EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRISON RAPE ELIMINATION ACT (PREA): A “LESSONS LEARNED” APPROACH

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was designed to address sexual violence in prison. While previous has focused on sexual violence occurring in correctional facilities, there has been a dearth of studies that document the expertise, experience, or reflections of program following the cimplementation of PREA- within a correctional system. The current study utilizes a “lessons learned” approach to discuss the impact of the PREA Demonstration Project on a state prison system that includes 19 correctional institutions. Results indicate the benefits of merging the philosophical orientation of key stakeholders, establishing benchmarks, and the need for partnerships with prosecutors. A comparison of the perceptions of correctional administrators, inmates, and front-line correctional officers regarding PREA is included. Also featured are the “lessons learned” from the implementation of PREA into four prison sites, along with the concept of building trust and the impact of lockdowns due to staff shortages.     

REPRODUCING CRIMINAL TYPES

Based upon observation in a cognitive treatment program for incarcerated violent offenders, this article uses a social constructionist approach to examine the program's rhetorical construction of inmates as particular "types'of beings. The program's practices contain ideological representations of criminals that, in turn, sustain and reproduce the program's logic. Specifically, the typification of inmates'"erroneous thoughts'and "anger'is examined as an example of how inmates are "talked into being'criminal types (Heritage 1984, p. 290). Inmates are asked to decontextualize and rearticulate their criminal pasts according to a criminological language of "cognitive distortions'deemed characteristic of criminal "personalities.'In this reductionist process, inmates'"techniques of neutralization'(Sykes and Matza 1957) are stripped away. Facilitators interpret inmates'social and situational counterrhetorics as indications of their criminal minds, thereby sustaining the individualistic typification in criminal classification and correctional philosophy. Thus, the micropolitics of the Cognitive Self-Change program reveals the dynamic, discursive construction of criminal selves according to institutional conditions and demands. In conclusion, it is argued that institutions engaged in managing human conduct require particular constructions of pathological individuals in order to do their work.     

Gambling Among Prison Inmates: Patterns and Implications

There is an absence of research on gambling among prison inmates during their incarceration. Little is known about how prisoners organize gambling activities or the potential risks they face from gambling. Similarly, no empirical attention has been given to how correctional institutions respond to inmate gambling. This study employed interviews with 55 male prisoners and self-administered surveys with 159 correctional officers and staff, at two medium security prisons in Ohio. Data were gathered on prevalence and patterns of inmate gambling, perceived hazards of gambling, and perceived institutional responses to prisoner gambling. Findings suggest that inmate gambling is common and constitutes an important feature of the underground economy of prisons, yet little is done to deter or prevent this activity. Suggestions are made for more effective institutional responses.     

CAT FIGHTS AND GANG FIGHTS

This article uses Joan Acker's (1990) theory of gendered organizations to frame an analysis of the construction of occupational choice. Utilizing interview data collected from correctional officers (N = 36) working in a men's and a women's state prison, I examine these officers' strong preference for work in the men's prison. Reasons for preferring work with men draw on a comparison of male to female inmates in which the latter are seen as emotional and irrational, an ideal typical construction of the men's prison as a "real penitentiary,'and a feeling among officers that supervisors in women's prisons are less able to enforce institutional rules. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this case study for a theory of gendered occupational choice and gendered organizations.     

RACE AND DISCIPLINARY REPORTS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS

This research examines the likelihood of one racial group of correctional officers writing more disciplinary reports than another. It also examines interracial and intraracial disciplinary reports. Two theoretical models are used to explain why correctional officers use official write ups to control prisoners. The importation model emphasizes the impact of individual factors on correctional officers behavior, and the institutionalization model stresses the effect of organizational factors. Using data from 115 correctional officers, we found no significant differences in Black and White officers writing of inmate disciplinary reports. No significant difference was found between interracial and intraracial disciplinary responses, either. The findings were consistent with the hypotheses derived from the institutionalization model.     

“Trying to blend in,what else can we do?” Intergenerational relationships among aged inmates

Aged inmates comprise a growing segment of the incarcerated population world-wide, yet very little research has been devoted to examining the intergenerational experiences of this cohort and the research that has been conducted has been inconsistent in its findings of victimization and negative social relationships. In an attempt to help fill this gap, this study examined the intergenerational elements of the lives of older (male) inmates and investigated their social supports and the degree of age segregation characterizing their carceral experience. Qualitative data revealed ruptured connections among inmates and their children and apprehensive relationships with younger fellow inmates or the correctional staff. Nevertheless, the findings counter the contention that the intergenerational environment is detrimental to aged inmates and that age-segregated carceral units would be beneficial to them.     

Privacy violations and procedural justice in the United States prisons and jails

Through constitutional amendments and case law, the United States citizens receive privacy protections. These same protections do not exist for individuals incarcerated in prisons and jails. Instead, their privacy rights are regularly replaced by larger institutional concerns for security, safety, and control. Such privacy violation measures may include electronic surveillance, recording of phone calls, opening/reading of mail, and searches of their person, cell, and property. Although it is expected that incarcerated individuals have fewer privacy rights than nonincarcerated citizens, some privacy violations may be perceived as procedurally unjust due to their severity and infringement upon incarcerated individuals' rights to dignity and respect. This has implications for the well-being of incarcerated individuals, the legitimacy of correctional officers, and as a result, the potential safety and security of institutions.     

Role Fusion: The Occupational Socialization of Prison Chaplains

The conclusion that prisons, as total institutions, are “forcing houses” for the changing of persons can be extended beyond inmates to the prison staff. In this article I focus on one subset of prison staff that has received only scant examination: prison chaplains. Using qualitative interview data, I analyze the occupational socialization of state‐employed prison chaplains. I begin by discussing the initial expectations chaplains held about their work and what they hoped to accomplish. I describe the challenges of working in the correctional environment and note the occupational adjustments chaplains made in reaction to these challenges. I conclude with a theoretical examination of the role and identity processes that framed the occupational socialization of prison chaplains.     

SOME ASPECTS OF NEGOTIATED ORDER,LOOSE COUPLING AND MESOSTRUCTURE IN MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISONS*

Even in total institutions, control is far from total. In custodial organizations, for example, staff and inmates negotiate their own interpretation of the social order, often rejecting formal rules and control techniques, and substituting alternatives that may be just as formal, although tacit, as those they replace. This creates “gaps” betwen formal organizational structure and individual behaviors which partially decouple formal rules from the behaviors intended to carry out those rules. This study integrates organizational and prison research to develop the concepts of negotiated order, loose coupling, and me-sostructure. The goal is to examine the context in which negotiations occur and the manner in which negotiated order activates the interactions and understandings through and by which organizational structure is generated and maintained.     

The association between aging inmate housing management models and non-geriatric health services in state correctional institutions

One of the current debates in the literature on aging inmates asks, what is the most efficient housing/health care model for this "special needs" population? State and federal correctional systems place elderly inmates either in specialized segregated housing units away from the general inmate population, consolidate elderly inmates in housing units within the prison, or provide a combination of both models. In general, proponents of the segregated housing model argue that aging inmates will receive specialized medical services in geriatric units. However, proponents of consolidated housing model argue that aging inmates will have the benefit of both geriatric and non-geriatric health services. This paper examines the association between the type of housing management model for aging inmates and the availability of non-geriatric physical and mental health services. Data for the analysis come from the 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities. The results suggest that institutions offering consolidated geriatric care provide more mental health services and that these effects are independent of the characteristics of prison facility.     

Vagrancy as a Penal Problem: The Logistics of Administering Punishment in Late‐Nineteenth‐Century Canada

There exists a voluminous literature on the history of vagrancy and vagrancy legislation. However, virtually all of its focus has been on the manifestations of vagrancy as a social problem. What has not received attention is another important aspect to this history, one that finds its roots and geneses directly out of its construction as a social problem. This is the problem associated with the logistics surrounding the administration of punishment within correctional institutions, what I call vagrancy as a penal problem. The day‐to‐day operations of the criminal justice system, especially that part which was responsible for the administration of punishment, were immensely burdened because of the sheer number of vagrants who came through the system. This created logistical problems with respect to housing, classifying, maintaining and regulating prisoners, and especially with respect to vagrants, putting them to hard labour. This paper seeks to elucidate the penal problem of vagrancy by narrating the voices of the personnel who worked in correctional institutions.     

The case for an inhabited institutionalism in organizational research: interaction,coupling, and change reconsidered

This paper makes the case for an inhabited institutionalism by pondering questions that continue to vex institutional theory: How can we account for local activity, agency, and change without reverting to a focus on individual actors—the very kinds of actors that institutional theory was designed to critique? How is change possible in an institutional context that constructs interests and sets the very conditions for such action? Efforts to deal with these questions by inserting various forms of individual, purposive actors into institutional frameworks have created inconsistencies that threaten the overall coherence of institutional theory and move it farther from its sociological roots. To provide alternative answers, we turn to the growing line of work on “inhabited” institutions. Our exegesis of this literature has two goals. The first goal is to shift focus away from individuals and nested imagery and towards social interaction and coupling configurations. This move opens new avenues for research and helps to identify the spaces—both conceptual and empirical—and the supra-individual processes that facilitate change. This shift has important theoretical implications: incorporating social interaction alters institutional theory, and our second goal is to specify an analytic framework for this new research, an inhabited institutionalism. Inhabited institutionalism is a meso-approach for examining the recursive relationships among institutions, interactions, and organizations. It provides novel and sociologically consistent means for dealing with issues of agency and change, and a new agenda for research that can reinvigorate and reunite organizational sociology and institutional theory.

     

Social Integration and Mental Well-Being Among Jail Inmates

Although social integration has consistently been linked to mental well-being among the general population, this relationship has not been explored for persons confined in total institutions. Jails, in particular, represent unique conditions that have the potential to alter the traditional relationship between social ties and mental health. Although previously unexamined, social ties maintained by jail inmates outside and inside of the institution are commonly presumed to weaken some of the adverse effects of a stressful environment and positively influence mental health. The current study explores the impact of social integration on mental well-being among 198 male and female inmates incarcerated in a large county jail. The impact of marital status, parental status, and social support (both inside and outside of the jail) on various dimensions of mental health was examined. The results indicate that rather than promoting mental well-being, social relationships inside and outside of the institution are associated with higher levels of distress. Specifically, married inmates report higher levels of depression and anxiety, and inmates with close social relationships inside of the jail report higher levels of hostility, although gender differences in these patterns are evident. The results of this study suggest that social integration may play a different role for persons incarcerated in total institutions than among the general population due to the unique conditions of social stigmatization and separation from support networks.     

The Use of Tobacco as Gambling Currency by Federal Offenders in Canada Before and After a Tobacco Ban

In 2008 tobacco was banned in federal correctional institutions in Canada. In this paper we compare the use of tobacco as currency for gambling in two studies that we conducted, one before and one after the tobacco ban. The data from two studies were compared. The questionnaires were administered to offenders in federal and provincial institutions in Ontario. Study 1 included 254 male offenders and study 2 included 395 male offenders. The focus in this paper is on one questionnaire about the type of wager made while incarcerated. It was found that the use of tobacco as a currency in gambling went from 28.6% of those offenders who gamble to 2.3% of those offenders who gamble. In addition, there was an overall decrease in the number of federal offenders who reported gambling while incarcerated. However, information gained from the questionnaire and from interviews with incarcerated offenders suggests that there has been a shift to money wagers and that gambling inside has become more serious since the tobacco ban. The results suggest that the ban on smoking has resulted in a change in the type of currency used for gambling inside correctional institutions in Ontario Canada.     

Friends in locked places: An investigation of prison inmate network structure

The current study investigates informal social structure among prison inmates. Data come from the Prison Inmate Network Study (PINS), a project focused on a unit of a Pennsylvania medium security men’s prison. We focus on 205 inmates and their “get along with” network – an approximation of friendship in other settings. We find a weak subgroup structure dominated by two groups of “old heads” and characterized by moderate (non gang-based) race/ethnic clustering. Structurally, the network resembles adolescents in schools, suggesting that prison inmates are capable of successfully building peer associations. We conclude that under the right conditions self-organizing inmate society can foster social integration reminiscent of other social settings.     

Delinquency Interrupted: Research into and Inside of Juvenile Correctional Facilities

Incarcerated juveniles are a largely invisible population in the United States. Research into training schools and other juvenile correctional facilities has uncovered a sordid history of good intentions and bad practices. Juvenile correctional facilities are generally considered a less harmful environment for serious delinquents than adult prisons but a much more severe sanction than alternative community programs or treatment would be. Studies have shown that juveniles in confinement face similar deprivation and many of the same pains of imprisonment ( Sykes 1958 ) as adult prisoners, but the more pressing threat to adolescent inmates may be to their psychological selves rather than their physical being. New research on adolescent brain development is garnering attention and sparking questions about the culpability and punishment of juvenile offenders, even as public opinion research suggests that there is fairly widespread support for rehabilitation and a social‐welfare oriented juvenile justice system. By listening and giving voice to incarcerated youth and their “keepers,” investigating the conditions of confinement, and continuing to evaluate programs and outcomes, researchers are positioned to play a key role in the future of juvenile justice and juvenile correctional facilities.     

非政府组织与政府的互动关系——基于法团主义和市民社会视角的比较个案研究

基于对社会服务领域中不同类型的非政府组织与政府的互动关系的比较研究,本文以法团主义和市民社会为理论视角,对四个不同类型的非政府组织与政府的互动关系进行了比较研究,并试图从中建构出一个初步的类型学。与笼统地谈论非政府组织与政府关系的做法不同,本文希望上述类型学的建构能够更加具体地展现两者互动关系的实态。     

Social Work and Criminal Justice

SUMMARY

We shall begin with the principal, and complicated, conclusion: Regrettably, the social work profession has largely abandoned the criminal justice field. That is not to say that social workers are not employed in criminal justice settings. Certainly they are. Significant numbers of social workers earn their living as probation and parole officers, caseworkers in public defender offices, counselors in correctional institutions and halfway houses, and so on. As a profession, however, social work no longer has a major presence in the criminal justice field (Gibelman and Schervish, 1993). Relatively few social workers embark on their professional education with the aim of employment in the criminal justice field. Virtually no courses in social work education programs focus explicitly or comprehensively on criminal justice (Knox and Roberts, 2002; McNeece and Roberts, 1997). Workshops offered at professional conferences or continuing education seminars rarely focus on criminal justice issues per se. And, relatively little serious scholarship on criminal justice issues is authored by social workers.

Interestingly, this has not always been the state of affairs. Earlier in the profession's history, social workers were much more visible and vocal participants in dialogue, debate, research, and practice related to criminal justice. Ideally-in light of social work's unique perspectives on practice and social problems, and the profession's noble value base-the profession will reclaim its preoccupation with criminal justice. As Sarri (2001) concludes with respect to social workers' involvement in the juvenile justice system in particular:

Thirty years ago, social workers were in leadership positions in juvenile justice in the majority of states. In the 1980s, a gradual decline began in agencies and in social work education for practice in juvenile justice. Some have suggested that the decline was at least partially due to professional resistance to working in coercive settings with involuntary clients. However, given the millions of people now caught up in the criminal justice system who are not receiving the social services they desperately need, it is a priority that social work return to a more central role in criminal justice. (p. 453)     

Validation of sociometric structure by data on individuals' attributes

Longstanding challenges to relate sociometric structure of an intact social group to other social variables are answered first by obtaining a partition of a set of 69 inmates in Cook County Jail, using a clustering algorithm (CONCOR) applied to sociometric data. We then demonstrate that the resulting partition can be accounted for by substantively interpretable variables (e.g. number of years of school prior to incarceration) measured on the individual inmates. The linear discriminant function used to relate the two types of data does a good job of accounting for processes generating sociometric ties of friendship. It is argued that this methodology can be used to study the diversity of inmate organizational structure.