Prison

About: Prison is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 25120 publications have been published within this topic receiving 470474 citations. The topic is also known as: jail & gaol.

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among incarcerated women. II. Convicted felons entering prison

Abstract: Background: No unbiased estimates of the rates of psychiatric disorder among women prison inmates are available. Nonetheless, available data suggest that some psychiatric disorders are prevalent in this population. The objective of the study was to determine the rates, risk factors, and outcomes of specific psychiatric disorders among women prison inmates. Methods: A virtual census of women felons (N=805) entering prison in North Carolina was assessed using in-person interviews. Assessments were conducted for 8 disorders, using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview as the primary assessment measure. For validation purposes, one quarter of the inmates were reassessed for 2 of these disorders, using structured clinical interviews. Results: Inmates were found to have high rates of substance abuse and dependence and antisocial and borderline personality disorders compared with women in community epidemiologic studies. Rates among inmates were also somewhat elevated for mood disorders but not for anxiety disorders. The rate of reports of lifetime exposure to traumatic events was also high. Rates of disorder tended to be higher among white than among African American women. Conclusion: High rates of substance abuse, psychiatric disorder, and psychological distress associated with exposure to traumatic events suggest that women in prison have a need for treatment for substance abuse and other mental health problems.

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice

Abstract: Introduction. Criminal Justice through the Looking Glass, or Winning by Losing Chapter 1. Crime Control in America: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure Chapter 2. A Crime by Any Other Name Chapter 3. And the Poor Get Prison Chapter 4. To the Vanquished Belong the Spoils: Who Is Winning the Losing War against Crime? Conclusion. Criminal Justice or Criminal Justice Appendix I. The Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice Appendix II. Between Philosophy and Criminology

The Prisoner Society: Power, Adaptation and Social Life in an English Prison

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. The Penal Context and History 3. Institutional Culture and Power in HMP Wellingborough 4. Power 5. Adaptation, Compliance and Resistance 6. The Prisoner Hierarchy 7. Friendship and Social Relations 8. Everyday Social Life and Culture 9. Concluding Comments APPENDIX Notes on the Research Process

Stateville: The Penitentiary in Mass Society

Abstract: Stateville penitentiary in Illinois has housed some of Chicago's most infamous criminals and was proclaimed to be "the world's toughest prison" by Joseph Ragen, Stateville's powerful warden from 1936 to 1961. It shares with Attica, San Quentin, and Jackson the notoriety of being one of the maximum security prisons that has shaped the public's conception of imprisonment. In "Stateville" James B. Jacobs, a sociologist and legal scholar, presents the first historical examination of a total prison organization-administrators, guards, prisoners, and special interest groups. Jacobs applies Edward Shils's interpretation of the dynamics of mass society in order to explain the dramatic events of the past quarter century that have permanently altered Stateville's structure. With the extension of civil rights to previously marginal groups such as racial minorities, the poor, and, ultimately, the incarcerated, prisons have moved from society's periphery toward its center. Accordingly Stateville's control mechanisms became less authoritarian and more legalistic and bureaucratic. As prisoners' rights increased, the preogatives of the staff were sharply curtailed. By the early 1970s the administration proved incapable of dealing with politicized gangs, proliferating interest groups, unionized guards, and interventionist courts. In addition to extensive archival research, Jacobs spent many months freely interacting with the prisoners, guards, and administrators at Stateville. His lucid presentation of Stateville's troubled history will provide fascinating reading for a wide audience of concerned readers. ." . . [an] impressive study of a complex social system."-Isidore Silver, "Library Journal"

Doing Time on the Outside: Incarceration and Family Life in Urban America

Abstract: "Stigma, shame and hardship---this is the lot shared by families whose young men have been swept into prison. Braman reveals the devastating toll mass incarceration takes on the parents, partners, and children left behind."-Katherine S. Newman ""Doing Time on the Outside" brings to life in a compelling way the human drama, and tragedy, of our incarceration policies. Donald Braman documents the profound economic and social consequences of the American policy of massive imprisonment of young African American males. He shows us the link between the broad-scale policy changes of recent decades and the isolation and stigma that these bring to family members who have a loved one in prison. If we want to understand fully the impact of current criminal justice policies, this book should be required reading."-Mark Mauer, Assistant Director, The Sentencing Project "Through compelling stories and thoughtful analysis, this book describes how our nation's punishment policies have caused incalculable damage to the fabric of family and community life. Anyone concerned about the future of urban America should read this book."-Jeremy Travis, The Urban Institute In the tradition of Elijah Anderson's "Code of the Street" and Katherine Newman's "No Shame in My Game," this startling new ethnography by Donald Braman uncovers the other side of the incarceration saga: the little-told story of the effects of imprisonment on the prisoners' families. Since 1970 the incarceration rate in the United States has more than tripled, and in many cities-urban centers such as Washington, D.C.-it has increased over five-fold. Today, one out of every ten adult black men in the District is in prison and three out of every four can expect to spend some time behind bars. But the numbers don't reveal what it's like for the children, wives, and parents of prisoners, or the subtle and not-so-subtle effects mass incarceration is having on life in the inner city. Author Donald Braman shows that those doing time on the inside are having a ripple effect on the outside-reaching deep into the family and community life of urban America. Braman gives us the personal stories of what happens to the families and communities that prisoners are taken from and return to. Carefully documenting the effects of incarceration on the material and emotional lives of families, this groundbreaking ethnography reveals how criminal justice policies are furthering rather than abating the problem of social disorder. Braman also delivers a number of genuinely new arguments. Among these is the compelling assertion that incarceration is holding offenders unaccountable to victims, communities, and families. The author gives the first detailed account of incarceration's corrosive effect on social capital in the inner city and describes in poignant detail how the stigma of prison pits family and community members against one another. Drawing on a series of powerful family portraits supported by extensive empirical data, Braman shines a light on the darker side of a system that is failing the very families and communities it seeks to protect.