COUNTERBLAST: The Prison Overcrowding Crisis and Some Constructive Perspectives for Crime Policy

Lösel, Friedrich

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2311.2007.00497.x

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…are popular as well) would allow society to solve a problem. Indeed the question “what are the causes of overcrowding” ultimately frames the manner in which the problem of prison overcrowding is approached, as several studies show (Cameron, 1989; Kuhn, 1994; Lösel, 2007; Guetzkow and Schoon, 2015; Suhling, 2003; Lynch, 2011). The usual causal suspects are factors such as racial composition, unemployment, crime rate and prison capacity.…”

Section: Crime and Punishment: Two Pathsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crime and punishment as a social system: the case of prison overcrowding

Olaya

Gomez-Quintero

Navarrete

2018

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Purpose This paper presents an actor-based conceptualization of the increasing oscillatory pattern of prison overcrowding in Colombia. The research proposes a dynamic hypothesis that explains that unintended behavioural pattern as a result of delayed balance feedback loops shaped by decision-making processes of actors that intend to control crime. This system matches a well-known systemic archetype that explains those persistent oscillations. The paper also introduces a simulation model for testing that dynamic hypothesis and for delivering concrete courses of action. This work illustrates the relevance for policymakers to understand the dynamic complexity of social systems as the outcome of the agency of actors who take action to defend their own interests. Such actions ultimately form a complex web of interactions that drive the performance of such systems with unintended consequences. In particular, the construction of explicit models provides better chances of devising policies that consider the system-level implications of those interactions. Design/methodology/approach This work uses system dynamics modelling. First, the paper presents a conceptual model anchored in operational thinking, which refers to the identification of actors and decisions, and the manner in which those decisions ultimately build the respective social system in which the oscillatory pattern emerges. Second, it identifies key feedback structures that result from those chains of decisions. Finally, the paper introduces a simulation model for suggesting policy implications for decisionmakers. Findings The increasing oscillatory pattern that prison overcrowding in Colombia has displayed over the last 20 years is the outcome of a wide variety of laws that increase sanctions on criminal conducts, a phenomenon known as “legislative inflation”. Such reactions against crime are propelled and sustained by society and policymakers as the result of static and linear thinking that simply delivers “more punishment” of crime – harsher legislation and longer prison terms – which ultimately boosts long-term prison overcrowding and further cycles of crime control and overcrowding. Such actions create permanent negative feedback loops that involve various material and information delays, which – coupled with the reinforcing feedback loops – explain the previously mentioned behavioural pattern. Through a system dynamics simulation model, this paper tests and explains the proposed dynamic hypothesis and shows how policymakers can enhance and develop their dynamic understanding to explore and design effective policies intended to tackle prison overcrowding. Practical implications This paper presents a practical and concrete case that bridges the fields of criminal policy and prison management through systems thinking. It uses the case of prison overcrowding in Colombia to demonstrate the relevance of incorporating systemic thinking into the cognitive portfolio of policymakers if they aspire to improve complex systems. Originality/value Criminal policy and prison management are different fields that typically belong to different traditions (law and criminal psychology for the former, public administration for the latter). The work presented here bridges those perspectives under a single engineering and systemic perspective that answers questions in both fields and serves as a unifying framework for designing more coherent criminal policies that meet the practical requirements and restrictions that prison management implies.

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Section: Crime and Punishment: Two Pathsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crime and punishment as a social system: the case of prison overcrowding

Olaya

Gomez-Quintero

Navarrete

2018

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“…Prison systems have been described as systems in ‘crisis’ ( Evans, 1980 ; Fitzgerald & Sim, 1980 ; Toch, 2007 ), in some instances, this has been in reference to the crisis of overcrowding ( Cox & Rhodes, 1990 ; Losel, 2007 ; Sessar, 1994 ). The prison crisis literature has explored aspects of ‘crisis’ at multiple levels within prison settings, either personally through prisoners spending time in segregation or in mental health crisis, as well as system-wide form of crisis, for example, during riots, outbreaks of infectious diseases, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do times of crisis reveal about the “total” nature of prisons? Analysing the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis within the Scottish prison system

Maycock

2023

Journal of Criminology

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Times of crisis within prison settings either at a system-wide level during times of riots or during pandemics or at more personal levels during time in segregation can be particularly challenging times when the prison can feel more ‘total’ than other times. Goffman's influential work outlines a particular interpretation of the parameters of the total institution, of which prisons were one manifestation. In the years following its publication, a wide range of research has sought to subvert the notion that prisons are total institutions, suggesting a greater permeability of contemporary prison walls. This article calls for a re-consideration of this dismissal, and a reconnection and critical engagement with Goffman's original parameters within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown. The lockdown in response to COVID-19 in prison settings has resulted in many prison jurisdictions rolling back many of the erosion of the prison looking and feeling like a total institution. Through the analysis of 19 letters received from 8 people in custody in one Scottish prison, there emerges a reframed and reconsidered permeability of prison walls. For the participants in this study, the experiences of the COVID-19 lockdown complicate much of the recent critique of the relevance of the total institution as a theoretical frame to analyse contemporary prisons. This article argues that by considering the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible to observe a more essential quality of contemporary imprisonment, obscured through decades of penal reform but one that emerges during times of crisis.

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