Examining the Effect of Correctional Programming on Perceptions of Likelihood of Recidivism Among Incarcerated Prisoners

ABSTRACT

For many years, policymakers and criminal justice scholars have debated the impact of correctional programming on recidivism. This debate is currently unresolved. Using data from 1,234 currently incarcerated inmates in a mid-Southern state, this study examines whether inmates who participate in correctional programming while incarcerated are less likely to feel that they will recidivate upon release from prison. The findings from this research suggest that program participation while in prison has little impact on the inmates’ perceived recidivism, although important programming effects may still occur. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Detained and Dying: Ethical Issues Surrounding End-of-Life Care in Prison

Prisons are increasingly being called upon to provide end-of-life (EOL) care within the restrictive correctional environment. Several relatively recent phenomena have brought medical ethics to the forefront of prison EOL care—including aging behind bars, a paradigm shift in prison culture, the increasing rate of in-prison deaths, and the corresponding prison hospice movement. This article examines prominent ethical issues that emerge for prison personnel who are tasked with providing care to terminally ill offenders by presenting three offender composite characters that exemplify dying offenders and emergent ethical issues surrounding their care. Identification and critical analysis of these ethical issues demonstrate the need for strong commitment to ethical practice and highlights specific issues for prisons to examine in their own EOL care practice.     

The Impact of Prison Hospice

Abstract

This study reports on a qualitative national telephone survey with coordinators of 14 prison hospice programs in 11 states. The rationale behind the survey was to learn about interdisciplinary collaboration between social work and criminal justice, using prison hospice as an exemplar of this collaboration. In addition to learning that all prison hospices in the study operate using an interdisciplinary team model and that most report high quality collaboration on the hospice team, the following additional five themes emerged: administrators and wardens are very supportive while correctional staff provides mixed support to team and program; greater collaboration with those outside prison hospice is critical; collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on dying prisoners; collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on prisoner volunteers; and, collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on the entire culture of the prison.     

The impact of prison hospice: collaboration among social workers and other professionals in a criminal justice setting that promotes care for the dying

This study reports on a qualitative national telephone survey with coordinators of 14 prison hospice programs in 11 states. The rationale behind the survey was to learn about interdisciplinary collaboration between social work and criminal justice, using prison hospice as an exemplar of this collaboration. In addition to learning that all prison hospices in the study operate using an interdisciplinary team model and that most report high quality collaboration on the hospice team, the following additional five themes emerged: administrators and wardens are very supportive while correctional staff provides mixed support to team and program; greater collaboration with those outside prison hospice is critical; collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on dying prisoners; collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on prisoner volunteers; and, collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on the entire culture of the prison.     

The impact of light skin on prison time for black female offenders

There is a long history of social science research on the importance of race for determining life outcomes. However, there are relatively few social science studies on the importance of skin tone within racial groups. Some recent research has documented the quantifiable advantages associated with having a lighter skin shade, particularly in terms of occupational attainment and earnings among blacks. A handful of studies focusing on black men have also suggested that when authorities perceive offenders as having a lighter skin shade it translates into more lenient criminal justice outcomes. The present analysis extends this line of inquiry by examining how perceived skin tone (assessed by correctional officers) is related to maximum prison sentence and actual time served for over 12,000 black women imprisoned in North Carolina between 1995 and 2009. Controlling for several factors, the results indicated that black women deemed to have a lighter skin tone received more lenient prison sentences and served less time behind bars.     

Differences in inmate-inmate and inmate-staff altercations: Examples from a medium security prison

Inmate violence is a major concern for correctional organizations. Most research on violence lump together inmate-inmate and inmate-staff violence and attempt to understand them from a single perspective. This article posits that inmate-inmate and inmate-staff violence are different phenomenon. Data from a medium security prison is used to understand the relationship between inmate-inmate and inmate-staff violence and other variables. Inmate-inmate altercations are related to structural and interpersonal variables. Inmate-staff altercations are related to the extent to which inmates are involved in social relationship with other inmates and see the correctional staff as a physical threat to them. variables. Inmate-staff altercations are related to the extent to which inmates are involved in social relationship with other inmates and see the correctional staff as a physical threat to them. variables. Inmate-staff altercations are related to the extent to which inmates are involved in social relationship with other inmates and see the correctional staff as a physical threat to them.     

Current tobacco policies in U.S. adult male prisons☆

The current national trend in the restriction of smoking and use of tobacco products is extending to the prison system. At the same time that city, state and the federal governments are limiting smoking in public places and businesses, state and federal prison systems are limiting use in correctional facilities. The data for this paper was collected by mail from departments of correction in the fifty states, the District of Columbia and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The results show a continuing trend in tobacco limitation policies at male prisons within the U. S. Several states totally ban all tobacco and only a few still allow generally unlimited use. Limitation policies range from segregation into smoking and nonsmoking areas to the banishment of inmates and staff to smoking areas outside prison buildings.While many see a nonsmoking prison system as the wave of the future, use of tobacco in prisons is still common. This research examines the official reason given for changes in tobacco policy and the alterations in prison operations that developed after restrictions were implemented. Increased tensions developed among inmates, staff and administration as a result of the new policies. For those prison systems that banned tobacco, an active black market operation developed eclipsing other contraband problems.     

The color of corrections: Racial politics and prison privatization

Privatizing the administration of American prisons represents a popular tool of correctional governance. In turn, policy and public administration researchers are routinely studying the consequences of prison privatization on criminal justice outcomes such as recidivism rates and prisoner complaints. However, much less attention has been paid to the antecedents of privatization decisions occurring across states, in particular how racial determinants might be influencing privatization outcomes. Building upon existing policy research with theories of social construction and negative racial classification, we argue that privatization debates over corrections management become more racialized when Black prisoners comprise a larger share of the state prison population, predicting higher overall levels of privatization usage. We further argue that this Black prisoner presence-privatization relationship is context-specific and conditioned by two additional variables: (1) levels of mass racial stereotyping and (2) partisan composition of state government. The statistical analysis demonstrates that racial determinants do significantly influence state prison privatization decisions and in complex ways as theorized. In states where Blacks make up a larger share of the prison population, privatization usage is found to be higher. Additionally, in line with theoretical expectations, Black prisoner presence is associated with increased privatization levels most strongly in states where citizenries hold heightened levels of racial fear and Republicans have increased legislative presence. This research is of keen interest to scholars of public policy and management, who could pay more heed to the ways in which race influences decisions around administrative structuring and outcomes for taxpayers and clients.     

Our Stories–Our Journey: An Empowerment Group Approach for Justice-Involved Women using Pecha-Kucha

ABSTRACT

This article presents Our Stories–Our Journey, a group-work intervention with justice-involved women. This narrative-based intervention helps members to develop insight into self-identity and to restructure narratives via mutual aid. Through a group-work intervention using empowerment and narrative theories with pecha-kucha (the word for chit-chat or chatter, in Japanese), incarcerated women work to create empowering stories that will support them in constructing new narratives. Considering the traumatic pathways to prison for women and the oppressive correctional environments, models of innovative programs that are strength based and empowering are needed that will guide the social work profession to work effectively with justice-involved populations.     

Gender Differences in Criminal Sentencing: Do Effects Vary Across Violent,Property, and Drug Offenses?*

Objective. Many studies find that females benefit from their gender in sentencing decisions. Few researchers, however, address whether the gender‐sentencing association might be stronger for some crimes, such as minor nonviolent offending, and weaker for other offenses, such as serious violent crime. Method. Using a large random sample of convicted offenders in Texas drawn from a statewide project on sentencing practices mandated by the 73rd Texas Legislature, logistic regression and OLS regression analyses of likelihood of imprisonment and prison length illustrate the importance of looking at sentencing outcomes not only in terms of gender but also in terms of crime type. Results. Specifically, we find that the effect of gender on sentencing does vary by crime type, but not in a consistent or predicted fashion. For both property and drug offending, females are less likely to be sentenced to prison and also receive shorter sentences if they are sentenced to prison. For violent offending, however, females are no less likely than males to receive prison time, but for those who do, females receive substantially shorter sentences than males. Conclusions. We conclude that such variation in the gender‐sentencing association across crime type is largely due to features of Texas' legal code that channel the level of discretion available to judges depending on crime type and whether incarceration likelihood or sentence length is examined.     

Social Construction and Policy Implementation: Inmate Health as a Public Health Issue*

Objectives. This article develops and tests a concise multi‐stage approach for assessing the impact of social construction on the implementation of public programs designed to benefit negatively constructed groups. The framework suggests that negative constructions lead to policy choices that create problems in the implementation process. These problems prevent the accomplishment of key subobjectives necessary for ultimate program success. Methods. We test the utility of the framework in an analysis of a key public health issue—the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in prisons. Despite great strides in the treatment and prevention of these diseases outside prison walls, the incidence and severity of both in the incarcerated population has increased dramatically over the last five years. We hypothesize that the problem of inadequate funding, arising from the negative social construction of this unique target population, is to blame. Results. In an analysis of 50 state correctional systems, we find that states with the most negative constructions of criminals and potential criminals spend dramatically less on inmate health, relative to other states. Conclusions. Our analysis suggests that inadequate funding levels in states with negative constructions of criminals and potential criminals jeopardizes the implementation of prison programs targeted at the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.     

The Prison Industry: Carceral Expansion and Employment in U.S. Counties, 1969–1994*

Objectives. Despite the interest that social scientists have displayed in the rising rate of incarceration, little attention has been devoted to understanding its consequences for local areas. This is an important omission because prison construction has become a component of state and local economic development schemes. Indeed, there is a widespread belief that prison construction provides significant economic benefits to local areas. Methods. We analyze data on all existing and new prisons in the United States since 1960 and examine the impact of these prisons on the pace of growth (as measured by public, private, and total employment growth) in U.S. counties from 1969 to 1994. To our knowledge, our study is the first comprehensive and longitudinal assessment of the impact of prison construction on local areas. Results. We find no evidence that prison expansion has stimulated economic growth. In fact, we provide evidence that prison construction has impeded economic growth in rural counties that have been growing at a slow pace. Conclusion. Despite sharp ideological and intellectual differences, the critics and the advocates of the prison construction boom share the assumption that prisons can contribute to local growth, especially in hard‐pressed local areas. This belief flies in the face of mounting evidence that state and local initiatives rarely have a significant impact on growth; this belief is also contradicted by our analyses.     

Segregation and African-American imprisonment rates for drug offenses

Scholars argue that the dramatic increase in the African-American incarceration rate that occurred after the civil rights era was in part a reflection of the declining utility of residential segregation as a modern form of social control. Existing research has not thoroughly investigated the association between racial segregation and prison admission rates. Using 2002 data for 198 metropolitan counties, this research examines the relationship between two dimensions of racial residential segregation and African-American prison admission rates for drug offenses. The results from a multivariate regression analysis reveal that the prison admission rates of African-Americans for drug offenses are lower in counties where White residents are more residentially isolated from African-Americans. The admission rates are unaffected by the dissimilarity index. Consistent with recent research on the level of coercive control, the findings suggest that the effect of the percentage of African-Americans residing in an area is nonlinear.     

The association of affective and continuance commitment with correctional staff life satisfaction

Previous research suggests that life satisfaction is a stronger predictor of job performance than job satisfaction, and life satisfaction is negatively associated with absenteeism and a desire to retire early. Despite the fact that employees with high life satisfaction are essential for organizations’ optimal efficiency, little empirical research exists to determine the individual and workplace factors that shape and maintain high correctional staff life satisfaction levels. This study investigates the impact of two types of organizational commitment, continuance and affective, on correctional staff life satisfaction at two Midwestern prisons, one private and one public. Continuance commitment was negatively related and affective commitment was positively related with life satisfaction for staff in both prisons. Possible methods to increase affective commitment and life satisfaction for correctional staff are discussed.     

Strategic Planning for Support Services for Children with a Parent or Close Relative in Prison

It has long been recognized that children with a parent or close relative in prison are more likely to experience educational difficulties, emotional distress, family breakdown and a substantial reduction in family income (Boswell 2002; Smith et al. 2007; Morgan et al. 2013b; Morgan and Gill 2013). Consequently, children with a parent in prison are more likely to require support from statutory services, especially education and social care. However, statutory support for this group of children is sparse, and children of prisoners tend not to be identified as a priority group. The demand on local authorities to spend their limited budgets wisely means tough decisions have to be made. These decisions are not taken in a vacuum: they are taken in a context of local need, consumer representation, central and local politics; underpinned by the values and attitudes of individual members as well as by the ethos or culture of the local authority itself. In this article we apply Axford's typology (2009) of the different cultures which underpin local authority service provision to data from a research study carried out in 2011 in one local authority which explored support provision in schools for children of prisoners. We examine the contradictions and gaps within the local authority's attempts to synergize the different modules of service delivery into a coherent pattern of provision, and we explore how changes in strategic culture might lead to improvements being made in terms of service delivery to this group of ‘vulnerable’ children.     

White Man's Magic Makes Black Deaths in Custody Disappear

Recent articles on Aboriginal deaths in custody appear to demonstrate that Aborigines and nonaborigines faced equal risks of dying in prison or police lockup over the period 1980–1988. A major criticism of the argument from which this conclusion is made, is the weight it places on a census of prisoners on one particular day during the nine years. In fact figures from such censuses are highly variable. The argument also ignores important risk factors such as sex, age, and exposure to prison of an individual, as well as variations between states, between locations within states, and between times of year. Apart from not convincingly demonstrating that day-to-day risks are similar for Aborigines and nonaborigines, the approach also does not attempt to assess the probability that an individual will ultimately die in prison. Using calculations based on recent research into the recidivisim of Western Australian prisoners, we show that the latter probability, for an Aborigine in Western Australia, is likely to be of the order of three or more times that of a nonaborigine. Such a disproportion may not be accounted for entirely by the over-representation of Aborigines in custody.     

Rehabilitation,reintegration and recidivism: a theoretical and methodological reflection

ABSTRACT

The reintegration of ex-offenders into the community has emerged as a key concern of the criminal justice system as prison populations have increased globally. High recidivism rates indicate that prisons have not adequately prepared many prisoners for life after prisons. There are three issues this article explores: first, to unpack the theoretical and methodological issues in understanding the nebulous concept of ‘recidivism’; second, to provide a critique of the ‘risks–needs–responsivity’ model which has formed the basis of prison rehabilitation; and third, to suggest ways to mitigate the effects of institutionalisation to achieve positive rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes.     

The production of "criminals" in Finland in the 1980s

The article describes from the constructionist starting-point the quantitative development of people sentenced to prison for the first time in the 1980s in Finland. The reasons for and consequences of this development are also examined. The data consist of a register that covers all the decisions given by the Finnish lower courts of justice for the period 1977–1991. The basic observation is that the number of Finnish people defined for the first time as "criminals" decreased by about 20% in the 1980s. However, at the same time the penal system has increased its efficiency: the number of registered crimes and sentences has grown considerably. This has led to a more rapid circulation of "criminals" between prison and the outside. At the same time, the death rate of those labeled as criminals has increased in all age groups, which indicates the growing marginalization of that diminishing group.     

‘Fighting a war alone’: reintegration of ex-offenders from ethnic minority groups

Reintegration into society is crucial for the rehabilitation of ex-offenders. However, in Hong Kong, ex-offenders from ethnic minority groups often face specific difficulties in reintegrating into society when they have completed their sentence and have been released from prisons and correctional institutions. Due to language barriers and cultural differences, as well as a sense of inferiority originating from their convictions, many ethnic minority ex-offenders are likely to experience difficulty in accessing support networks that can help in their rehabilitation, and to re-establish and sustain an identity as a law-abiding citizen, and face more barriers to reintegration than their Chinese counterparts. These barriers are further compounded by problems reintegrating into their own ethnic communities. Many ethnic minority ex-offenders have experienced isolation, stigmatization and discrimination following rejection from their own communities. This, in turn, further complicates their reintegration and can contribute to recidivism and an increase in the crime rate over time.

This paper seeks to analyse the reintegration of ethnic minority ex-offenders into their own ethnic communities using the story of a single ethnic minority ex-prisoner to learn about the lived experience of being jailed and stigmatized. This was carried out to understand the difficulties encountered during reintegration into society, and to look at ways to remove any ‘labels’ bestowed upon ex-offenders following imprisonment.

Finally, the main outcomes of this study are to identify facilitative factors for ethnic minority ex-offenders to aid their re-establishment and reintegration into society and consider possible implications for rehabilitative programmes for ethnic minority ex-offenders and crime prevention programmes for the community.     

An exploratory study of different approaches between social work practice and correctional services in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

This paper tries to explore the differences between social work and correctional services from the aspects of professional boundaries, concept, content, construct, context, approach, function, professional identity and relationship with service users. Through these, social workers will be informed what are the limitations of their service in a correctional environment, whilst for correctional officers, a better understanding of the philosophical stance of social services which may be helpful for them in discharging their dual role of law enforcer and social worker under the contemporary correctional policy stressing rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.