Parole release decisions revisited: An analysis of parole release decisions for violent inmates in a southeastern state

In an attempt to discover the major predictors of parole decision-making in one southeastern state, this study examined the cases of 762 inmates under the supervision of the Alabama Department of Corrections who were eligible for parole from June 1, 1993 through May 31, 1994. Of the 762 eligible inmates, only 138 (18 percent) were granted parole. Using parole disposition (granted or denied) as the dependent variable, this study investigated the offense, offender, and general parole variables and their impact on parole decisions. Logistic regression findings indicated that the strongest predictors of parole release decisions were the length of the original sentence assessed for the offense, the total number of felonies for which the inmate was serving time, and the warden and senior officers' recommendations. These variables, which were also significant at the bivariate level of analysis, explained approximately 47 percent of the variation in the dependent variable. A major concern of the study was the generalizability of the findings.     

Punishment within Prison: An Examination of the Influences of Prison Officials’ Decisions to Remove Sentencing Credits

Despite considerable research directed toward understanding the factors that affect punishment decision‐making leading to imprisonment, few studies have examined the influences of punishment decisions within prisons. Punishment decisions made within prisons can affect an individual's liberty during their imprisonment and/or the timing of their release from prison if the punishment results in the loss of sentencing credits or influences parole decision‐making. Moreover, if punishment disparities result from these decisions, then some offender groups may endure a greater loss of liberty relative to others. In this study, we examine the factors that influence prison officials’ decisions to remove sentencing credits in response to prison rule violations. Analysis of collected data from a Midwestern state prison system reveal that prison officials are primarily influenced by the seriousness and type of the rule violation, along with an inmate's violation history. Other relevant factors include those proximately connected to an inmate's risk of subsequent misbehavior such as gang membership and those that are linked to practical consequences and constraints associated with the organizational environment and particular inmates such as the proportion of their sentence an inmate has served and whether an inmate has mental health problems.     

Opting Out: The Role of Identity,Capital, and Agency in Prison Visitation

An emerging body of research suggests that prison visitation has implications for better understanding inmate institutional and post-release behavior, but not all inmates receive visits. The goal of the current study is to document barriers to visitation from the inmate perspective and describe the perspectives of those who receive very few or no visits. We also describe how inmate perceptions of visits impacts the way one does time and negotiates subsequent visitation. Using data from qualitative interviews, we find evidence that inmates make willful decisions when negotiating prison visits that are guided by one’s sense of self and further colored by the perceived social and economic strain on families. Our results challenge the perception of a universally positive visitation experience, and introduce the role of inmate choice in selecting into and out of prison visits.     

Importation, deprivation, and varieties of serving time: An integrated-lifestyle-exposure model of prison offending

Using data on 208 male, former inmates in a midwestern state, the current study extended the importation/deprivation debate by developing an integrated model of prison offending. The model contained attitudinal measures, self-control, perceptions of prison conditions, prison lifestyles, objective measures of prison conditions, and controls. Structural equation modeling indicated that both the importation and deprivation theories of inmate behavior were salient, however, their effects were mediated by the inmate's lifestyle while imprisoned, specifically, his participation in the inmate economy.     

INSTITUTIONAL AND POSTRELEASE BEHAVIOR OF FURMAN-COMMUTED INMATES IN TEXAS*

In 1972, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty as administered constituted cruel and unusual punishment. This ruling also invalidated the death sentences of over 600 inmates in the United States, who subsequently had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. This article examines the institutional and postrelease behavior of the 47 Furman inmates in Texas from 1973 to 1986. Prior to the release of these inmates into the general prisoner population, prison officials and clinicians stated that they were dangerous and constituted a substantial threat to other inmates and to the security staff. The institutional and release behavior of the Furman inmates is compared with that of a cohort of like violent offenders. The Furman inmates committed few serious rule violations. They did not kill other inmates or staff. A minority of inmates in both groups committed the majority of prison rule violations. Of the 31 Furman inmates released on parole, 1 committed a new homicide. No cohort inmate killed again. The conclusion is that the execution of these 47 inmates would not have greatly protected society.     

Prisonization and accounts of gun carrying

This study examined inmate perceptions about the reasons other people carry guns. The sample consisted of seventy-three inmates who were incarcerated for gun-related violent crimes in Colorado. While most inmates said that people carry guns for self-protection and/or power, their accounts varied according to the number of years incarcerated. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that inmates incarcerated for long periods of time are likely to believe that others carry guns to feel powerful. In contrast, the results also indicate that inmates incarcerated for short periods of time are likely to believe that others carry guns for protection. These findings are consistent with theories about prison socialization. As inmates become immersed in the prison culture, they are also likely to change their perceptions about why others carry guns.     

Examining the Use of Disciplinary Segregation within and across Prisons

Prison officials have historically been afforded considerable discretion to administer sanctions designed to maintain order and security within a prison. Such discretion can generate disparate treatment of offender groups, but few studies have investigated whether sanction disparities exist within prisons, despite considerable research on sanctioning decisions made by other criminal justice actors. We use data collected from a nationally representative sample of inmates housed in state operated confinement facilities to examine potential influences of prison officials’ decisions to impose one type of sanction—disciplinary segregation. Multi-level analyses reveal that both legally relevant criteria such as prior misconduct history and extralegal factors such as age and holding a prison job affected whether an inmate was placed in disciplinary segregation for a rule violation. Also, prisons in which a greater proportion of the inmate population is involved in prison work and prisons with a higher density of inmates classified minimum-security use disciplinary segregation less frequently.     

Race,ethnicity, and prison disciplinary misconduct

It is well known that racial and ethnic minorities (both male and female) have felt the effect of increased incarceration more than Whites, and a large amount of prior research has investigated the factors that influence higher levels of inmate misconduct, including the influence of race/ethnicity. This body of research has produced mixed results. Using recent data from one of the largest state prison systems, this study sought to determine the level of racial and ethnic disparity in the commission of inmate misconduct. Results indicate that Black inmates were significantly more likely than other inmates to commit general rule violations, serious rule violations, and assaultive rule violations. Correlates of inmate misconduct and policy implications stemming from the findings are discussed.     

The correctional melting pot: Race, ethnicity, citizenship, and prison violence

The United States prison population is becoming more diverse and comprised of increasingly more violent inmates. Although race has been cited as a risk factor for inmate violence, most prior research had narrowly investigated White/Black differences in inmate misconduct. Using a sample of 1,005 inmates from the southwestern U.S., the current study explored racial, ethnic, and citizenship correlates among male and female prisoners. Negative binomial regression models indicated that net of controls, Hispanics and Native Americans were the most violent male prisoners, while African Americans and Native Americans were the most violent female inmates. The current study was admittedly modest in scope; however, the findings were couched within a broader, imperative sociological framework that lamented the increasing interplay between communities and prison and the role of prison as a social institution.     

Therapeutic communities and prison management: an examination of the effects of operating an in-prison therapeutic community on levels of institutional disorder

There is a growing emphasis in corrections on the treatment of inmates with drug problems. The typical method of evaluating drug treatment programs is to examine how the treatment affects the inmate in terms of relapse and recidivism. This study examines the institutional consequences of operating a therapeutic community located in a medium/high-security male institution. The effect on management is examined from a perspective of institutional disorder. Disorders, from less severe inmate rule violations to more serious assaults, and rates of grievance filing are examined within the treatment unit and compared with rates in the general population. The inmate's perception of the environment, whether in treatment or non-treatment, is also examined. Findings indicate that in-prison therapeutic communities have lower levels of disorder than nontreatment housing units and tend to produce more positive perceptions of the living environment among the inmates living there. The impact of these findings for prison management is discussed.     

Exploring cynicism toward prison administrations as a mediator of the association between quality of treatment and inmate misconduct

This study explores the ability of inmate cynicism to mediate the relationship between perceptions regarding quality of treatment and inmate misconduct in a prison setting. Using a sample of inmates from prisons in South Korea, the generalizability of the process-based model is tested. Also, the indirect effect of quality of treatment on inmate misconduct through cynicism is estimated using a bias-corrected bootstrapped mediation analysis. The findings show that quality of treatment was negatively and significantly associated with inmate misconduct in South Korean prisons. Additionally, results indicate that the quality of treatment and social support are significant predictors of inmate cynicism. Finally, a regression-based path analysis reveals that cynicism mediates the relationship between quality of treatment and inmate misconduct. While quality of treatment was found to predict inmate misconduct significantly, mediation analyses support the hypothesis that inmate cynicism partially mediates this association. The findings suggest that correctional policies should pay more attention to reducing inmates’ cynicism.

     

Race and the apprehension of inmate misconduct

Race differences in the apprehension of inmate misconduct were examined within a medium security Federal Correctional Institution. Significant race differences were found such that disproportionately more conduct reports (shots) were written on black than white inmates. Explanations of these differences are given. Considering three sets of findings, it was concluded that the probability of racial bias affecting criminal justice decision making will vary according to the status of that decision point on two dimensions: (1) the amount of discretion afforded the decision maker, and (2) the extent to which the decision maker is held accountable for this decision. Therefore, racial bias would be expected to exert its greatest impact upon decision points which allow considerable discretion and which prossess minimal accountability.     

Training prison inmates as paralegals: An experimental project

A program to train inmates as paralegals was established at a large state prison in the Midwest. Qualified inmates were randomly assigned to the training or to a control condition. Both groups were administered measures assessing legal knowledge, the use of legal knowledge, attitudes about the criminal justice system, and self-perceptions before and after training. The trainee group showed a significant increase in its amount of legal knowledge after training. Members of the trainee group also reported a significant increase in the number of other inmates requesting aid from them on legal problems. In addition, interviews were conducted with two random samples of the general inmate population, before and after the paralegal training program. These interviews revealed strong support for the training program, and this support increased over the period of the program. Limited data on longer-term effectiveness of the paralegal's performance in the prison legal aid clinic and in paralegal jobs following parole supported the positive, shorter-term results.     

The impact of determinate sentencing on prisoner misconduct

Purpose

The shift from indeterminate to determinate punishment policies over the past three decades may have the unintended consequence of increasing prisoner misconduct due to the elimination or reduction of parole and earned gain-time to provide incentives for inmates to comply with institutional rules. This paper advances the existing scholarship addressing this issue.

Methods

Data on a cohort of 305,228 inmates admitted to prison in Florida over a twelve year period before and after the enactment of a “truth-in-sentencing” law in 1995 requiring all felons sentenced to prison to serve a minimum 85% of their sentence are examined to assess the impact of determinate punishment on whether inmates commit disciplinary infractions and the frequency of misconduct.

Findings

The data show that determinate punishment has had the unintended consequence of significantly increasing the level of inmate misconduct in general and across different types of misconduct; violent, property, and disorderly.

Conclusion

The findings indicate that states which currently have or are considering the implementation of determinate sentencing should examine potential changes in policies and practices to alleviate the impact of reductions in inmate incentives to abide by institutional rules.     

“It's Just Black,White, or Hispanic”: An Observational Study of Racializing Moves in California's Segregated Prison Reception Centers

This article takes as its launching point a 2005 U. S. Supreme Court case, Johnson v. California (543 U.S. 499), which ruled that the California Department of Corrections' unwritten practice of racially segregating inmates in prison reception centers is to be reviewed under the highest level of constitutional review, strict scrutiny. Relying on observational data from two California prison reception centers, this research is grounded in an interactionist perspective and influenced by Smith's work on “institutional ethnography.” I examine how racialization occurs in carceral settings, arguing that officers and inmates collaborate to arrive at a “negotiated settlement” regarding housing decisions. They do so working together (but not always in agreement) to shape how an inmate is categorized in terms of ‘race’/ethnicity and gang/group affiliation, within a framework established by official Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation paperwork and related institutional understandings of housing needs. The findings demonstrate that administrators, officers, and inmates alike have influence over the process by which people are categorized and ‘race’ is produced, even as they derive their power from different sources and are both enabled and constrained by the relationship between them. I conclude that California prisons are, as Wacquant has put it, “the main machine for ‘race making’” (2005:128), and that the fuel for that machine—a series of patterned, negotiated settlements—happens in real time, “on the ground,” and with important consequences for inmates, officers, and administrators.     

Decision making by parole interviewers: The effect of case and interview factors

Nonverbal behavior of 103 inmates was coded during their parole interviews, and additional information was obtained from their case files. These data were related to interviewers' pre-and postinterview judgments of the inmates' likelihood of completing parole successfully and to interviewers' ratings of the inmates' honesty during the interview. Results showed that information obtained during the interview significantly affected the interviewers' postinterview judgments. Perceived honesty during the interview was affected significantly by the severity of the inmates' crime and by how much information the inmates' volunteered, how polite they were to the interviewers, and how much the inmates fidgeted during the interviews. Results suggest that the interviews did not improve, and may have lowered, interviewers' accuracy at predicting inmates' success on parole.     

Powerlessness,isolation, and future expectations: A gender‐based analysis of Korean inmates

This study explored gender differences in perceptions of powerlessness, isolation, and postprison expectation among inmates in the Republic of Korea. Korean women and girls occupy a social location that is characterized by marginalization from the labor force, emphasis on a restrictive gender ideology through family and school socialization, and dependence on the position of their family of origin or, after marriage, their husband for social standing. Given their social location and the socialization that supports and reproduces the social structure, the researchers hypothesized that compared to men in prison, women inmates would express lower levels of control over their own lives, greater feelings of isolation, and be more cynical about their life chances upon release from prison. Each of these hypotheses were supported at both the aggregate‐ and inmate‐level of analysis. The findings suggest the need for gender specific programming within the prison for women.     

AN ANALYSIS OF PAROLE DECISION MAKING USING A SAMPLE OF SEX OFFENDERS: A FOCAL CONCERNS PERSPECTIVE*

We use data from pre‐sentence investigations and official parole board records to study the correlates of parole release among a sample of men incarcerated for sexual offenses. Cox proportional hazard models are used to estimate change in the likelihood of parole over time, and the focal concerns theory provides the theoretical framework for the analyses. The findings suggest a complex interplay of legal and extralegal factors in understanding parole release decisions. Parole officials weigh heavily offense seriousness, institutional misconduct, and parole readiness scores in making release decisions. In addition, study results reveal that victim and offender age is a salient factor in determining parole judgments. Overall, the current analysis provides a baseline for future research on parole decision making in general, and sexual offenders, in particular.     

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.     

Does Inmate Behavior Affect Post-Release Offending? Investigating the Misconduct-Recidivism Relationship among Youth and Adults

Recent scholarship has highlighted the potential implications of in-prison experiences for prisoner reentry and, in particular, recidivism. Few penological or reentry studies, however, have examined the relationship between one experience that may be especially consequential, inmate misconduct, and recidivism. The goal of this study is to address this gap in the literature by employing a matching design that estimates the effect of inmate misconduct on reoffending, using data on a release cohort of Florida prisoners. The results indicate that inmates who engage in misconduct, violent misconduct in particular, are more likely to recidivate. Consistent with prior scholarship, we find that this relationship holds only for adult inmates. These findings underscore the importance of prison experiences for understanding recidivism, examining youthful and adult inmate populations separately, and devising policies that reduce misconduct.