How staff attitude and support for inmate treatment and rehabilitation differs by job category: An evaluation of findings from Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections' employee training curriculum ‘Reinforcing Positive Behavior’

In July 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections began delivering a training session titled Reinforcing Positive Behavior to all new employees. The training educated staff about the department's philosophy on inmate treatment programming and about staff responsibilities for reinforcing treatment concepts. Findings from a survey administered immediately after the training revealed that treatment and clerical staff strongly agreed that how they treat inmates and how they behave in a correctional facility impacts inmate rehabilitation efforts, and that reinforcing positive behavior among inmates was a requirement of their profession. Also, treatment and clerical staff, more so than correctional officers, recognized that staff support of treatment programs impacted inmate rehabilitation outcomes and that staff actions and interactions with other staff and inmates can make a correctional facility a more positive place.     

Youth In Prisons and Training Schools: Perceptions and Consequences of the Treatment-Custody Dichotomy

Transfer (or waiver) of juveniles to criminal court is one of the most extreme responses to serious youth crime. Although many states have recently revised their transfer statutes, and the number of juveniles prosecuted as adults increases each year, little research has been conducted to assess the correctional experiences of delinquent youth convicted in criminal court and sentenced to adult prison. Evaluations of such experiences are important to policymakers and juvenile justice officials who are considering juvenile transfers as a strategy for securing longer and harsher confinement for offenders. Based on interviews with 59 chronic juvenile offenders placed in state training schools, and 81 comparable youths sentenced to adult correctional facilities, this article presents a comparison of offenders' perceptions of their correctional experiences. Juveniles incarcerated in training schools give more positive evaluations of treatment and training programs, general services, and institutional personnel than do those youths in prison. Juveniles housed in institutions which emphasize security over treatment — i.e., prisons — are more often victimized during their confinement than youths in the treatment-oriented training schools. Once placed in prisons, adolescent inmates are more likely to be victims of prison violence and crime from both inmates and staff. These research results suggest some paradoxical effects of the treatment-custody distinction implicit in judicial waiver practices. The differential socialization into crime and violence for youths in adult prisons may increase the risks of having these types of behavior repeated by transferred youths once released.     

Comparing Self-Report to Official Measures of Inmate Misconduct

Studies have revealed systematic measurement errors in self-report data on crime and deviance resulting from poor recall and/or underreporting by certain groups of respondents. Official crime data have also been criticized, but for different reasons (e.g. gross underestimations of less serious offenses). Very similar observations have been made in studies of inmate crime (misconduct committed by prison inmates). Despite these criticisms, official data on inmate misconduct continue to be the most frequently used data in related studies. This study compared self-report and official data on inmate assaults, property thefts, and drug offenses for samples of inmates from 46 correctional institutions for adults in Ohio and Kentucky. Findings revealed that officially recorded misconduct underestimates the total volume of inmate crime. Analyses designed to uncover sources of the divergence between self-reported misconduct and officially recorded misconduct revealed far more consistencies than differences in the magnitude of inmate and facility effects on the different types of offenses. A few important differences did emerge in the magnitude of effects such as amount of time served (at the individual level) and facility population size (at the aggregate level).     

Inmate homosexual behavior in a southern female correctional facility

Research concerning variables which impact inmate participation in same-sex sexual behavior within female correctional facilities is sparse. Data were collected via anonymous questionnaires from 245 inmates at a southern female correctional facility. Variables associated with same-sex sexual behavior among female inmates were prior homosexual behavior, younger age, and amount of time already served. Possible explanations for these findings are explored.     

Comparing Methods for Examining Relationships Between Prison Crowding and Inmate Violence

Studies of empirical relationships between indicators of prison crowding and inmate violence have uncovered null, negative, and positive relationships. These mixed findings may be due, in part, to cross‐study differences in definitions of crowding, levels of analysis, and sample designs. We compared findings across some of the more popular approaches to study the relationship between facility crowding and the prevalence of inmate assaults in order to determine the implications of different methods for variation in estimates. Multi‐level data from a national sample of 10,022 men confined in 203 state correctional facilities during 1997 were examined. Findings revealed differences across methods in the direction and significance of the crowding/assault relationship. These differences were then considered in order to derive a strategy for more uniform research on the topic. This strategy consists of including both total inmate population and design capacity as separate predictors in the same model, examination of tri‐level data (inmates, facilities, and states) in order to control compositional differences in inmate populations across facilities and to remove confounding state‐level differences in crowding levels and assault rates, and more careful consideration of secondary analyses of complex samples with sample weights.     

Administrative determinants of inmate violence: A multilevel analysis

This study examined the effect of remunerative and coercive controls on inmate assault, net of traditional controls. The sample included 4,168 male inmates nested within 185 state correctional facilities. The results suggest a complex relationship between remunerative controls and inmate assault. Remunerative controls were not significant predictors of inmate-on-inmate assault; however, prisoners involved in work programs were significantly less likely to assault staff, net of control variables. A significant relationship was not found between coercive control and inmate assault.     

Rehabilitation in the Punitive Era: The Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality in U.S. Prison Programs

Scholars of mass incarceration point to the 1970s as a pivotal turning point in U.S. penal history, marked by a shift toward more punitive policies and a consensus that “nothing works” in rehabilitating inmates. However, while there has been extensive research on changes in policy makers' rhetoric, sentencing policy, and incarceration rates, scholars know very little about changes in the actual practices of punishment and prisoner rehabilitation. Using nationally representative data for U.S. state prisons, this article demonstrates that there were no major changes in investments in specialized facilities, funding for inmate services–related staff, or program participation rates throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s. Not until the 1990s, more than a decade after the start of the punitive era, did patterns of inmate services change, as investments in programming switched from academic to reentry‐related programs. These findings suggest that there is a large gap between rhetoric and reality in the case of inmate services and that since the 1990s, inmate “rehabilitation” has increasingly become equated with reentry‐related life skills programs.     

Inmate Attitudes Toward Treatment: Mental Health Service Utilization and Treatment Effects

This study examined inmate attitudes toward treatment, mental health treatment utilization, and treatment effects that maximize treatment effectiveness. Participants consisted of 278 incarcerated male adult offenders from the Kansas Department of Corrections. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that inmate attitudes toward treatment were predictive of the number of mental health treatment sessions (dosage) inmates received. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated positive help-seeking attitudes were associated with institutional behavior (decreased number and severity of disciplinary infractions) and scores on a measure assessing risk for future criminal behavior; however, the amount of mental health treatment an inmate received (treatment dosage) was associated with problematic institutional behavior (i.e., increased severity and number of disciplinary infractions). These results indicated that treatment dosage and behavioral outcomes were impacted by inmate attitudes toward treatment. As a result, correctional psychologists may be better able to predict which inmates will receive the most benefit from services. Implications of these findings for practitioners and policy makers are discussed.     

Aggressive behavior among female inmates: An exploratory study

Over the past decade the issue of inmate violence and victimization in institutions for adult males has dominated the field of penology. Despite evidence of violence and degradation in institutions for women, empirical research documenting this phenomenon is scarce. Using data gathered from the Minnesota correctional facility for adult female felons, this study looks at the extent of agressive behavior among female inmates and examines some of the factors that may be associated significantly with aggressive acts. Race, age, childhood family structure, offense of conviction, time served on present and past offense(s), race relations, and current drug use are examined in light of the prior research on prison violence. The data reveal that both race and childhood family structure are associated significantly with female inmate aggression. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Contemporary prison overcrowding: short-term fixes to a perpetual problem

Since the United States began using incarceration as its cornerstone of punishment for those who transgress the law, this method of discipline has been fraught with problems. One of the most ubiquitous problems found within correctional institutions are the conditions inmates are forced to live in particularly, when penal facilities are overcrowded. These conditions have led to extensive litigation, compelling the judicial system to change. Although overall conditions have improved, a perpetually increasing inmate population continues to plague correctional systems as costs continue to rise. As state budgets have become strained during the economic downturns, many states’ officials view less punitive measures as possible solutions to the excessive costs of administering punishment and overcrowded inmate populations. Due to facility overcrowding, several states have actually been placed under federal court order to reduce their inmate population in order to protect inmates’ constitutional rights. Although this has resulted in a change of policies to help alleviate prison overcrowding, there is little evidence these are anything more than short-term fixes to a problem with no end in sight.     

Recommendations for Correctional Leaders to Reduce Boundary Violations: Female Correctional Employees and Male Inmates

The correctional profession continues to report boundary-violating behavior by correctional employees with inmates, such as aiding an inmate in an escape and engaging in sexual contact with an inmate. These criminal behaviors obviously threaten the safety within the institutions and the community; however, these types of actions are normally preceded by minor boundary crossings within the institution. Therefore, all types of boundary violations and crossings between an inmate and an employee must be examined and eliminated. This article offers correctional leaders recommendations for organizational change that may reduce the number of boundary violations and crossings between female employees and male inmates. These recommendations are built on a larger qualitative study that used portraiture methodology, by interviewing 4 former female correctional employees who developed relationships with male inmates.     

Examining the characteristics of male sexual assault targets in a Southern maximum-security prison

Studies concerning inmate-on-inmate sexual assaults within male correctional facilities are sparse in the sociological and correctional literatures. Only a few studies have specifically examined the characteristics of male inmate sexual assault targets. The current research sought to address this gap by providing an examination of factors related to victimization likelihood. Using data gathered in March 2000 from 142 inmates (18% return rate) in one Southern maximum-security prison, the authors examined demographic and behavioral characteristics of male inmate sexual targets. Based on inmates' self-reports of sexual victimization--threatened and/or forced sexual assault encounters--correlates of victimization were identified. Approximately 18% of the inmates reported inmate-on-inmate sexual threats, and 8.5% reported that they had been sexually assaulted by another inmate while incarcerated.     

Female Inmates' Perspectives on Sexual Abuse by Correctional Personnel

Abstract

Research into the sexual abuse of female inmates by correctional workers is scarce, despite documentation of its occurrence in prisons across the United States. This exploratory study examined dimensions of staff-inmate sexual contact in a correctional facility in Hawaii through two focus group interviews with imprisoned women. The women described three types of sexual abuse in prison: “trading,” “love,” and “in the line of duty.” Findings include the women's account of these forms of abuse and their perceptions of responsibility for staff-inmate sexual contact in correctional institutions. The women's beliefs about factors contributing to sexual abuse of female inmates, including job expectations of and power issues among adult correctional officers (ACO's), and the consequences of reporting abuse are also discussed. Given the vulnerability of female inmates and the power dynamics that typify the prison context, further research on this problem is warranted.     

Challenges to inmate classification in a developing country setting: implications for context-based inmate classification schemes

Inmate classification is a key aspect of prison management and inmate programming. It guides inmate housing assignment, level of supervision and control, and inmate programme placement. The Philippines formally incorporated these principles to modernise its prisons. However, structural, organisational, and cultural challenges posed barriers to successful implementation. Utilising qualitative data gathered through interviews and focus group discussions with prison personnel, inmates, and volunteers in a major prison in the Philippines, this paper investigates the practices that impact on inmate classification and how these affect housing assignment, levels of supervision and control, and inmate programming. Implications towards developing an integrated correctional management in the Philippines, and other similarly situated countries, are discussed.     

The impact of density on jail violence

The operation of jails over their rated capacities is frequently thought of as a major contributor to increased tension among inmates, an additional burden on corrections officers, and a hindrance to classification procedures. The increased tensions combined with difficult working conditions are expected by administrators to contribute to correctional violence. Data for the current study were collected from 646 jails. Spatial density was found to be a significant predictor of inmate–inmate and inmate–staff assaults, but not in the manner that was expected. Increased density was associated with lower assault rates in the participating facilities. The measures of social density were not associated with either type of assaults once other variables, such as jail-level inmate characteristics or inmate supervision variables were considered. Variables such as aggregate inmate age, race, trial status, inmate/officer ratio, transiency of the jail population, and the use of direct supervision were included in the analysis.     

Violence in Juvenile Institutions

This study assesses the impact of selected deprivation and importation variables on inmate violence in four juvenile correctional institutions. While both sets of variables were shown to exert independent effects on inmate aggression, variations in the institutional context mediated the impact of inmate characteristics on levels of p r i s m violence. Preinstitutional violence emerged as the best predictor of inmate aggression, regardless of institutional setting. Race was shown to affect inmate violence directly m l y in the most treatment-oriented facility, while the inmate code was found to exert effects only in the most custodial institution.     

Jail Officers’ Perceptions of the Work Environment in Traditional Versus New Generation Facilities

New Generation jails have emerged as an important innovation in local incarceration. The results of existing research suggest that new generation jail design and operation can positively impact inmates and staff, but the literature is far from unequivocal. The current study utilized data collected from a single jail complex to provide a unique test of how the type of facility influences jail staff perceptions of the work environment along several dimensions. Our results revealed few differences between correctional officers working in traditional units and those posted in new generation units. We discuss the implications of these findings, including the use of direct supervision inmate management in traditional as well as new generation jails.     

Possible solutions for preventing inmate sexual Assault: Examining wardens’ beliefs

Inmate sexual assault has long been a problem within the American correctional system. Prison sex researchers have prescribed various remedies and solutions for dealing with this issue. However, few of these studies have examined wardens’ beliefs regarding possible remedies for inmate sexual assault. Using data collected from 226 wardens in 2001, this study examines the beliefs that wardens hold concerning the effectiveness of institutional policies and procedures, staff training, and increased supervision by staff on sexual assault among inmates. On average, wardens feel these possible solutions would reduce inmate sexual coercion. Multiple regression analyses reveal that race, education, percentage of inmates sexually assaulted and known by the warden, and percentage of inmates having consensual sex are statistically significant variables associated with these remedies. Support for this project was provided by a grant from the College of Justice and Safety, Eastern Kentucky University.     

Assessing the Status of Gender-Specific Programs through the Lens of Juvenile Justice Staff

The gender-specific approach for working with offenders gained momentum during the 1990s and has since been largely accepted by academics and practitioners. Despite numerous studies demonstrating a need for gender-responsive programs and policies within both adult and juvenile correctional systems, scant research has explored whether these services are meeting the intended goals. The current study addresses this through a qualitative analysis of 1 county juvenile court using in-depth interviews with staff. Findings reveal that in spite of the court's efforts to incorporate a gender-responsive approach, much work still remains regarding training staff and meeting girls' needs. Staff identified critical gaps in services and continued to perpetuate gendered norms and stereotypes. Included is a discussion as to why it has been difficult to effectively implement gender-specific programs.     

THE EFFECT OF SUPERMAXIMUM SECURITY PRISONS ON AGGREGATE LEVELS OF INSTITUTIONAL VIOLENCE*

Supermax prisons have been advanced as means of controlling the “worst of the worst” and making prisons safer places to live and work. This research examined the effect of supermaxes on aggregate levels of violence in three prison systems using a multiple interrupted time series design. No support was found for the hypothesis that supermaxes reduce levels of inmate‐on‐inmate violence. Mixed support was found for the hypothesis that supermax increases staff safety: the implementation of a supermax had no effect on levels of inmate‐on‐staff assaults in Minnesota, temporarily increased staff injuries in Arizona, and reduced assaults against staff in Illinois.