1. Prison Life, Inmate Rights, Release, and Recidivism
Chapter 11
Prison Life, Inmate Rights, Release, and Recidivism
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

2. Chapter Objectives, 1
After completing this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Distinguish between the deprivation and importation models of inmate society
Explain how today’s inmate society differs from those of the past
Identify some of the special features of life in women’s prisons

3. Chapter Objectives, 2
Describe the profile of correctional officers, and explain some of the issues they face
Identify prisoners’ rights, and relate how they were achieved
List the two most common ways that inmates are released from prison, and compare those two ways in frequency of use
Summarize what recidivism research reveals about the success of the prison in achieving deterrence and rehabilitation

4. Living in Prison
When most people think of prisons, they usually imagine the big- house, maximum-security prison for men
However, institutions are quite diverse

5. Inmate Society
In his classic book, Asylums, Erving Goffman described prisons as total institutions
Although prisons are certainly influenced by the outside world, they are also separated and closed off from that world

6. Total Institutions
Total institution: An institutional setting in which persons sharing some characteristics are cut off from the wider society and expected to live according to institutional rules and procedures

7. Inmate Society, 1
Central to the inmate society of traditional men’s prisons is the convict code, which is a constellation of values, norms, and roles that regulate the way inmates interact with one another and with prison staff

8. Inmate Society, 2 Principles of the convict code
Inmates should mind their own affairs and do their own time
Inmates should not inform the staff about the illicit activities of other prisoners
Inmates should be indifferent to staff and loyal to other convicts
Conning and manipulation skills are valued, as is the ability to show strength, courage, and toughness

9. Inmate Society, 3
Two major theories of the origins of the inmate society have been advanced
The deprivation model
The importation model

10. Inmate Society: The Deprivation Model, 1
Deprivation model: A theory that the inmate society arises as a response to the prison environment and the painful conditions of confinement

11. Inmate Society: The Deprivation Model, 2
According to Donald Clemmer, when an inmate enters prison for the first time, the inmate experiences prisonization
Prisonization: The process by which an inmate becomes socialized into the customs and principles of the inmate society
The longer inmates stay in prison, the more prisonized they become, and the more likely they will return to crime after their release

12. Inmate Society: The Importation Model, 1
The importation model is an alternative to the deprivation model
Importation model: A theory that the inmate society is shaped by the attributes inmates bring with them when they enter prison

13. Inmate Society: The Importation Model, 2
For example, inmates who were thieves and persistently associated with other thieves before going to prison bring the norms and values of thieves into the prison
Generally, law-abiding people will be more likely to be loyal to staff norms while in prison

14. Inmate Society, 4
Today’s inmate society is socially fragmented, disorganized, and unstable because of:
Increasing racial heterogeneity
The racial polarization of modern prisoners
Court litigation
The rise and fall of rehabilitation
The increased politicalization of inmates

15. Violence and Victimization, 1
There is more physical violence by inmates in today’s men’s prisons than there was in earlier periods
Reasons for high rates of prison violence include:
Improper management and classification practices by staff
High levels of crowding and competition over resources

16. Violence and Victimization, 2
The young age of most inmates in many prisons
Increases in racial tensions and prison gang activity

17. Violence and Victimization, 3
There is more physical violence by inmates in today’s men’s prisons than there was in earlier periods
Reasons for high rates of prison violence include:
Improper management and classification practices by staff
High levels of crowding and competition over resources
The young age of most inmates in many prisons
Increases in racial tensions and prison gang activity

18. Violence and Victimization, 4
Common motives for physical violence in prison are:
To demonstrate power and dominance
To retaliate against a perceived wrong
To prevent the perpetrator from being victimized in the future

19. Violence and Victimization, 5
A good deal of prison violence—but not all—has sexual overtones
In addition:
Not all instances of sex in prison are violent
Not all instances of sex in prison are homosexual
Sexual encounters can involve both inmates and staff

20. Violence and Victimization, 6
Instances of prison sex can be further divided into three basic categories
Consensual sex for gratification
Prostitution
Sexual assault

21. Violence and Victimization, 7
Physical victimization is not the only or even the most frequent kind of victimization in prison
Other kinds include:
Economic
Psychological
Social

22. Violence and Victimization, 8
These may be perpetrated by inmates or staff

23. Violence and Victimization, 9
Like all societies, the inmate society has an economy with a black-market component known as the sub-rosa economy

24. Violence and Victimization, 10
Cigarettes often serve as the medium of exchange because currency is typically contraband
One of the newest forms of prison contraband are cell phones
The sub-rosa economy sets the stage for various kinds of economic victimization, including theft, robbery, fraud, extortion, and loan- sharking

25. Violence and Victimization, 11
Psychological victimization consists of subtle manipulation tactics and mind games that occur frequently in prison
Staff members threaten to expose information from an inmate’s file
Inmates threaten to tell superiors about staff corruption or failure to follow procedure

26. Violence and Victimization, 12
Social victimization involves prejudice or discrimination against a person because of:
Race
Age
Class background
Religious preference
Political position

27. Violence and Victimization, 13
Other factors

28. Inmate Coping and Adjustment, 1
Prison life includes:
Pronounced deprivation of personal freedom and material goods
Loss of privacy
Competition for scarce resources
Greater insecurity, stress, and unpredictability

29. Inmate Coping and Adjustment, 2
Prison life also encourages qualities counter to those required for functioning effectively in the free community by:
Discouraging personal responsibility and independence
Creating excessive dependency on authority
Diminishing personal control over life events

30. Inmate Coping and Adjustment, 3
Robert Johnson identifies two broad ways that inmates cope with imprisonment
Entering the public domain of prison culture
Entering the private culture of the prison

31. Inmate Coping and Adjustment, 4
The inmates in the prison’s public domain are predatory and violent and seek power and status by dominating and victimizing others
Most inmates enter the prison’s private culture
These inmates find in the diverse environment of the institution a niche that will accommodate their needs, such as a job in the library to accommodate a person’s need for privacy and safety

32. Inmate Coping and Adjustment, 5
Inmates usually develop a prison lifestyle
“Doing time” - Getting out as soon as possible and avoiding hard time
“Jailing” - Achieving positions of influence in the inmate society
“Gleaning” - Trying to take advantage of the resources available for personal betterment

33. Life in Women’s Prisons, 1
Life in women’s prisons is similar to life in men’s prisons in some respects, but there are also important differences
Women’s prisons are usually not characterized by the levels of violence, interpersonal conflict, and interracial tension found in men’s institutions
Women’s prisons are often less oppressive

34. Life in Women’s Prisons, 2
Female inmates are more likely to have children and to have been living with those children immediately before incarceration
In some cases, very young children may live with their mothers in prison for a temporary period
Some women lose custody of their children
Often, children live with other relatives and have little or no visitation

35. Pseudofamilies and Homosexuality, 1
A distinguishing feature of the inmate society in many women’s prisons is the presence of make-believe families, known as pseudofamilies
Women adopt male and female family roles
Kinship ties cut across racial lines

36. Pseudofamilies and Homosexuality, 2
Family activity and homosexual activity appear to be relatively independent of one another
The majority of female inmates who participate in homosexuality were heterosexual before incarceration and will return to heterosexuality upon release

37. Inmate Roles
Esther Heffernan identified three roles that women commonly adopt when adjusting to prison:
“Square” - Women who were primarily noncriminals before imprisonment and tend toward conventional behavior in prison
“Life” - Habitual offenders who continue to display anti-social and anti- authority behavior
“Cool” - Sophisticated professional criminals who try to do easy time by manipulating other inmates and the staff to their own advantage

38. Correctional Officers, 1
Research on prison staff remains sparse compared with research on inmates
Most studies of prison staff have concentrated on guards or correctional officers because:
They represent the majority of staff members in a prison
They are responsible for the security of the institution
They have the most frequent and closest contact with inmates

39. Correctional Officers, 2
Correctional officers face a number of conflicts in their work
Boredom and stimulus overload
Role ambiguity and role strain as officers are expected to both supervise and counsel inmates
Lack of clear guidelines on how to exercise their discretion in dealing with inmates
Limits on their power and the need to negotiate voluntary compliance from inmates

40. Correctional Officers, 3
How do correctional officers respond to their roles and their work conditions?
Some become alienated and cynical and withdraw from their work
Others become overly authoritarian and confrontational in a quest to control inmates by intimidation
Others become corrupt
Some adopt a human-services orientation toward their work

41. Correctional Officers, 5
A backlash against affirmative action has resulted in tensions and resentment by white officers
Training standards are not uniform across or even within jurisdictions
Professionalization has been accompanied by unionism

42. Table 11.1: Percentage of Correctional Training Programs with Particular Program Components, 1
Administration
92 %
Inmate mental health 98
Chemical agents 86
Inmate programs
Communicable diseases
Organizational/prison culture assessment 70
Communications
Race relations 78
Conflict resolution 90
Report writing
CPR 94
Security devices
Crisis management
Self-defense 96
Diversity training
Sexual misconduct prevention: staff

43. Table 11.1: Percentage of Correctional Training Programs with Particular Program Components, 2
Ethics 98
Sexual misconduct prevention: Inmates
Firearms 86
Spanish 14
Fire/safety
Special inmate populations 78
First aid 96
Stress reduction 76
Hostages 92
Substance abuse awareness 80
Inmate classification
Suicide awareness
Inmate gangs
Transportation
Inmate health care
Use of force
100
Inmate management
Working with female inmates 74
Inmate manipulations
Workplace violence

44. Inmate Rights and Prison Reform
Until the middle of the twentieth century, the courts followed a hands-off philosophy toward prison matters
As a consequence of inaction, prisoners essentially had no civil rights
This situation began to change as progress was made in civil rights in the wider society

45. Access to the Courts and Legal Services, 1
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted inmates:
Unrestricted access to the federal courts
The ability to challenge in federal court not only the fact of their confinement but also the conditions under which they are confined
The ability to challenge the conditions of confinement (Cooper v. Pate, 1964)

46. Access to the Courts and Legal Services, 2
Prior to the Cooper decision, inmates had relied primarily on habeas corpus petitions to obtain access to the federal courts
Habeas corpus: A court order requiring that a confined person be brought to court so that his or her claims can be heard
The Cooper decision, in effect, launched the prisoners’ rights movement by opening the door to new claims from prisoners

47. Access to the Courts and Legal Services, 3
However, by the 1990s, Congress had become exasperated with the flood of claims by prisoners challenging their conditions of confinement in the federal courts
In response, it passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995
The intent of the legislation was to restrict and discourage litigation by prison inmates

48. Access to the Courts and Legal Services, 4
To get their cases to court, prisoners need access to legal materials, and many of them need legal assistance from persons skilled in law
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that jailhouse lawyers must be permitted to assist other inmates, and inmates are entitled to either an adequate law library or adequate legal assistance

49. Procedural Due Process in Prison, 1
Inmates can face disciplinary action for breaking prison rules
The United States Supreme Court has held that they are entitled to due process, including:
A disciplinary hearing by an impartial body
Written notice of the charges within 24 hours

50. Procedural Due Process in Prison, 2
A written statement of the evidence relied on and the reasons for the disciplinary action
An opportunity to call witnesses and present documentary evidence, provided this does not jeopardize institutional security

51. First Amendment Rights
The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion
The U.S. Supreme Court has made numerous decisions in this area

52. Free Speech
The Supreme Court ruled that censorship (such as a prisoner’s outgoing mail) is legal only if it furthers one or more of the following substantial government interests:
Security
Order
Rehabilitation

53. Religious Freedom
Inmates are free to practice either conventional or unconventional religions in prison, and prison officials are obligated to provide accommodations
Restrictions may be imposed where prison officials can demonstrate convincingly that religious practices compromise security or are unreasonably expensive

54. Eighth Amendment Rights
The Eighth Amendment outlaws the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment
The courts have considered a number of issues under the umbrella of cruel and unusual punishment

55. Medical Care
In 1976, the Supreme Court decided Estelle v. Gamble and ruled that inmates have a right to adequate medical care
However, inmates claiming Eighth Amendment violations on medical grounds must demonstrate that prison officials have shown deliberate indifference to serious medical problems

56. Staff Brutality
Brutality is normally considered a tort rather than a constitutional issue
However, whipping and related forms of corporal punishment have been prohibited under the Eighth Amendment
The Supreme Court also found that staff use of force against an inmate need not cause a significant physical injury to violate the amendment

57. Total Prison Conditions, 1
Totality-of-conditions cases involve claims that some combination of prison practices and conditions makes the prison, as a whole, unconstitutional
In the case of Holt v. Sarver (1971), the entire Arkansas prison system was declared unconstitutional on grounds of totality of conditions and was ordered to implement a variety of changes

58. Total Prison Conditions, 2
Prisons have long had the right to provide only the minimal conditions necessary for human survival
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Medical care to sustain life

59. Figure 11.1 - Causes of State Prison Inmate Deaths
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60. Fourteenth Amendment Rights
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees due process of law and equal protection under law
The equal-protection clause protects against racial discrimination and gender discrimination
However, the rights of female inmates remain underdeveloped

61. The Limits of Litigation, 1
The almost exclusive reliance on court intervention to reform the prison system during the last four decades has cost funds that could have been better spent to reform unacceptable practices in the first place
Meanwhile, prison systems cannot address other problems because they are spending money to defend against other lawsuits

62. The Limits of Litigation, 2
Court litigation is an expensive way to reform prisons
It is also very slow and piecemeal
Transformation of prison systems can be chaotic and unstable
Reforms may take years

63. The Limits of Litigation, 3
Successful cases usually have limited impact

64. Release and Recidivism, 1
Inmates may be released from prison in a number of ways, including:
Expiration of the maximum sentence
Commutation
Commutation: Reduction of the original sentence given by executive authority, usually a state’s governor
Release at the discretion of a parole authority
Mandatory release

65. Release and Recidivism, 2
One of the most common ways of release is parole
Parole: The conditional release of prisoners before they have served their full sentences
In jurisdictions that permit parole release, eligibility for parole normally requires that inmates have served a given portion of their terms, minus time served in jail prior to imprisonment, and minus good time
Good time: Time subtracted from an inmate’s sentence for good behavior and other meritorious activities in prison

66. Release and Recidivism, 3
The other common release measure is mandatory release
Mandatory release: A method of prison release under which an inmate is released after serving a legally required portion of his or her sentence, minus good-time credits
Mandatory release is similar to parole in that persons let out under either arrangement ordinarily receive a period of community supervision by a parole officer

67. Release and Recidivism, 4
When inmates are released from correctional institutions, the hope is that they will not experience recidivism
Recidivism: The return to illegal activity after release from incarceration

68. Release and Recidivism, 5
In 2012, the American Correctional Association (ACA) reported that recidivism rates had remained remarkably stable
The average recidivism rate for the 38 states that separated rates by gender was 36.8% for males and 26.8% for females, considerably lower than the 60%-plus rates of earlier studies

69. Release and Recidivism, 6
A study by Ben Crouch found that newly incarcerated offenders frequently express a preference for prison over probation
Ironically, the public’s demand for more imprisonment may actually foster less deterrence and more prisoners

70. Release and Recidivism, 7
Lynne Goodstein demonstrated that the inmates who adjusted most successfully to prison had the most difficulty adjusting to life in the free community upon release
In the end, imprisonment is a reactive response to the social problem of crime, and crime is interwoven with other social problems such as poverty, inequality, and racism

71. Appendix

72. Figure 11.1: Causes of State Prison Inmate Deaths - Appendix
The leading cause is illness, which constitutes 87.6 percent. The second leading cause is suicide, which constitutes 5.5 percent. It is followed by homicide, which constitutes 2.6 percent. The fourth cause is drug or alcohol intoxication, which constitutes 1.6 percent. The fifth cause is execution, which constitutes 1.1 percent. The sixth cause is accident, which constitutes 1.0 percent. The last cause is missing, which constitutes 0.6 percent.
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