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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.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors assesses competing explanations of inmate collective action using data from a nationwide sample of 317 adult maximum-and medium-security state prisons and show that the variables under the administrative-control theory heading, but not the inmate-balance theory heading help account for these events.
Abstract: This study assesses competing explanations of inmate collective action using data from a nationwide sample of 317 adult maximum-and medium-security state prisons. Most previous studies have relied on data from only those prisons that have experienced riots. Hence, the conditions thought to cause collective outbursts may be equally present in prisons that did not experience such action. The current design allows for a comparison of riot and nonriot prisons. Additionally, this study examines the forces that generate other forms of collective action in prison, such as minor disturbances and inmate work stoppages. The results show that the variables under the administrative-control theory heading, but not the inmate-balance theory heading, help account for these events. Some consideration is given to the possibility that these two theories are complementary explanations.

90 citations

Book
01 Jan 1973
TL;DR: The authors argued that rehabilitation is the critical goal of the incaraceration experience imposed upon those who have been convicted of running afoul of the law and argued that correction, rather than retribution, punishment and deterrence must be society's philosophical rationalization for treatment of its criminals.
Abstract: Our prison system has an extensive, tedious path to tread before it can catch up with the nation's conscience. Scholarly studies and in vestigations have revealed that prison practices run counter to what most persons insist must be the benchmark of a viable, civilized process. When asked, expert and layman alike agree that rehabilitation is the critical goal of the incaraceration experience imposed upon those who have been convicted of running afoul of the law. It is argued that correction, rather than retribution, punishment and deterrence must be society's philosophical rationalization for treatment of its criminals. Regrettably, reality is not marked by the premises inherent in rehabilita tion doctrine. Truth is at odds with aspiration. Too few steps have been taken to bridge the gap between the goals which are sought and what is actually taking place. The less stalwart have good reason to deride those who speak of progress in reshaping our prisons. There is good reason to contend that pronouncements which proclaim that reformers are making progress must be relegated to nothing more than idle dreaming at best and, perhaps more accurately, dangerous fantasy. The drive for change, if subjected to severe scrutiny, may be found to be nothing more than debilitating, unrealized Utopian ideology. A quest for improvement invariably has an ephemeral life span. Once a summons for change is announced, one can argue, the search is dissipated. The status quo remains unchanged after the angry voices become quiet. A current, realistic appraisal warrants a measure of optimism, dampen ed by an expression of grave concern that even though important steps are now being taken to reshape the prison milieu, unless the rate of progress is substantially accelerated, i.e., increased in exponential rather than arithmetical terms, a study conducted a half century from now will disclose that society still has not achieved a humane, beneficient prison system. More time and effort must be directed toward thinking in non-prison terms. Prisons alone do not offer a promise of unequalled success. A great deal must be done, and done promptly, to revise a penal system which is typically a staging area for future criminal behavior. Unfortunately, today's prisons are often barren warehouses of human shame, where demeaning experiences and brutali ty engender antisocial, destructive, antiauthoritarian attitudes. Those aspects of prison life which not only nourish hate and hostility but also

90 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper traced the war on drugs to its roots and revealed a broader domain in which harsh legislation, prosecution, and incarceration combine to harm and stigmatize minority populations, while a pervasive ideology of color blindness discourages serious discussion of inherent racial bias in the criminal justice system.
Abstract: Drug use is pervasive, generally private, and of long standing. The social effects are sometimes problematic, but it is a large step to declare a war on drug use. This review considers how that approach came to be adopted in the United States and why it persists despite its evident shortcomings. This war could not be maintained without societal racism and the manipulation of racial stereotypes to make drugs something to be feared. Beneath society's adherence to a failed criminalization approach is a startling indifference to its racial impact, which includes a vast increase in the number and representation of poor minorities in the prison system, particularly young African American males. Tracing the war on drugs to its roots reveals a broader domain in which harsh legislation, prosecution, and incarceration combine to harm and stigmatize minority populations, while a pervasive ideology of color blindness discourages serious discussion of inherent racial bias in the criminal justice system.

89 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Across the 40 risk factors examined, the strongest associations with self-harm in prison were found for suicide-related antecedents, including current or recent suicidalIdeation, and lifetime history of suicidal ideation.

89 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the experience of reintegration after release from prison is similarly embodied and corporeal, and identify specific examples of prison time being inscribed on the body which prove problematic for former prisoners, and demonstrate the ways in which their attempts to erase or overwrite these inscriptions constitute a stage in the continual corporeal process of becoming.
Abstract: Building on previous work which has conceptualized the embodied experience of imprisonment as prison time ‘inscribed’ on the body, this article argues that the experience of reintegration after release from prison is similarly embodied and corporeal. It contends that while scholarship of prisoner reintegration post-release has identified the stigmatization of ex-inmates as a challenge to their successful re-entry, the embodied experience of this process has remained under-researched. Drawing on extensive research with women prisoners, former prisoners and prison staff in the contemporary Russian Federation, the article presents empirical evidence that explores the embodied experiences of release and reintegration, identifying specific examples of prison time being ‘inscribed’ on the body which prove problematic for former prisoners, and demonstrating the ways in which their attempts to ‘erase’ or overwrite these inscriptions constitute a stage in the continual corporeal process of becoming. The article su...

89 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20242
20231,347
20222,993
20211,071
20201,271
20191,247