Showing papers on "Prison published in 2000"

The Banality of "Ethnic War"

Abstract: In this article I assess the violence that took place in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda in the 1990s and argue that the whole concept of “ethnic warfare” may be severely misguided. Speciacally, insofar as it is taken to imply a war of all against all and neighbor against neighbor—a condition in which pretty much everyone in one ethnic group becomes the ardent, dedicated, and murderous enemy of everyone in another group—ethnic war essentially does not exist. I argue instead that ethnic warfare more closely resembles nonethnic warfare, because it is waged by small groups of combatants, groups that purport to aght and kill in the name of some larger entity. Often, in fact, “ethnic war” is substantially a condition in which a mass of essentially mild, ordinary people can unwillingly and in considerable bewilderment come under the vicious and arbitrary control of small groups of armed thugs. I consider arst the violent conoicts in Croatia and Bosnia. These were spawned not so much by the convulsive surging of ancient hatreds or by frenzies whipped up by demagogic politicians and the media as by the ministrations of small—sometimes very small—bands of opportunistic marauders recruited by political leaders and operating under their general guidance. Many of these participants were drawn from street gangs or from bands of soccer hooligans. Others were criminals speciacally released from prison for the purpose. Their participation was required because the Yugoslav army, despite years of supposedly inouential nationalist propaganda and centuries

The New `Peculiar Institution':: On the Prison as Surrogate Ghetto

Abstract: Not one but several `peculiar institutions' have operated to define, confine, and control African-Americans in the history of the United States: chattel slavery from the colonial era to the Civil W...

Reform in the Making: The Implementation of Social Policy in Prison

Abstract: List of Tables ix Acknowledgments Xi Introduction "This Place Just by Being Here Is Not Going to Correct You": The Rediscovery of Rehabilitation 3 1. Revisiting Rehabilitation: Why "What Works" Is the Wrong Question 15 2. Keeping the Peace: Institutional Needs, Institutional Values, and Implementation 33 3. Unsuccessful Implementation: The Use and Abuse of Programs 60 4. Successful Implementation: Keeping Busy and Helping Yourself 98 5. The Importance of Successful Implementation: Recasting the Debate over Mandatory and Voluntary Programs 129 Conclusion Deliberately Successful Implementation: Doing Time, Doing My Time, and Letting the Time Do Me 160 Appendix 1 Research Design Meets Prison Administration: Methodological Notes 175 Appendix 2 On Being Who You Are: Credibility, Bias, and Good Research 186 Bibliography 195 Index 207

The `Society of Captives' in the Era of Hyper-Incarceration:

Abstract: Forty years after the publication of Gresham Sykes's Society of Captives and the second edition of Donald Clemmer's The Prison Community (1958) the incarcerated population in the US, now over 2 mil...

Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice System

Abstract: In 1990 The Sentencing Project released a report that documented that almost one in four (23 percent) African American males in the age group twenty to twenty-nine years old was under some form of criminal justice supervision—in prison or jail, on probation or parole. That report received extensive national attention and helped to generate much dialogue and activity on the part of policymakers, community organizations, and criminal justice professionals.

Prison Officers, Policing and the Use of Discretion:

Abstract: This article considers the relevance of the policing literature to the work of prison officers. It explores the role of discretion in the distribution of privileges in prison, the results of an exploratory observational research project recently completed in a maximum security prison and the implications of the findings to date for penology. `Policing' in its broadest sense is a term meaning `the whole craft of governing a social order', as Reiner observes in his Oxford Handbook of Criminology review of the policing literature. This craft, of governing a social order, is a key problem of the prison. The policing literature—with its emphasis on `law in action', peacekeeping, the need for community consent and the observed social practices of `low visibility' police officers, offers some useful sensitizing tools to apply to the less researched practices of prison officers. Many relevant issues arise: the use of informal rules, the deployment of authority rather than the rules, the significance of `talk', an...

Social Issues of Law and Order

Abstract: In this paper the author extends his account of fostmodernity and its discontents' to address questions of crime and penal policy in the contemporary period. It is argued that there is a tendency to maintain order by resort to a 'paradigm of exclusion 'and this pattern is exemplified by a discussion of the significance of the Pelican Bay 'super-max' prison in California and the more widespread reliance upon mass incarceration that has emerged in recent years. It is argued that the Pelican Bay project is not, as it appears at first sight, a super high-tech version of the Panopticon. On the contrary, the project is shown to lack the key qualities of work-related discipline and re-subjectification that characterized the latter. Instead it operates as a factory of exclusion for people habituated to their status as 'the excluded'. It is a technique of immobilization, one of several measures of 'space-confinement' that have arisen in response to the postmodern social field and the wasteful, rejecting logic of globalization. The role of prisons in the post-correctional age is shown to be linked to the new forms of anxiety that characterize the populations of postmodern societies, and to the political strategies that express and reinforce these widespread sentiments. Whereas modern liberal societies were organized around a compromise wherein a measure of individual liberty was exchanged for collective economic security, today's tendency is the opposite of this: a trade off of collective security in exchange for the maximization of individual choice, which in turn, focused by the political process upon the problem of crime and its control gives rise to a logic of exclusion and fortification. This feature of postmodemity is, in effect, symptomatic of a failure to face up to the challenge of existential insecurity generated by our sodal and economic arrangements.

Sexual Coercion Rates in Seven Midwestern Prison Facilities for Men

Abstract: Sexual coercion rates in seven prison facilities for men in midwestern states were assessed. Anonymous written surveys were distributed to the total population of 7,032 inmates and 1,936 security staff in the facilities. Usable surveys were returned by 1,788 inmates (25%) and 475 staff (25%). Results showed that 21% of the inmates had experienced at least one episode of pressured or forced sexual contact since incarcerated in their state, and 16% reported that an incident had occurred in their current facility. At least 7% of the sample had been raped in their current facility. Seven percent of the sample had experienced sexual coercion, and at least 4% had been raped during the most recent 26 to 30 months. Factors that appeared to increase sexual coercion rates were large population size, racial conflict, barracks housing, inadequate security, and having a high percentage of inmates incarcerated for a crime against persons.

Future directions for treatment in forensic psychiatry.

Abstract: Background As the availability of mental hospital beds has fallen, so the number of people in prison has risen. Aims To review current policy trends in British forensic psychiatry and put them in an international context. Method Literature on the prevalence rates of psychiatric disorder in prisons and jails has been examined for the USA, England & Wales and New Zealand. Results All studies show a high prevalence of mental disorder in prisons and jails. Authors in the USA suggest that prisons are replacing mental hospitals. In England & Wales rates of psychosis are reported as 4-10% for remanded prisoners and 2-7% for sentenced prisoners. Substance misuse among prisoners is a major problem. Prison is the preferred place of disposal for large numbers of mentally disordered people. Does this matter? Why should this be the case? Is this the cheapest option? Politicians are considering new powers to direct more people into institutions (presumably prisons) on the grounds of public protection. Conclusions We need more information about attitudes and their formation. We need more inter-professional dialogue about the best arrangements for people with mental disorders, and inter-disciplinary education.

The Changing Nature of Interpersonal Relationships in a Women's Prison:

Abstract: It is generally assumed that the subcultures experienced by men and women in prison are diametrically opposed. Previous research indicates that incarcerated women create more stable interpersonal r...

Motivation for Treatment in a Prison-Based Therapeutic Community

Abstract: Current research concludes that participation in postprison aftercare is critical to the effectiveness of prison-based therapeutic community (TC) treatment. This conclusion makes it imperative to understand the client determinants of retention in prison treatment, particularly continuance in postprison aftercare. Currently, however, little data exist as to client predictors of seeking and remaining in prison-based TCs or entering postrelease aftercare. In the present study, significant relationships were obtained between initial motivation (i.e., Circumstances, Motivation, Readiness [CMR] scores), retention, aftercare, and outcomes in a sample of substance abusers treated in a prison-based TC program. Implications are discussed for theory, research, and treatment policy.

A National Survey of Correctional Psychologists

Abstract: Eight hundred psychologists working in U.S. prison systems were surveyed to provide a comprehensive profile of correctional psychology. The number of prison-based psychologists has doubled in the p...

The Value of Religion in Prison An Inmate Perspective

Abstract: In recent years, religious programming for inmates is being applauded by some as the latest answer to recidivism. Policy makers and correctional officials alike are among the supporters of these programs that go well beyond conventional prison ministry. The emphasis in promoting the expansion of religion-based programs indeed lies in the claim that faith in a higher power prevents relapse into criminal activity better than secular strategies. Whether this claim can be consistently validated remains unclear. Moreover, the sustained focus on religion's utility in preventing future criminal conduct diminishes religion's immediate value to the inmate during the term of incarceration. With this latter function in mind, this article reports findings from qualitative inquiries conducted in several prisons nationwide. Designed to reveal the meaning of religion to inmates, the study calls attention to the role of religion in preventing devaluation and fostering survival.

What Recent Studies Do (and Don't) Tell Us about Imprisonment and Crime

Abstract: Despite three decades of study and a nationwide quasi experiment of unprecedented scale, it is still uncertain how large an effect prisons have on the crime rate. Researchers have learned some things along the way. We no longer use cross-sectional data sets because they make it impossible to separate simultaneous effects; we no longer use national time-series data and ratio variables because they produce inflated estimates. Better methods have improved the validity and narrowed the scope of recent estimates. Most studies show that doubling current U. S. prison capacity would reduce Index Crime rates by 20-40 percent. Nevertheless, some problems persist: simultaneity (just as prison affects crime, so does crime affect prison, and it is difficult to isolate one effect from the other); specification error (especially left-out variables); and difficulties in comparing among states (since different states use their prisons very differently). Perhaps most important, the range of estimates itself falls in an awk...

Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison

Abstract: The horrific torture and execution of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during the 1970s is one of the century's major human disasters. David Chandler, a world-renowned historian of Cambodia, examines the Khmer Rouge phenomenon by focusing on one of its key institutions, the secret prison outside Phnom Penh known by the code name 'S-21'. The facility was an interrogation center where more than 14,000 'enemies' were questioned, tortured, and made to confess to counterrevolutionary crimes. Fewer than a dozen prisoners left S-21 alive. During the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era, the existence of S-21 was known only to those inside it and a few high-ranking Khmer Rouge officials. When invading Vietnamese troops discovered the prison in 1979, murdered bodies lay strewn about and instruments of torture were still in place. An extensive archive containing photographs of victims, cadre notebooks, and "DK" publications was also found. Chandler utilizes evidence from the S-21 archive as well as materials that have surfaced elsewhere in Phnom Penh. He also interviews survivors of S-21 and former workers from the prison. Documenting the violence and terror that took place within S-21 is only part of Chandler's story. Equally important is his attempt to understand what happened there in terms that might be useful to survivors, historians, and the rest of us. Chandler discusses the 'culture of obedience' and its attendant dehumanization, citing parallels between the Khmer Rouge executions and the Moscow Show Trails of the 1930s, Nazi genocide, Indonesian massacres in 1965-66, the Argentine military's use of torture in the 1970s, and the recent mass killings in Bosnia and Rwanda. In each of these instances, Chandler shows how turning victims into 'others' in a manner that was systematically devaluing and racialist made it easier to mistreat and kill them. More than a chronicle of Khmer Rouge barbarism, "Voices from S-21" is also a judicious examination of the psychological dimensions of state-sponsored terrorism that conditions human beings to commit acts of unspeakable brutality.

Forms of Constraint: A History of Prison Architecture

Abstract: From musty medieval dungeons to modern concrete cellblocks, prison architecture reveals much about how a society sees fit to control and contain those who transgress its boundaries. "Forms of Constraint" is the first general volume to consider how prison design has evolved over the centuries, how it has taken shape in various corners of the globe, and how it reflects the society that oversees it. Rigorously documented and generously illustrated, "Forms of Constraint" surveys prison architecture from earliest times to the present. Embedding his discussion of architectural detail in a history of social ideas about prisoners and imprisonment, criminologist, Norman Johnston considers the architectural design and features of prisons in light of the purposes they were meant to serve.

State Crime, Human Rights, and the Limits of Criminology

Abstract: THE AIM OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO SUGGEST HOW CRIMINOLOGY CAN REMEDY ITS neglect of the important phenomenon of state crime, without adopting such a broad definition of "crime" as to destroy what coherence criminology has as a distinct field of study. To assess the universality of our approach we employ examples from two different state traditions, Anglo-American and Turkish. Our definition allows us to examine countries as diverse as Turkey and the United Kingdom from the perspective of a continuum, rather than as two discrete, incomparable state formations -- authoritarian and democratic. One of our reasons for selecting Turkey as a comparative example is that it is a democratizing state with an authoritarian historical backdrop. Torture of detainees, extrajudicial killings and disappearances, violent public order policing, forced evacuations, the razing of whole villages, and the routine harassment of trade unionists, media workers, and human rights defenders form the human rights landscape in much of Turkey (see Amnesty International, 1998; European Commission, 1998; Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 1997, 1998; Human Rights Watch, 1999). Torture is, however, in breach of Article 17 of the Constitution and Articles 243 and 245 of the penal code, and is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment. Proposals documented in the new draft penal code are set to increase the powers of the courts in punishing state officials found guilty of torture and ill treatment of detainees. In some celebrated cases, state officials have been charged with criminal conduct, but they are few and the crimes a re many. In 1999, six police officers were sentenced to five and one-half years each for torturing a suspect to death in 1993, but most other cases against state officials have resulted in very lenient sentences, fines, or acquittals. The violence of the Turkish state is of a different order of magnitude to that employed in most liberal democracies. Yet instances of violent crime by British and American state officials are not difficult to find -- recent revelations about the Los Angeles Police Department, and allegations of brutality against officers at the Wormwood Scrubs and Wandsworth prisons in England are among the more obvious examples. Less well-publicized is the extent to which legally unjustifiable violence is routinely used by police to enforce social discipline in some working-class areas (Choongh, 1997; Waddington, 1999). Despite the arguments of some theorists (e.g., Giddens, 1985) to the contrary, the use and threat of physical violence remain central to state power in liberal democracies. Cover's remarks on American criminal trials bring this out vividly: If convicted the defendant customarily walks -escorted--to prolonged confinement, usually without significant disturbance to the civil appearance of the event. It is, of course, grotesque to assume that the civil facade is voluntary." ...There are societies in which contrition and shame control defendants' behaviour to a greater extent than does violence.... But I think it is unquestionably the case in the United States that most prisoners walk into prison because they know they will be dragged or beaten into prison if they do not walk (Cover, 1986: 1, 607). The legal limits of legitimate force are inherently vague -- it is impossible to define in advance exactly what form of dragging or beating the prisoner may legitimately receive -- and strict enforcement of what limits do exist is intrinsically difficult and will often be contrary to the interests of the enforcing agency. It would therefore be surprising to discover any state in which criminal or legally ambiguous acts of violence by state agents did not occur. It would be equally astounding if any state were able to eliminate the innumerable opportunities for predatory crime inherent in economic regulation and revenue-raising (Smart, 1999). Some states, however, plainly commit far more and more serious crimes than others do, and it might be expected that these differences would be among the central concerns of criminology (Comfort, 1950). …

Tuberculosis in prisons in countries with high prevalence.

Abstract: On any day worldwide about 10 million people are incarcerated, in prisons, remand centres, police stations, jails, detention centres for asylum seekers, penal colonies, and prisoner of war camps. There is an increasing recognition that the high risk of tuberculosis in these settings poses a problem for those imprisoned and for the wider society. The issue now is what to do about what was until very recently “a forgotten plague.”1 The important general measures for tuberculosis control in prisons are improvement of prison conditions, particularly a reduction in overcrowding, improvement of nutrition and hygiene, and guaranteed access to improved prison health services. Knowledge of the epidemiology of tuberculosis in prisons, appreciation of what makes control different from control in other settings, and understanding of the principles of tuberculosis control are all necessary for governmental and other agencies to contribute to the implementation of effective tuberculosis control programmes in prisons. We have focused here on countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis, where the problem is most severe and the need for action most pressing, and on the specific measures necessary in the implementation of an effective prison tuberculosis programme. #### Summary points People incarcerated are at high risk for tuberculosis and case rates are among the highest ever recorded in any population The specific features of prisons and of prisoners necessitate specific approaches to tuberculosis control that are different from those used in the general population Guarantees are needed to ensure completion of treatment; and this requires political and administrative commitment Prisons can also provide an opportunity for effective tuberculosis control, which may well lead to improved prison health care The article is based on information from ongoing clinical work, follow up of ongoing prison programmes, and reports from prisons, supplemented by literature searches. Prisons are closed institutions for prisoners during their …

Masked racism: reflections on the prison industrial complex. [Article reprinted from Colorlines]

Abstract: Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of the social problems that burden people who are ensconced in poverty. These problems often are veiled by being conveniently grouped together under the category \"crime\" and by the automatic attribution of criminal behavior to people of color. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.

Does Community Service Rehabilitate better than Short-term Imprisonment?: Results of a Controlled Experiment

Abstract: Community service, along with other new sanctions, has been recommended in many Western countries as an alternative to incarceration over many years. Despite a rich literature on evaluations of so-called alternative sanctions, random assignment has only exceptionally been used in this field, and (short-term) imprisonment has never been an option in such designs. The present study tried to assess the comparative effects of community service and prison sentences of up to 14 days, through a controlled experiment in Switzerland in which 123 convicts have been randomly assigned. The results show no difference with respect to later employment history and social and private life circumstances. However, re-arrest by the police was more frequent among those randomly assigned to prison than among those selected for community service. Prisoners also developed more unfavourable attitudes towards their sentence and the criminal justice system.

Doing her own time? women's responses to prison in the context of the old and the new penology*

Abstract: Assumptions about gender role socialization dominated explanations for gender differences in responses to incarceration. We suspend these gender comparisons, which produced the focus on homosexuality and kinship networks in women's prisons, to determine how women's pre-prison experiences, in the context of two different institutions, influence the way they “do time.” We analyze in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of 70 female inmates housed in the California Institution for Women (CIW)—the oldest prison for women in the state—and Valley State Prison (VSP)—the newest prison for women. These two institutions differ in structure, size, and management philosophy, and accordingly necessitate the consideration of moderating situational effects. We use qualitative analysis to examine how women do time and to determine whether individual variations in doing time are similar across very different institutions.

David's Story

Abstract: Unfolding in South Africa, at the moment of Nelson Mendela's release from prison in 1991, this novel explores the life and vision of a male activist who is part of the world of spies and saboteurs in the liberation movement - a world seldom revealed to outsiders.

Parenting from prison: helping children and mothers.

Abstract: Incarceration of a mother disrupts the mother-child relationship and the child's emotional development. The researchers evaluated a 15-week parenting program in a women's prison that was designed to enhance mother-child interactions during imprisonment. Pre- and postmeasures for the 104 women were Hudson's (1982) Index of Self-Esteem, Bavolek's (1984) Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory, and semistructured questionnaires. Self-esteem and attitudes about expectations of children, corporal punishment, and family roles improved significantly. Empathy and mother-child interactions through visits and letters improved. Participants identified the most helpful components of the program. Those who had been physically, sexually, and emotionally abused and those who had used drugs and alcohol had positive results. Findings support the value of parent education for self-development of incarcerated mothers and for the welfare of their children.

Classification for Female Inmates: Moving Forward

Abstract: Most state and federal prisons use a single risk-focused classification system to assign female and male inmates to an appropriate security level. Evidence indicates that women pose very little risk to institutional or community security, and that many factors that predict risk in men are invalid predictors of risk in women. Current systems have led to excessive use of overrides in the classification of female inmates. Findings regarding the needs of female offenders for adjustment to prison and for reintegration into the community are clear and consistent. It is recommended that a greater focus be placed on needs-based classification for incarcerated women.

Coping styles and prison experience as predictors of psychological well-being in male prisoners

Abstract: Research investigating the effects of imprisonment on prisoners' psychological well‐being has suggested that imprisonment does not have an adverse effect on their well‐being. However, given inconsi...

Self-Harm in Prison Manipulators can Also Be Suicide Attempters

Abstract: This study sought to determine whether self-harm incidents classified as manipulative would also be classified as low suicidal intent and low risk to life. Seventy-four prisoners who had self-harme...