Prison Conditions and Recidivism Drago, Francesco; Galbiati, Roberto; Vertova, Pietro
American law and economics review,
03/2011, Letnik:
13, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The authors examine the impact of prison conditions on future criminal behavior. The take over is based on a unique dataset on the post-release behavior of about twenty thousand Italian former prison ...inmates. The authors use variation in prison assignment as a means of identifying the effects of prison overcrowding, deaths in prison, and degree of isolation on the probability of reoffending. They do not find compellingevidence of (specific) deterrent effects of experienced prison severity. The measures of prison severity do not reduce the probability of recidivism. Instead, all point estimates suggest that harsh prison conditions increase post-release criminal activity, though they are not always precisely estimated.
Individuals with terminal illness are dying behind bars and many state prison administrators have incorporated on-site hospice and palliative care services. Little is known, however, about these ...programs since a 2010 study of prison hospice characteristics. We provide an updated description and reflection of current hospice and palliative care programs in state prisons serving incarcerated persons with terminal illness. A cross-sectional survey was sent to representatives of all known prisons offering hospice and palliative care programs and services (N = 113). Questions were drawn from an earlier iteration regarding interdisciplinary team (IDT) membership, training length and topics, peer caregivers, visitation policies, bereavement services, perceived stakeholder support, and pain management strategies. Additional questions were added such as estimated operational costs, peer caregiver input in patient care, and the strengths and weaknesses of such programs. Frequency distributions were calculated for all study variables. Responding representatives (n = 33) indicated IDTs remain integral to care, peer caregivers continue to support dying patients, and perceived public support for these programs remains low. Reduced enthusiasm for the programs may negatively influence administrative decision-making and program resources. Further, peer caregiver roles appear to be changing with caregivers charged with fewer of the identified tasks, compared with the 2010 study.
Over 20 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States are currently awaiting trial, but little is known about the impact of pretrial detention on defendants. This paper uses the detention ...tendencies of quasi-randomly assigned bail judges to estimate the causal effects of pretrial detention on subsequent defendant outcomes. Using data from administrative court and tax records, we find that pretrial detention significantly increases the probability of conviction, primarily through an increase in guilty pleas. Pretrial detention has no net effect on future crime, but decreases formal sector employment and the receipt of employment- and tax-related government benefits. These results are consistent with (i) pretrial detention weakening defendants’ bargaining positions during plea negotiations and (ii) a criminal conviction lowering defendants’ prospects in the formal labor market.
Trata-se de resultado de pesquisa de dissertação desenvolvida com o objetivo de analisar a prática bibliotecária no ambiente prisional, considerando os desafios e possibilidades de melhoria para ...atuação nesse local. O percurso metodológico adotado resulta em um estudo guiado pela abordagem qualitativa, de natureza exploratória e com objetivo descritivo. Como instrumento de coleta de dados utilizou-se o questionário e para analisar os dados pautou-se na análise de conteúdo com o estabelecimento de categorias. Os resultados evidenciaram que a inexistência do cargo de bibliotecário prisional é percebida como um dos maiores obstáculos para a prática bibliotecária na prisão. Além disso, os sujeitos participantes da pesquisa destacaram dificuldades quanto ao aspecto financeiro e falta de discussão no âmbito da formação. Conforme demonstram os resultados desta investigação, o primeiro aspecto que poderia favorecer a atuação do bibliotecário no sistema prisional seria a legitimação da profissão, com a inclusão do cargo no quadro funcional do Departamento Penitenciário. Conclui-se que, mesmo diante das dificuldades alguns bibliotecários aceitam o desafio de assegurar as pessoas em privação de liberdade o direito ao livro e à leitura, assumindo um papel que deveria ser do poder público. Ademais, entende-se que é necessária uma junção de forças que englobe desde o poder público, as instituições de classe, as escolas de formação e a sociedade civil para que a atuação do bibliotecário possa ser realizada de forma efetiva nas bibliotecas prisionais, contribuindo para promover a apropriação da informação e da leitura, o desenvolvimento do pensamento crítico e a autonomia da pessoa privada de liberdade.
Violence in the workplace has serious consequences for employees and organizations. Based on a survey in early 2012 among employees from all work areas of 89 of the total 112 correctional facilities ...in Switzerland resulting in a sample of 2,045 employees (response rate 48.5%), this study (a) analyzed whether victimization has an impact on correctional staff burnout, (b) tested the hypothetical mediating role of sense of security in the relationship between victimization and burnout, and (c) included gender and job characteristics because work experiences and exposure to violence of staff differ strongly with gender and work tasks. Two different forms of violence were considered: (a) experienced violence (inmates-on-staff) and (b) observed violence (inmate-on-inmate). Analysis was carried out using structural equation modeling. Results show that victimization and witnessing violence between inmates negatively affect the personal sense of security and increase correctional staff burnout. In addition, the sense of security mediated the effect from experienced and observed violence on burnout. Gender and job characteristics also proved to be important. This is especially true for staff working as correctional officers and for employees working with young inmates and with inmates awaiting trial who reported a greater exposure to violence and a lower sense of security. The study adds to the knowledge on violence and its outcomes in corrections and contributes to the literature on the consequences of workplace violence in general and, specifically, in social service occupations.
A growing body of research has evoked the life-course perspective to understand how experiences in school relate to a wide range of longer term life outcomes. This is perhaps best typified by the ...notion of the school-to-prison pipeline which refers to a process by which youth who experience punitive punishment in schools are increasingly enmeshed within the criminal justice system. While this metaphor is commonly accepted, few studies have examined the extent to which exclusionary school discipline significantly alters pathways toward incarceration as youth transition into young adulthood. Applying a life-course perspective and leveraging 15 waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study examines how school suspensions influence the odds of imprisonment during young adulthood. Mixed-effects longitudinal models demonstrate that receiving a suspension serves as a key turning point toward increased odds of incarceration, even after accounting for key covariates including levels of criminal offending. However, results show that repeated suspensions do not appear to confer additional risk of incarceration. Results carry implications for the ways in which school punishment impacts youths’ life-course.
How did a nation so famously associated with freedom become internationally identified with imprisonment? After the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and in the midst of a dramatically ...escalating prison population, the question is particularly urgent. In this timely, provocative study, Caleb Smith argues that the dehumanization inherent in captivity has always been at the heart of American civil society.
Exploring legal, political, and literary texts-including the works of Dickinson, Melville, and Emerson-Smith shows how alienation and self-reliance, social death and spiritual rebirth, torture and penitence came together in the prison, a scene for the portrayal of both gothic nightmares and romantic dreams. Demonstrating how the "cellular soul" has endured since the antebellum age,The Prison and the American Imaginationoffers a passionate and haunting critique of the very idea of solitude in American life.
Abstract Purpose: to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the mortality of people deprived of their liberty (PDL) in the state of Rio de Janeiro and compare the rates observed with those of the general ...population. Method: quantitative, retrospective study combining the analysis of the 2016-2021 time series of annual mortality rates, cross-sectional study comparing 2016-2017 vs. 2020-2021 and analysis of individual data obtained from primary and secondary sources of information. The standardized mortality ratio between PDL and the general population was estimated for the cause of death categories. Results: historical series showed an annual drop (13%) in mortality from 2016 to 2019, a trend that was inverted in 2020 due to COVID-19, which was responsible for 20% of all deaths. Of the COVID-19 deaths, 54.8% were elderly and/or had co-morbidities. Mortality from COVID-19 was similar between PDL and the general population, but mortality from tuberculosis and HIV remained much higher among PDL. Conclusion: the pandemic was probably a determinant of the downward trend reversal in mortality between 2016 and 2019. Using mortality as an indicator of health and human rights in prisons by health, justice and civil society organizations implies the improvement of information about PDL in the SIM.
Resumo O objetivo deste artigo é avaliar o impacto da COVID-19 na mortalidade das pessoas privadas de liberdade (PPL) no estado do Rio de Janeiro e comparar as taxas observadas com as da população geral. Estudo quantitativo, retrospectivo, que associa análise de série histórica 2016-2021 de taxa anual de mortalidade, seccional, comparando 2016-2017 vs. 2020-2021 e análise de dados individuais obtidos a partir de fontes primárias e secundárias de informação. A razão de mortalidade padronizada entre PPL e população geral foi estimada para os grupos de causa. Série histórica mostrou queda anual (13%) da mortalidade de 2016 a 2019, tendência que se inverteu em 2020 devido à COVID-19, responsável por 20% do total de mortes. Das PPL que morreram por COVID-19, 54,8% eram idosas e/ou portadoras de comorbidade. A mortalidade por COVID-19 foi semelhante entre a PPL e a população geral, mas a mortalidade por tuberculose e HIV permaneceu muito mais elevada entre as PPL. A pandemia foi provavelmente determinante para a reversão da tendência de queda na mortalidade observada entre 2016 e 2019. A utilização da mortalidade como indicador de saúde e direitos humanos nas prisões por órgãos de saúde, justiça e organizações da sociedade civil implica o aprimoramento da informação sobre PPL no SIM.
The criminogenic needs of prison inmates are assessed to help guide their treatment plans, but inmates are often not matched to corresponding services to address those needs. A sample of 69,129 ...inmates in a state prison system was examined to identify those who completed treatment programs matched to their assessed needs and those who did not complete such programs. The odds of returning to prison within 3 years after release were compared for both groups. Of the eight need-specific domains examined, significant differences in the odds of prison returns were found for individuals identified with a Community Functioning need and for those identified with a Personal/Emotional need. That is, persons with either of these needs who completed suitable programs were less likely to return to prison compared with those with the same needs who did not complete suitable programs. Implications for future research are discussed.
Condom provision is one of the most effective harm reduction interventions to control sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis in prisons. Yet, very few countries ...around the world provide prisoners with condoms. The present study aimed to elucidate principles of effective prison-based condom programs from the perspective of European public health and prison health experts.
As a part of the "Joint Action on HIV and Co-infection Prevention and Harm Reduction (HA-REACT)" twenty-one experts from the field of prison health from eight European countries were invited to discuss the principles of condom provision programs in prisons within two focus groups. The audio records were transcribed verbatim, coded, categorized, and analyzed using thematic analysis method.
Six components emerged from the analysis as essential for successful condom programs in prisons: (1) highlighting the necessity of condom provision in prisons, (2) engagement of internal and external beneficiaries in all stages of designing and implementing the program, (3) conducting a pilot phase, (4) condom program in a comprehensive package of harm reduction interventions, (5) vending machine as the best method of condom distribution in prisons and (6) assuring the sustainability and quality of the intervention.
Results of the present study can help prison health policy makers to design and conduct acceptable, accessible and high-quality prison-based condom provision programs, and consequently to mitigate the burden of STIs in prisons. Having access to high-quality healthcare services including condom provision programs is not only the right of prisoners to health, but also is a move towards achieving the sustainable development goal 3 of "leaving no one behind."
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