Friends in locked places: An investigation of prison inmate network structure

Schaefer, David R.; Bouchard, Martin; Young, Jacob T.N.; Kreager, Derek A.

doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2016.12.006

Cited by 65 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(95 reference statements)

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“…For instance, Kreager et al. () relied on friendship nominations, derived from school surveys, to identify the presence of delinquent friendship groups, Lantz and Hutchison () drew from co‐offending data to delineate the boundaries of burglary groups, and Schaefer, Bouchard, Young, and Kreager () used self‐reported “get‐along with” nominations to reconstruct subgroups of inmates.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

One gang dies, another gains? The network dynamics of criminal group persistence*

2018

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What leads a minority of criminal groups to persist over time? Although most criminal groups are characterized by short life spans, a subset manages to survive extended periods. Contemporary research on criminal groups has been primarily descriptive and static, leaving important questions on the correlates of group persistence unanswered. By drawing from competing perspectives on the relationship between cohesion and group persistence, we apply a longitudinal approach to examine the network dynamics influencing the life span of criminal groups. We use 9 years of official data on the criminal and social networks of gang associates in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to delineate criminal group boundaries and examine variation in group duration. Our statistical approach simultaneously considers within‐ and between‐group attributes to isolate how groups’ cohesion, as well as their embeddedness in the wider gang structure, impacts survival. Our results show that group survival is a function of their cohesion and embeddedness. Yet, the relationship is not direct but moderated by group size. Whereas large groups that adopt closed structures are more likely to persist, small groups’ survival depends on less cohesive and more versatile structures. In the discussion, we consider the impact of these findings for the continued understanding of group trajectories.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

One gang dies, another gains? The network dynamics of criminal group persistence*

2018

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“…This would translate into a network structure characterized by reciprocity (H2) and transitivity (H3), consistent with other friendship network studies. Next, as mentioned earlier the American prison network study found that prisoners who resided longer on the unit or in prison and/or who were olderthe so called "old heads"had a more central position in the network Schaefer et al, 2017). But in the Dutch prison context with relatively short sentences, such an "old head" system should be less likely as compared to the United States.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 74%

“…In a medium security prison unit of 205 male prisoners, Schaefer et al (2017) found that the prison network structure resembled the abovementioned adolescent network structures in schools: Social ties among prisoners tended to be reciprocal and transitive ("the friends of my friends are also my friends") and clear patterns of homophilya preference for similar otherswere found for age, race, religion, and time spent in prison. In addition, they found that the 'old heads'prisoners who were older and/or who had spent more time in prisonwere the most central (connected) in the prison unit network Schaefer et al, 2017). There are, however, important differences in the American and Dutch prison context that may have consequences for conclusions on network structure and prisoners' positions and preferences therein.…”

Section: A Social Network Perspectivementioning

confidence: 84%

“…For the present study, we were interested in the positive relations between prisoners, asked by the question: "Who do you get along with most (on the unit)?". This network question is similar to friendship nominations in other contexts (e.g., high schools) and replicates the item used by Schaefer et al (2017) in an American prison unit. Prisoners could answer the question by nominating up to ten fellow prisoners within their own unit.…”

Section: Social Relations Between Prisonersmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…As such, the study will contribute to a more complete picture of social connectedness and peer integration in prison. Given the novelty of this approach in the prison context, hypotheses will be based on known friendship network structures outside prison that were discussed above, and a comparison to a similar network study in a single American prison unit (PINS; see Kreager et al, 2017;Schaefer et al, 2017).…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Organization in Prison: A Social Network Analysis of Interpersonal Relationships among Dutch prisoners

et al. 2019

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The current study examined the structure of social relations among Dutch prisoners using a social network perspective. Data came from the Life-in-Custody-study (LIC-study), a nationwide prospective study designed to examine the quality of prison life in the Netherlands. We used a subsample of 233 male prisoners from nine prison units for whom additional network data was collected using peer nominations to indicate who they get along with most. Exponential Random Graph Models revealed that network structure in prison resembles known friendship network structure outside prison, including reciprocity and transitivity in social ties ("the friends of my friends are my friends") and homophily (i.e., a preference for similar others) on major sociodemographic dimensions such as religion and age. In conclusion, this study shows that a social network approach leads to valuable insights in social organization in prison that are also relevant for prison policy. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Suitability of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support as a measure of functional social support among incarcerated adults with major depressive disorder

Natamba

Rainey

Zlotnick

et al. 2020

Journal Community Psychology

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The multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) is a 12‐item measure of functional social support (SS); however, the psychometric properties of the MSPSS have not been evaluated in prisoners. We used measures of known‐groups validity, convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency reliability and factor structure to assess the suitability of the MSPSS for measuring SS among 184 individuals in prison in the U.S., who were diagnosed with depression. The MSPSS was correlated with scores on scales measuring related constructs (i.e., loneliness), and uncorrelated with unrelated constructs (i.e., verbal ability). Correlations among items of the MSPSS on the same subscale were large, and small to moderate among items of different subscales. The overall Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.93. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the theorized three‐factor solution for the MSPSS (i.e., significant other, family, and friends) provided a good fit for the data. We recommend using the MSPSS to measure perceived SS among incarcerated individuals.

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Friends in locked places: An investigation of prison inmate network structure

Cited by 65 publications

References 75 publications

One gang dies, another gains? The network dynamics of criminal group persistence*

One gang dies, another gains? The network dynamics of criminal group persistence*

Social Organization in Prison: A Social Network Analysis of Interpersonal Relationships among Dutch prisoners

Suitability of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support as a measure of functional social support among incarcerated adults with major depressive disorder

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