between the sociology of time as a lived experience and the temporality of prison where time is punishment. The interview data explores the social construction of time, and our findings demonstrate participants’ use of the language of time in three distinct ways: (a) routine time, (b) marked time, and (c) lost time.
Although the negative impacts of parental incarceration on families are generally well established, less attention has been paid to the dilemma of how caregivers communicate with their children regarding parental incarceration. This study provides an understanding of the factors associated with caregivers’ choice to disclose or conceal the incarceration of a father. The results suggested that religious or married caregivers were less likely to inform their children, with the young age of children also being a determinant in information remaining concealed. The conviction types of the incarcerated father and his relationships with caregivers and children did not play any role in disclosure likelihood.
To date, there are more than 290 correctional facilities across the United States that have implemented dog-training programs. To better understand the effects of dog-training programs on their human participants, this article conducts a systematic review and two meta-analyses of 10 studies that met the criteria for inclusion. The data from these 10 studies were obtained from 310 program participants and 514 controls. Conducting two meta-analyses on externalizing and internalizing outcomes of dog-training program participation, we found significant mean effect sizes for both sets of outcomes, suggesting that dog-training programs have a desirable effect on offenders.
The relationships between abstinence social support, substance use, and abstinence self-efficacy were examined among a sample of ex-prisoners exiting inpatient treatment for substance use disorders. Ordinary least squares regressions and bootstrapping procedure were used to test whether the relationship between abstinence social support and substance use would be mediated by abstinence self-efficacy. Significant relationships between variables were observed, and abstinence self-efficacy mediated the relationship between abstinence social support and substance use. Findings suggest that abstinence social support is enhanced by abstinence self-efficacy, and that these recovery resources can benefit persons with incarceration histories who have substance use disorders.
On February 1, 2014, an end came to what had been termed the "Mississippi Experiment"—Conjugal visitation in the state’s prisons. What had begun as a practice to control inmates and provide them an incentive to work in the early 1900s had fallen victim to changing times and a declining state budget. The authors discuss the history of conjugal visitation in Mississippi as well as possible consequences associated with discontinuing the program. These include increased levels of violence within the prison system, recidivism once prisoners are released, and the breakup of families.
The eminent Dr. Hans Toch reflects on a 1975 New York State Department of Corrections staff workshop on the needs of inmates with mental health issues and his assessment of the evolution of intermediate care programming.
The author responds to Hans Toch’s, "Providing Sanctuary in New York State Prisons," recommending that "incarcerated thinkers," already the "informal" counselors and therapists in prisons, receive formal training and be incorporated into treatment teams for mentally disturbed and other disadvantaged inmates.
Correctional education can have a positive influence on post-release employment. Yet barriers to employment remain significant, particularly for formerly incarcerated men of color. In this article, the authors use ethnographic methods to critically examine the underlying discourses involved in jail-based life skills courses geared to assist men in becoming "employable." With few exceptions, life skills instructors did not address structural barriers to employment. Rather, major themes of the courses included individual responsibility, cognition, and spiritual enlightenment. The authors suggest that these life skills courses mirrored a larger correctional philosophy in keeping the focus on individual behavior rather than structural conditions.
Recidivism research on Hong Kong’s incarcerated population is limited, and little is known about the reoffending risk of incarcerated repeat offenders. The purpose of this study is to identify the reoffending risk of a sample of incarcerated male offenders with previous incarceration record based on their anticipation of reoffending. Using a self-reported methodological design, 351 incarcerated violent and nonviolent offenders are sampled. A number of self-anticipated reoffending risk factors are identified. The offenders’ age, illicit drug use, pro-offending attitudes, negative self-perception, familial detachment, deviant peer influence, poor prosocial attachment, and domestic and community criminogenic exposures are found to have significant predictive effects on their self-anticipated reoffending risk. Implications for intervention strategies with emphasis on these risk factors are discussed.
Kiosk reporting is one type of electronic reporting that reduces the need for a low-risk offender to meet face-to-face with a probation officer. Probationers are identified by the kiosk using biometric measures and are prompted to provide information they would typically discuss with a probation officer. Despite its use in a variety of contexts, little is known about kiosk reporting in practice. This research provides an overview of the use of kiosk reporting among probation agencies across the United States and examines the use of kiosk reporting from the perspective of probation officers.
The purpose of the study was to investigate types of childhood abuse in a sample of 60 inmates and to explore the relationships between childhood abuse, criminality, and drug addiction. Overall, the sample inmates came from risky families with a high prevalence of crime, drug addiction, and mental health problems. The results showed that a history of child abuse was common, and emotional neglect was more prevalent than physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. The odds for childhood abuse were higher among inmates whose fathers had been addicted to drugs and involved in crime, and whose siblings suffered from mental health problems.
Programming elements of reintegrative shaming into correctional institutions has become increasingly common. One popular program of this type is the Impact of Crime on Victims Classes (ICVC). Although the community typically envisioned in reintegrative research is one to which offenders return on prison release, we propose that the ICVC may have an effect on victimization within the institution, applying a theoretical conceptualization of the prison as its own community. Utilizing interrupted time-series analysis, we find that these classes, as a whole, did not significantly decrease institutional misconduct.
Following the recent economic downturn, the religious roots of American corrections have begun to repopularize. While faith-based correctional interventions are common, there is very little known about their effectiveness with offender populations. Drawn from 15 studies, 57 effect sizes were calculated to estimate the average impact of religious prison programming on inmate attitudes and disciplinary infractions. Producing a weighted mean effect size of –.23 (g = –0.45 for attitudinal adjustments, g = –0.15 for institutional misconduct), the results indicate that religious interventions produce a modest but significant alteration to offender values and behaviors.
This article explores one key aspect of staff/prisoner relations—the role of fairness—as a predictor of young people’s adjustment to pre-trial detention. Participants were one hundred thirty-seven 13- to 19-year-old youth held in one of five secure youth detention centers in southern Ontario, Canada. Findings from this study suggest that youth with high levels of pre-existing vulnerability and prison stress who were more fearful and felt that staff did not treat them fairly were more likely to experience poorer adjustment. Fairness would, therefore, appear to be an important component of staff/prisoner relationships and of adjustment while incarcerated.
Despite a shared interest in escapes from correctional custody by policy makers, facility administrators, media, and the public, there is a dearth of empirical research on this event. Our study synthesizes prior research, distinguishing between inmate-, incident-, and facility-level variables. We introduce the Correctional Incident Database, which employs a novel approach for collecting escape data. Finally, we describe a sample of 611 inmates involved in 503 escape incidents from 398 facilities. Our findings indicate that escapes from jail are a frequent, yet overlooked, phenomenon. The results also challenge the (mis)perception that escapes are often sensational and violent events.
This article examines more closely the empirical relationships between correctional officers’ job attitudes and officer demographics and perceptions of safety. Bi-level analyses from 1,740 officers in 45 prisons revealed that officers’ sex and race mattered for shaping an officer’s pride with co-workers, consideration of transferring to another facility, and perceptions of co-workers’ job satisfaction, but only as they were linked to perceptions of sexism and racism. Perceptions of safety also mattered. Yet, levels of inmate crime and victimization were irrelevant for shaping attitudes. Positive attitudes were also more common in facilities housing higher risk populations, and in facilities for men.
Although the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) has been validated across genders and races, few studies have investigated the validity of the instrument for different combinations of races and genders. Using data from a sample of offenders in New Jersey (N = 9,454), we measure the LSI-R’s validity in predicting recidivism within 1 year of prison release. Our findings indicate that the LSI-R is a valid predictor of recidivism across different race and gender combinations; however, the instrument performs poorly at distinguishing recidivists from non-recidivists and exhibits the lowest discriminant capacity for Black males. Policy implications are discussed.
Although many efficacious and cost-effective treatments have been established, very few substance-abusing offenders receive such treatment while incarcerated. This study compares the effectiveness of a computerized intervention, the Therapeutic Education System (TES), with Standard Care on measures of crime (including re-incarceration), drug use, and HIV risk behavior post prison release. Results show that TES and standard treatment were equally effective in reducing criminality, relapse to drug use, and HIV risk behavior. In prisons, where a majority of substance-using offenders do not receive treatment, identifying an equally effective high-volume alternative such as TES can greatly expand access to quality psychosocial interventions.
Few studies have allowed imprisoned mothers to speak directly about motherhood. In this work, 20 convicted Portuguese mothers were interviewed about their experience of motherhood: Ten were raising their children in prison, and 10 were performing their roles as mothers from prison. The study aimed to understand the potential benefits and detriments of motherhood in both circumstances, and to identify what measures could improve the mothers’ conditions. Using thematic analysis, the findings indicate that women whose children live with them in prison experience some advantages, but motherhood also increases suffering due to restrictions on liberty.
Using a longitudinal design, this study describes changes in institutional infractions among a sample of 75 young males in a Portuguese prison. The inmates were assessed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after entry. The total number of infractions peaked at the third month and then declined. Although the pattern of severe infractions was irregular, minor infractions increased until the sixth month and decreased thereafter. Major predictors of inmates’ infractions during the first year in the institution were fewer visits, being single and non-White, having higher hostility levels, younger age at first imprisonment, and being a property offender.
Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative evaluation, this study measures the effects of perceived levels of emotional and instrumental family support on the likelihood of self-reported criminal activity and new arrests in the 15 months following release from state prison. Logistic regression models using both listwise deletion and multiple imputation are employed. Findings indicate that higher levels of emotional support are associated with a significant reduction in reoffending. Higher levels of instrumental support do not significantly predict reoffending. The findings have implications for policies and practices within the corrections system as well as post-release supervision agencies.
Pregnant inmates represent about 5% of females within the correctional population. Although this is a small portion of the entire inmate population, it is important to adequately address their needs to protect the health of the mother and the fetus. Many states have failed to properly address this issue. However, the states that appear to be the most comprehensive in terms of their treatment of pregnant inmates are California and Pennsylvania. Other states should model their statutes and administrative regulations after these states to effectively address the needs of pregnant inmates.
This study raises basic questions about reentry programs in the United States and the discourses of reentry that currently frame policy, research, and programs. We compare Nordic discourses with those in the United States and illustrate how the latter curtail a more complex understanding of the presence of loved ones in the life of an incarcerated father. We found that U.S. reentry discourses in general are future-oriented and convey hopelessness about the capacity of loved ones separated by prison to be positively present—physically and imaginatively—to each other. We conclude the study with implications for a humanizing curriculum.
This analysis describes the planning and implementation of a development project to build infrastructure and capacity for correctional and community health research in a college of criminal justice. Partnering with a research-intensive university, the 3-year project recruited 112 faculty and student trainees for mentored research, extramural and intramural training, subsidized conference travels, and new course offerings. A network of 34 "nuclear" investigators emerged as a cohesive infrastructure from the experience, producing 21 refereed publications, 18 conference presentations, and nine grant applications in correctional and community health. A sustainability plan has been executed to consolidate the gains achieved. Lessons are discussed.
The work ethic construct has seen increased research attention in recent years and has been applied to a host of different settings. In this study, the work ethic of correctional officers (COs) was examined. Compared with other occupational samples, COs generally endorsed higher levels of work ethic across several of the dimensions. Also, we found that the measurement properties of the Multidimensional Work Ethic Scale–Short Form (MWEP-SF) were comparable to those presented in previous studies. Implications for future research and the relevance of work ethic in a corrections context are discussed. In addition, study limitations and future directions are addressed.
Institutional security level is one of the most consistent predictors of aggregate-levels of violence in prisons. Informed by administrative control theory, this study explores the impact of two types of social order administrative controls on prisoner-on-prisoner violence. Grounded theory was used to analyze in-depth semi-structured interviews with former Canadian male prisoners. From the participants’ perspectives, the reliance on formal, coercive mechanisms in higher security prisons decreased feelings of safety and led to increased violence, while the informal, remunerative mechanisms used in lower security prisons deterred aggression and encouraged desirable behaviors. Implications for prison management and administrative decisions are discussed.
Research has shown that prison visitation is associated with reduced recidivism. This study analyzes whether visits from community volunteers (CVs)—specifically clergy and mentors—had an impact on recidivism by examining 836 offenders released from Minnesota prisons. The results show that CV visits significantly reduced all three measures of reoffending but had no impact on technical violation revocations. The salutary effect on recidivism grew as the proportion of CV visits to all visits increased. The findings suggest CV visits should be conceptualized as a programming resource to be used with higher risk offenders who lack social support.
The purpose of this study is to propose and test a new theory of prisoner misconduct. Research has focused on influences of misconduct that originate from the community (importation) or that originate from the prison environment itself (deprivation). We formulate a new theory of misconduct, transfer theory. Transfer theory posits that influences of misconduct can also originate from a prior institution, following a transfer between prisons. The study is based on a sample of 5,926 state inmates transferred between prisons between 2008 and 2012. Support was found for transfer theory, predicting higher levels of misconduct for inmates transferred from larger institutions with lower custody levels.
Using data from 810 women entering the Department of Women’s Justice Services in the Cook County Jail (Chicago) from 2010 to 2013, this study examines patterns of trauma exposure and the relationship between trauma exposure and mental disorders. Female detainees averaged 6.1 (SD = 4.90) types of trauma in their lifetimes, with greater trauma exposure associated with earlier age of trauma onset, more recent trauma exposure, and higher rates of fear for life or injury. Higher rates of trauma exposure were also correlated with higher rates of past-year symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder as well as other internalizing, externalizing, and substance use disorders. Behavioral health programming for female detainees in jail settings should include more trauma-sensitive mental health and substance use disorder treatments.
Offender reentry programs have proliferated since the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008. This study examines the effectiveness of one such jail-based reentry program for male inmates diagnosed with substance dependency and who have minor children, the Delaware County (OH) Jail Substance Abuse Treatment program. This program served 34 offenders and their families over 2 years and was based on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training model, a treatment modality for substance abuse involving both operant conditioning and family-based therapy for behavioral modification. Results from a quasi-experimental design indicate that program participants were significantly less likely to be rearrested within 1 year after release relative to a comparison group of similarly situated offenders and more likely to comply with child support orders following release. Findings also revealed the treatment group had significantly more days to failure for those who did recidivate.
This essay provides an historical look at the mentally ill in jails. The author, a longtime jail expert, draws on his vast experiences and knowledge about the population. Exploring the developments that led to the climbing numbers of people with mental illness being confined in jails instead of treated in psychiatric hospitals and clinics, he focuses on the evolution of crisis intervention teams as a valuable tool for diverting the mentally ill from correctional to mental health settings.
In the United States, jails confine large numbers of people each day and process nearly 12 million admissions each year. The estimated average daily population in American jails, as of midyear 2014, was 744,600. Jail overcrowding has continued to remain a problem at the onset of the new millennium, especially in large jurisdictions. More stringent drug and crime control policies and enforcement strategies led to the precipitous rise in the jail population. Jails are a critical resource for the criminal justice system and the larger community. As local institutions, jails often serve the medical and behavioral healthcare needs of the residents in a jurisdiction and are home to the most impoverished and disenfranchised members of the community: the unemployed, the homeless, and those with addiction, and mental illness. Jails have also become increasingly more populated by women. This special issue of The Prison Journal was compiled to focus further attention on servicing and managing the jail detainee population and provides an in-depth look at jails through a variety of lenses. The issue includes articles about the proper role of the jail as a venue for delivering behavioral healthcare and other services and the jail reentry process in rural jurisdictions. Other articles explore a jail reentry program for detainees with substance use disorders; the problems and challenges of female detainees; the nature and extent of trauma among women in a large urban jail; the use and abuse of solitary confinement in jails; and the mentally ill in jails.
The current study examines the challenges of rural jail reentry including mental health issues faced by offenders returning from jails. This study compared a sample of 200 current jail inmates, 166 probation/parole officers working in rural areas, and 21 rural treatment staff working with former offenders in a treatment capacity. Overall, inmates found structural issues (e.g., employment, housing, ability to pay fines) to be more challenging while practitioners were more likely to rank personal issues (e.g., lack of motivation, temptation to reoffend) as more problematic. Various themes emerged relating to mental health issues including health insurance, medication, transportation, and co-occurrence with substance abuse. Policy implications and recommendations for the future are discussed.
This article addresses the problematic lack of available data on jail isolation. It discusses the potential significance of the practice of isolating jail inmates and the basis for believing that punitive isolation in jails is at least as widespread as in prisons. It also summarizes some of the information that recently has become available about the use of isolation at one notorious jail complex—Rikers Island—where the practice has been reported on and debated perhaps more than any other, and uses Rikers as both an instructive case study and cautionary tale. Finally, the article briefly reviews what is known about the significant risk of serious harm that isolated confinement is known to represent and acknowledges the need for reliable data gathering, meaningful outside monitoring, and effective oversight.
Since the 1970s, both women’s incarceration and research on incarcerated women have expanded. This qualitative study is unique in reporting perspectives of 37 jail staff members (e.g., supervisors, line staff, and mental and physical health care providers), from four regions of the United States. Interviews explored staff perceptions of women’s pathways to jail and their individual, structural, and reentry needs and challenges, including frequent experiences of interpersonal violence and struggles with mental health. Staff perceptions were consistent with the existing literature. Most of the staff were at least partially sympathetic to and aware of the women’s difficult and varied lives and challenges.
This article describes a project that generated the recommendations of a panel of experts regarding the jail as a venue for the delivery of behavioral health care services. The project was a component of the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge initiative, which seeks to address over-incarceration by changing the way jails are conceptualized and used. The recommendations were grounded largely in the sequential intercept model that rests on two core principles: minimize the inappropriate penetration of persons with mental illness into the criminal justice system and recognize that the community is the unit of analysis to address criminal justice–mental health problems successfully. Other topics presented in the context of the initiative included bringing the community to scale, jail diversion, the limits of jail responsibility, and the Affordable Care Act’s role in providing insurance coverage for detainees.
In many U.S. states, the number of inmates serving life with or without parole has skyrocketed in recent decades. In Alabama, a state with particularly high incarceration rates, approximately every sixth inmate is serving a life sentence. This research investigates which specific factors led to Alabama’s extensive use of life sentences. Findings suggest that Alabama’s lifer population largely stems from an inadvertent application of the state’s Habitual Felony Offender Statute. Furthermore, the state’s stringent discretionary parole practices have minimized the chances of release for parole-eligible lifers. These factors have contributed to prison overcrowding and the aging of inmates.
This research explores the rate of learning disabilities (LD) within the Hebrew-speaking adult prison population in Israel, examining the relationship between LD and dropping out of school with criminal behavior. The study finds that the frequency of LD is very high among Israeli inmates (69.6%) and that a gap exists between LD inmates’ awareness of their scholastic weakness in school and the educational system’s ignorance. Implications of these results are discussed.
This article builds on existing knowledge of inmate resistance by analyzing formerly incarcerated women’s narratives about prison food. Participants described trying to secure extra cafeteria portions, hoarding food, smuggling and stealing food, and cooking and eating in the cells—all to resist prison power and gain some control over their lives by managing what, how, when, and with whom they ate. These data shed light on prison life and suggest changes to food policy to curb inmate resistance and bolster the rehabilitative potential of correctional facilities.
Midwestern state inmates were interviewed to determine how they understand and interpret staff conflict. Qualitative analysis has shown that inmates describe being ignored or disregarded because of verbal and sometimes physical fights between staff members. While others show that those occupying a nonperson status are in a powerless position, inmates explain that this highlights the fact that staff members are not paying attention to them and this engenders inmate misconduct and contributes to a culture of disrespect.
One fundamental measure of a liberal democracy concerns its guarantee of civil and health liberties to prisoners. The study examines the Israeli legislation regarding prisoners’ human rights and access to health services, and analyzes the reasons for the gap between the regulations and their de facto implementation. The main findings include the following: (a) A significant gap exists between the Israeli Prison Service formal regulations for prisoners’ civil and health rights and their actual implementation, and (b) the Israeli Prison Service and the Israeli legislation lack a pragmatic instrument aimed at the protection and preservation of Israeli inmates’ fundamental human rights.
Although dynamic mapping is an increasingly popular tool for law enforcement, this technology is uncommon for reentry practitioners. This article introduces the Community Supervision Mapping System (CSMS), a web-based tool that routinely integrates Rhode Island Department of Corrections data into a user-friendly interface designed for those who supervise and provide service referrals to probationers. Using pre- and post-implementation survey data and actual usage data, we find that probation officers who adopt the new technology find the system useful and easy to use. We also learned that current usage is a better indicator of future use than is a respondent's reported intention to use the system.
The public learns, experiences, and knows about jails, prisons, and the people who live and work there through a variety of mediums and/or methods. Not all situations are equal in terms of the cost to the individual, the reality of the experience, and the effect it may have on the participant. In an effort to better contextualize this process, this article develops a typology to better understand these methods of participation. Ten methods by which people can experience correctional facilities include, on one end of the spectrum, the highly personal experience of incarceration, and on the other end, attempts by individuals to understand and/or experience corrections without intimately engaging with the subject matter. This latter method, termed prison voyeurism, fails to contextualize the myths, misrepresentations, and stereotypes of prison life rather than clarifying or explaining them. The author develops a framework to interpret the jail and prison experience. Examples are drawn primarily from the American prison experience.
This article describes the development and feasibility testing of a cell phone–based intervention (Sober Network IPT) among 22 women with comorbid substance use and depressive disorders transitioning from prison to surrounding communities. Feasibility/acceptability measures included phone logs, exit interviews, and pre–post measures of substance use, and depressive symptoms up to 9 months post-release. Results indicated that phone-based transitional treatment is feasible and acceptable. Participants valued the opportunity to maintain contact with familiar prison treatment providers by phone after release, and used the cell phones for help with service linkage, support, and crisis management. We describe relational and practical lessons learned.
The General Criminal Thinking (GCT) score of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) was found to successfully predict institutional adjustment in 2,487 male medium security federal inmates after controlling for eight static risk factors (age, race, confining offense, sentence, gang affiliation, mental health history, substance abuse history, criminal history). Causal mediation analysis was also performed and showed that the GCT score partially mediated the relationship between static risk and total infractions. These results suggest that the GCT score may have a role in internal classification and in clarifying the relationship between static risk factors and prison misconduct.
There is a lack of empircal research on male inmate experiences with familial contact and visitation. Utilizing surveys and interviews of men incarcerated in a southwestern correctional facilitiy, the results provide insight into the nature of their contact with their children and families and their perceptions of the impact of their incarceration on these relationships. The study further offers inmate suggestions on how prison policies can help nuture, rather than impede, familial relationships. Helping to foster these relationships should be a leading priority among policy makers as familial support and prison visitation have been linked to reduced institutional misconduct, improved recidivism rates, and decreased intergenerational criminality.
In the 1970s, rejection of offender treatment as misguided and ineffective was common among criminologists. Recently, however, there are reasons to believe that faith in correctional intervention may have returned as a core feature of criminologists’ professional ideology. To date, no one has undertaken a systematic investigation of criminologists’ opinions on rehabilitation. Drawing on a random sample of criminologists, the current study examines the extent to which the discipline stands ready to support a central role for offender treatment. Finding broad-based support for rehabilitation, we discuss the implications of these results for correctional policy.
The time before entry into a correctional facility is stressful for most offenders. Yet, few studies have systematically considered the fears and concerns of persons entering jail or prison. This descriptive study uses an Internet message board forum to explore the central thoughts of individuals entering correctional institutions. A total of 344 posts are coded for key themes in written narratives. Ten categories are identified by researchers: relationships, possessions, violence and safety, medical concerns, self-improvement, privacy, responsibilities, prison conditions, boredom, and reputation. The potential impact of these pre-incarceration concerns on the actual prison experience is explored.
The present study seeks to identify factors associated with inmates and their incarceration that differentially affect their frequency of receiving visits from specific types of visitors. Findings reveal both demographic and prison experience characteristics as significant predictors of the number of visits received from specific types of visitors. More highly educated, female, White, and currently or formerly married inmates received a greater number of visits from specific types of visitors, as did inmates with fewer prior incarcerations and who were not serving time for a drug, violent, and sex offense conviction. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications are discussed.
This article argues that Australian prisons have uncritically emulated American penitentiaries in their architecture and structure. We suggest that simply transporting physical design models from one geographic and politico-cultural setting to another, with little commitment to understanding the context-bound philosophies and conditions that underpin such models, has been highly problematic. The result has been an Australian penal estate that for decades was incompatible with its aims and purpose. Finally, we discuss the eventual introduction of unique, innovative styles of penal architecture in Australia, which are not only appropriate to their culture and context, but represent world-class developments in penal design.
We present a typology of tactics used by probation officers to steer probationers away from day-to-day crime opportunities based on 40 qualitative officer interviews. Concerns about probationers’ unstructured activities, time at crime-prone locations, and "at-risk" social interactions led officers to reduce probationers’ unstructured time, set limits to locations and persons with whom they associated, and coach them to side-step such opportunities. In support of these tactics, they collaborated with community handlers, worked to enhance probationers’ motivation and deter them from risky activities, leveraged probation conditions, and encouraged alternative activities.
Correctional facility staff are subject to an organizational environment that often causes health problems. This article explores variation in correctional officers’ psychosocial health, including assessments of burnout syndrome, job satisfaction, work–family life harmony, role ambiguity, and role conflict. In all, 536 Peruvian correctional officers, 10% of the nation’s correctional employees, were administered psychological tests to measure the aforementioned variables and the impact of a length of work experience variable. Findings confirm a relationship between occupational health and length of work experience. The article offers future directions for research and suggested programs to promote corrections officer health.
Returning military troops have garnered attention, but there is little focus on veterans in the correctional setting. Approximately 11% of U.S. inmates are veterans, and there are striking similarities between military and prison life. Because veterans have experience with institutional settings, one hypothesis is that incarcerated veterans will better adapt to prison compared with non-veterans and will be less likely to engage in misconduct. This article measures prison misconduct, focusing on serious interpersonal violations, specifically verbal and physical assaults. Findings illustrate that there are no differences between veteran and non-veteran inmates in the likelihood of this kind of misconduct.
One area of focus in new federal guidelines for inmate reentry skills development is the ability to use leisure time for stress relief and development of positive relationships. A model program was developed at a federal prison to teach the use of leisure time activities for coping with various stressors during the difficult transition from incarceration to community. Based on initial offering course evaluation responses, the program was revised and offered again. Feedback from the second course offering evaluation and recommendations for design of leisure time programming in other facilities are discussed.
Research has found a relationship between sexual satisfaction and psychological health in prisoners, although few studies have focused on possible moderators of this relationship. The main foci of this study of a sample of prison inmates were as follows: (a) the association between sexual satisfaction and psychological health and (b) the moderating effects of heterosexual activity level (abstinent vs. non-abstinent) and gender on the relationship between these two variables. In-person interviews were conducted with 82 males and 91 females who lived in separate modules in Spain’s Topas Penitentiary. Sexual satisfaction was a significant predictor of psychological health only for members of the sexually abstinent group. These findings point to the positive effect of sexual satisfaction on psychological health, especially for the inmates in a less favorable sexual situation (i.e., sexual abstinence).
We examine the relationship between victimization during incarceration and the likelihood of former prisoners’ subsequent criminal behavior and substance use from a general strain theory (GST) perspective. Data from the multi-site evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative were used, involving interviews with 543 men and 168 women in 12 states at four time points: once before prison release and 3 times after release. Path analyses show support for GST by indicating that prisoners who are physically assaulted or threatened have negative emotional reactions to such experiences, specifically hostility and depression, which increases their likelihood of violent criminal behavior and substance use after release.
This article details the various access barriers negotiated by the author in conducting qualitative interviews with young women in a county-level juvenile justice system. After discussing how these obstacles shaped and delayed this particular project, the importance of qualitative research for understanding the more nuanced facets and consequences of juvenile justice is demonstrated by analyzing one young woman’s reflections on how youth justice shaped her life. Reflecting on the insights of this "unbeknownst expert," it is argued that one of the clearest windows into the larger social forces that condition whether or not a program or set of policies "works"—the words of young people—remains covered, in large part because of the access barriers analyzed here. The importance of creating an alternative to such a partial criminology of juvenile justice is discussed.
The federal courts have played a central role in establishing important rights for inmates, including the Free Exercise of religion. However, there is little empirical research on the nexus between court decision making, inmates’ Free Exercise claims, and correctional policies/practices. This research is an attempt to understand this decision-making dynamic by using a sample of 330 federal cases from 2000 to 2007 to examine legal and nonlegal factors that are suspected to affect Free Exercise claims. Importantly, security concerns and legal precedents are among the strongest predictors of whether courts will find in favor of inmates who make Free Exercise claims.
Even though work–family conflict has been linked to negative outcomes for both correctional facilities and staff, little research has been conducted on how workplace factors may be related to it. This study tested nine hypotheses based on the job demand–resource model. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of survey data from 160 staff revealed that while most job demand variables (i.e., the role stressors of role conflict, role overload, and perceived dangerousness) predicted work–family conflict, the same did not hold for job resource variables (i.e., the workplace factors of job autonomy, supervision, job variety, instrumental communication, and integration).
The Supreme Court ruling on Farmer v. Brennan established the federal court standard for determining when corrections staff members should be held legally responsible for inmates’ injuries resulting from inmate–inmate violence or self-harm. Legal scholars lamented that requiring plaintiffs to prove deliberate indifference placed a heavy burden on plaintiffs. Two slightly encouraging signs appeared to be Farmer’s end to the "individual-specific" rule and the decision that courts had the option of ruling that the threat of harm was too obvious for the defendants to ignore. This article involves a review of post-Farmer custodial suicide cases and the impact that these two aspects of the Farmer decision has had on these cases.
Recent literature has found that organizational commitment of correctional staff is highly influenced by the workplace and can either result in positive or negative behaviors. Most research, though, has examined predictors of only one type of commitment. This study looked at three types of commitment (continuance, moral, and affective) and their influence on the outcomes of correctional orientation, views of absenteeism, and turnover intent. The results indicate that the three dimensions of commitment varied in their impact on the organization outcomes and provide insight into the complex nature of the bonds that tie employees to this unique organization.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of prison-based educational programming by examining the effects of obtaining secondary and post-secondary degrees on recidivism and post-release employment outcomes among offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2007 and 2008. Obtaining a secondary degree in prison significantly increased the odds of securing post-release employment but did not have a significant effect on recidivism or other employment measures such as hourly wage, total hours worked, or total wages earned. Earning a post-secondary degree in prison, however, was associated with greater number of hours worked, higher overall wages, and less recidivism.
Researchers have established that prisons are violent spaces where prisoners use aggressive or passive strategies to manage the threat of victimization. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study explores the coping strategies of 56 former Canadian federal prisoners. Most respondents used passive, aggressive, or passive/aggressive coping strategies. Differences emerged among respondents who used individual strategies (self-dependence) or alliance strategies (dependence on affiliates) to cope with prison living. Only alliance strategies appeared simultaneously passive and aggressive. Theoretical implications are discussed.
In 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, in collaboration with other federal partner agencies provided approximately US$110 million in funding to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to develop and/or fill gaps in reentry strategies through the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI). This article describes the New Jersey SVORI intervention approach and evaluates its relative impacts on participants’ rearrest rates. SVORI participants are compared with randomly selected parolees (n = 100) and unconditional releases (n = 100) that did not receive services through SVORI but otherwise met the inclusion criteria of the New Jersey SVORI intervention. Results indicate that SVORI participants were rearrested at a significantly lower rate during the follow-up period when compared with both of the non-SVORI groups. Policy issues are discussed by the authors.
Research has consistently shown that most women under the control of the criminal justice system are mothers. The robustness of this finding has been accompanied by a failure to consider the characteristics and needs of women without children. In this study, we examine data on 1,334 formerly incarcerated women. Findings indicate that while mothers and non-mothers share some characteristics, they differ on several others, most notably demographic profile, mental health, and timing of contacts with the criminal justice system. These results suggest a need to recognize the diversity among women offender groups, particularly when developing policies and programs need.
A growing body of research—much of which has focused on male inmates—suggests that religion ameliorates many pains and problems of imprisonment. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of religious engagement on prison adjustment among a sample of 214 females serving life sentences in a Southern state prison system. Results of multivariate analyses indicate that religious engagement is indirectly related to prison adjustment; however, the role that religious engagement plays seems to be through helping women deal with feelings of depression. Women’s personal accounts of prison adjustment corroborate these findings.
Treating self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a challenge in any environment. There is an increased level of complexity when this type of behavior occurs in a female correctional facility. This article focuses on SIB in incarcerated women, including the importance of identifying risk factors, understanding the psychological functions of SIB, addressing the influence of gender on treatment, and acknowledging challenges unique to the correctional environment. Treatment recommendations specific to incarcerated females, such as motivational interviewing and a cognitive behavioral approach, provide guidance to address the underlying causes of SIB and the development of healthier coping behaviors for female inmates. Effective management of SIB in a female correctional facility simultaneously reduces the burden on staff and increases the safety of staff and inmates.
Criminological theories have long suggested that family relationships influence criminal behavior. Yet, little recidivism research focuses on in-prison social ties. Despite evidence that social ties are more important for women, most research has focused on men. Furthermore, little is known about the effect that in-prison contact has on post-release support and what role this plays in the social ties–recidivism relationship. This study seeks to build on existing research by examining the relationship between female in-prison contact, post-release support, and recidivism. Results suggest that in-prison family contact and post-release family support are protective whereas in-prison non-family contact is a risk factor.
The number of women under community supervision has increased in recent years. However, empirical research on women parolees’ experiences is quite limited. Women parolees are faced with daunting challenges that may impede their success on parole. Using face-to-face interviews with 60 women parolees in a Southern state, this qualitative study examined the perceived barriers to women’s success on parole. Women parolees identified economic variables as critical barriers to their parole adjustment.
The Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) holds promise as a self-report measure that predicts the risk of recidivism and assesses treatment needs for incarcerated populations. However, its validity has been questioned for use with females. Using a random sample of 543 incarcerated women, we assessed the validity of the SAQ by examining differences in scale scores and Receiver Operating Characteristic curves using multiple measures of violent behavior among women. Self-reported violence, versus a violent conviction, was a strong predictor of SAQ scores, but many of those in the most violent group did not meet the published cut scores that indicate treatment need, suggesting the need for adjusting these thresholds for women.
This article addresses what many observers of Texas’ prison gangs perceive as significant changes in the hierarchical structure of various Latino groups. Focusing on the state’s central and eastern regions, we provide a brief historical context and overview of contemporaneous gang factions. We attempt to understand gang dynamics as a function of emerging demographic patterns in the prison population. Examining prison admissions trends for males from Texas’ four largest counties, we illustrate ongoing changes in race-age composition for these metropolitan areas that reinforce depictions of changing gang structure in unofficial reports, print media, and prison documentaries. We emphasize the need for multimethod approaches and analyses of the United States–Mexico Border region for a more complete view of the Texas gang landscape.
This research examines perceived physical health, psychological distress, and social support among prison officers in the United Kingdom. The study found that prison officers reported poor perceived physical health and a high level of psychological distress. There were significant correlations between measures of perceived physical health and a measure of psychological distress (indicating that as perceived physical health decreased, psychological distress increased). There was some evidence that social support from within the prison moderated the relationship between perceived physical health and psychological distress, whereas social support from significant others did not. Future research and clinical implications of these findings are considered.
This article addresses gender differences in the extent and explanation of inmate misconduct. The study employs nationally representative prisoner survey data to assess gender-specific explanations of prison rule violations. The gender-specific factors include prior victimization, diagnosed mental disorders, and the amount of inmate contact with their families via visits and phone calls. Logistic regression models support gender-specific explanations of inmate misconduct but also identify other factors of general importance. The policy implications of gendered pathways in prison misconduct are discussed.
This study examines the recidivism covariates of 610 released inmates who were confined in a supermax unit in 2004. Follow-up data (an average of 66 months from prison release in 2004) were collected for each inmate to assess the recidivism covariates of those who re-engaged in crime after prison release. The findings show that when compared with ex-supermax inmates who did not recidivate, those who did were younger, more likely to be serving time for a drug offense, and had a history of prior incarcerations and disciplinary infractions while incarcerated. Time to recidivate, however, was significantly predicted by gang membership, length of sentence, and prior substance abuse history. The implications of this research are discussed.
This study examined long-term outcomes of children who spent their first 1 to 18 months in a U.S. prison nursery. Behavioral development in 47 preschool children who lived in a prison nursery was compared with 64 children from a large national dataset who were separated from their mothers because of incarceration. Separation was associated with significantly worse anxious/depressed scores, even after controlling for risks in the caregiving environment. Findings suggest that prison nursery co-residence with developmental support confers some resilience in children who experience early maternal incarceration. Co-residence programs should be promoted as a best practice for incarcerated childbearing women.
Despite recent research demonstrating the impact of inmate perceptions of correctional legitimacy on order maintenance, the extant literature has failed to examine the contextual reality of correctional excessive use of force claims. Utilizing legal cases from the U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. District Courts, this article examines correctional officer excessive use of non-deadly force and identifies recurring themes in these claims. Findings highlight the common occurrence of retaliatory violence, negative attitudes, failure to listen to inmate concerns, inadequate training, and an inability to decipher reliable threat cues consistently present in correctional officer use of non-deadly force claims. Suggestions for future research and policy implications are offered.
This study examined the relationship between detention length, living group climate, coping, and treatment motivation among 59 juvenile delinquents in a Dutch youth correctional facility. Longer detention was associated with the perception of a more open living group climate, but proved to be unrelated to coping and treatment motivation. A repressive group climate was positively associated with passive coping. A more open group climate was associated with both more active coping and greater treatment motivation. Finally, analyses showed that the relation between open group climate and treatment motivation was mediated by active coping. Thus, creating an open group climate to foster active coping and greater treatment motivation is probably one of the most important challenges for youth correctional facilities.
There is a lack of publications on corrections in Asia in English language journals. This special issue was taken to fill this void. This introduction briefly states the reasons for the issue and its manuscript reviewing process. There are six papers in this issue, covering institutional corrections and community corrections in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Pre-prison experiences and environmental influences were examined to determine the effects of institutional misconduct and symptoms of depression related to adjustment in Taiwan’s women’s prisons. Using self-reported survey data derived from 883 Taiwanese female inmates, the findings suggest that pre-prison victimization, imprisonment stress, and social support from family members all had statistically significant effects on adjustment to life in prison. Although deviance prior to prison was highly related to institutional misconduct, reported illnesses also significantly increased the level of symptoms associated with depression. Lower levels of institutional misconduct were reported by women who committed drug offenses compared with their counterparts who committed violent offenses. The article concludes with insights from a comparative perspective and public policy implications.
China has long utilized community-based corrections for offenders. Before 2003, however, the practice lacked formalization and professionalization. Since 2003, prison overcrowding, a need for cost-effectiveness, and a move toward a more civilized method of reforming offenders have sped up China’s use of community corrections. Based on a literature review of Chinese language publications and face-to-face interviews with local community corrections leaders and officers in Hubei, China, this is an exploratory study of community corrections in mainland China. We briefly examine the practice’s developmental history and five types of sanctions—public surveillance, probation, parole, temporary execution of a sentence outside a confinement facility, and deprivation of political rights. China’s community corrections’ characteristics and implementation are investigated. Finally, the article discusses problems and challenges to China’s community corrections system.
In this article, we investigate the relationship between Chinese female offenders’ prison adjustment and their perception of social support using both quantitative and qualitative methods. We find that social support has positive effects on female offenders’ prison adjustment and that demographic factors are not significantly related to their prison adjustment or perception of social support. Of three types of social support providers (family, friends, and significant others), offenders welcomed support from the family the most, followed by significant others (including prison officers and social volunteers). Support from friends (mainly fellow prisoners) is comparatively less important in the lives of Chinese female offenders.
This article examines the Sugamo Shimbun (the Sugamo Weekly News), written by Sugamo prisoners between 1948 and 1952 during the Allied occupation of Japan, in broader domestic and international political contexts. The prisoners questioned the legitimacy of both Allied and Japanese authorities as the United States initiated its Cold War strategies with Japanese government support. The newspaper demonstrates that the concept of "democracy" as promoted by the Allies during their occupation of Japan came into question around the time of the Korean War in 1950. Nonetheless, the prisoners’ sense of responsibility in World War II was not impartial. By examining the prisoners’ voices in the Sugamo Shimbun and the power dynamics inside the prison, this article focuses on where the prisoners’ sense of guilt originated—as a result of the prison’s correctional programs—and how the voices of the prisoners more or less reflected national and international politics of that time.
Parole rejection/approval of inmates is subject to the decision-making of the parole board members of each prison. Previous studies have found that many factors influence the decision of the parole board. This study introduces Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), which is commonly used in commercial and industrial fields, to further explore the subjective factors parole board members consider in parole decisions. This study surveyed 20 parole board members in Taiwan and the results show that the major factors affecting the decision-making of parole boards include crime characteristics and offender recidivism risk, with crime characteristics being the most important factor.
Research on desistance from crime has focused largely on Western regions. While culture has been identified as an important factor to consider, desistance studies largely hold cultural context constant. In this exploratory article, we offer one of the first qualitative examinations of ex-convict resettlement in East Asia. We focus on three aspects salient to the narratives of former prisoners in Hong Kong: their views regarding aging and aging out of crime, their felt sense of agency or willpower to "go straight," and challenges to expressions of agency related to employment and facing family members. The pivotal importance and mediating effects of social support is underscored. Implications for research on desistance focused outside of occidental regions are explored.
While the recidivistic activity of sex offenders has received considerable attention from researchers, most studies have been limited by using a single measurement of recidivism. Using arrest/conviction episodes as the unit of analysis, the present study tracked 389 convicted sex offenders for up to 10 arrest/conviction episodes using 11 different measurements of recidivism for an average of 15.7 years. Logistic regression was used to create a model that successfully predicted recidivism with approximately 70% accuracy. The rate of recidivism as defined by new convictions for sex offenses was approximately 10% overall.
This study is a content analysis of inmate and staff free responses to a question about good ways to prevent prison sexual assault. Data from 1,094 inmates and 373 correctional staff were abstracted from a 1998 survey of Midwestern prisons. A total of 2,689 distinctive ideas (1,830 from inmates and 859 from staff) were distributed across 12 prevention categories. Inmates’ top solutions were classification of inmates and increased sexual outlets. Staff’s top choices were increasing security and hiring more and better staff. Similarities and disparities in inmate and staff solutions are discussed in light of Prison Rape Elimination Act–based policies.
Self-reports of drug use by high-risk offenders interviewed on two occasions were compared to determine the extent to which the reports were consistent at the two interview points. Self-reports of frequency of drug use over the same 12-month period were compared among parolees (N = 380) who had participated in prison drug treatment and who were interviewed at 1 and 5 years following prison release. The kappa coefficient was .31 (p < .001), generally considered a fair level of agreement. Total concordance in retrospective recall of primary drug use frequency was 54.5%.
Data were obtained on four dimensions of criminal activity (frequency, variety, severity, and income) from male and female prisoners (N = 200) with preincarceration heroin dependence who participated in a randomized clinical trial of buprenorphine treatment. The article examines the above-mentioned dimensions of crime and their relationships with demographic characteristics, substance use, legitimate employment, drug treatment episodes, and psychological problems. Results largely show several important similarities to results on previous prison inmate cohorts with histories of heroin addiction, although the present sample may have more of a tendency toward violent crime than earlier cohorts of heroin-dependent offenders. This study’s findings may have implications for the design of appropriate treatment interventions for prisoners with preincarceration heroin dependence that address not only substance use but also criminal activity.
This article considers the impact of international human rights law and standards on the protection of prisoners in the UK, with specific reference to the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998. Although prisoners do benefit from the protection of the Convention within prison, the scope of these rights will be limited by the needs of the prison administration as well as the political climate and the public’s attitude toward prisoners. The conflicts between these variables are addressed. Respect for prisoners’ rights, it is argued, may contribute to raised prison standards and to good order in prison.
High incarceration rates have led to more interest in the effects of incarceration on families, especially children. Most research has focused on the relationship between incarcerated mothers and their children. This study centered on father–child relationships and potential barriers to maintaining and developing them. A sample of 185 incarcerated fathers was interviewed within a maximum security state prison in the southern United States. Multiple regression analyses indicated two family barriers (children’s mother’s attitude and children’s attitude) made a statistically significant contribution to explaining inmates’ self-reports concerning relationships with their children. Measures of institutional barriers were not found to statistically contribute to the models. Fathers’ responses to an open-ended question about relationships with their children support the quantitative findings. The research suggests that strategies for improving parent–child relationships for the male incarcerated population should focus not only on institutional barriers but also on family barriers.
This article summarizes some of the negative psychological effects of imprisonment. It examines the psychological stressors—dehumanization, deprivation, and danger—to which prisoners are exposed, and the process of prisonization by which they attempt to accommodate to their conditions of confinement. It also discusses the effects of two opposite prison extremes, overcrowding and solitary confinement, as well as the kind of vulnerabilities that many prisoners bring to prison that make the experience a form of retraumatization for them. The article ends with a set of brief, programmatic but psychologically informed proposals for change.