The Impact of Time‐Served and Regime on Prisoners' Anticipation of Crime: Female Prisonisation Effects

Abstract

To examine the extent of time-served and regime on incarcerated females, 304 inmates were surveyed about prior lifestyles, violent orientations, and future anticipations of future crime. Results show that women who led a non-violent lifestyle prior to incarceration might, once released, commit crimes of violence largely due to prison experiences through a prisonisation process. A conclusion arising from this finding is that short prison sentences can be as effective a punishment as long prison sentences with less future options toward acts of criminality. Some implications of this finding are that organisational membership changes attitudes and that female prisonisation is as salient among female inmates as it is among male inmates. A longitudinal study should be conducted on released female offenders and recidivism.American female prison populations have grown by 75% from 1986 to 1991, and among women with a previous sentence, about a third were serving a sentence for a violent offence (Snell 1994). Sparse, yet conflicting literature on women prisoners suggests that experiences of female inmates have not been thoroughly examined providing an urgency for this study (Brett 1993). Do female inmates assimilate into a normative prison culture affecting future recidivism or do they bring their orientations to prison and continue to behave as they had before confinement? Deprivation ModelAll human environments have a social component to them as we are reared in families, live in communities, and work and play in groups (Johnson 1995). Thus, the importance of understanding human interactions once we are confined could lend itself to more effective controls of crime. Therefore, begging inquiry: Is the very practice of confinement helping the cause of violence? Donald Clemmer (1940, 1958) held one answer when he coined the term prisonisation to refer to the longer inmates were incarcerated, the stronger their identification with inmate norms and values, and the more difficulty they would have adjusting, once released from prison. Clemmer suggests that inmate environments possess social components, too, and therefore, like other social groups, have a culture which he defines as mode of life or thought that is not peculiarly individual but which can be

“A prison with extra flavours”: experiences of immigrants in Swedish immigration detention centres

“…Similar to the experiences of prisoners (Kruttschnitt et al, 2000;Stevens, 1998;Venters et al, 2009;David Scott, 2008;Steel et al, 2004;Goodstein et al, 1984), a lack of response and false promises from the staff reinforced the detainees' conviction that seeking help is futile, which led to a feeling of lack of control and passivity. However, examples such as one detainee succeeding in getting snacks between meals while others fail indicate that with good staff-detainee interaction detainees can attain a sense of control and positively influence their health and well-being in detention.…”

“…Staff behaviour can make the experience of confinement either bearable or unbearable (Stevens, 1998;Dirkzwager and Kruttschnitt, 2012;Johnsen et al, 2011). Similar to the experiences of prisoners (Kruttschnitt et al, 2000;Stevens, 1998;Venters et al, 2009;David Scott, 2008;Steel et al, 2004;Goodstein et al, 1984), a lack of response and false promises from the staff reinforced the detainees' conviction that seeking help is futile, which led to a feeling of lack of control and passivity.…”

The effect of prisonization on female criminality

“…In a study surveying 304 female prisoners, Dennis Stevens (1998), found time served in highly authoritarian prisons affected recidivism. Stevens (1998) argues the restrictive model of the prison system stimulates a "culture of violence" within the prison. As Stevens found female prisoners with no history of violence prior to incarceration may commit violent crimes, once released as a response to prisonization.…”

“…women were surveyed about their future involvement with crime 81 percent of women reporting an anticipation of future violent crime believed they were incarcerated in a highly authoritarian regime, meaning they were heavily monitored and had a distant relationship with the prison staff. It is these coercive and controlling conditions that Stevens (1998) argues shapes recidivism. The longer the inmate serves in an authoritarian prison system, the more indoctrinated to the prison culture the inmate becomes.…”

“…The result is frequently prisonization which emerges through a heightened awareness and acceptance of the prison code and a backlash against prison staff. Additionally, prisonization impacts future recidivism once the prisoners are released (Bottoms, 1999;Stevens, 1998).…”