Assessing the Effects of Exposure to Supermax Confinement on Offender Postrelease Behaviors

• NCJ Number: 251979
• Journal: Prison Journal Volume: 97 Issue: 3 Dated: 2017 Pages: 275-295
• Date Published: April 2017
• Author(s): H. D. Butler; Benjamin Steiner; Matthew D. Makarios
• Length: 21 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2005-IJ-CX-0038
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

Using data collected from offenders released under postrelease supervision in Ohio, this study examined the impact of exposure to one type of penal environment, supermax confinement, on offenders' odds of recidivism and other postrelease outcomes.

Abstract

A number of studies have examined whether the incarceration experience has a criminogenic, deterrent, or null effect on offenders' postrelease behaviors, but it is less clear whether exposure to different types of confinement similarly affects offenders' postrelease behaviors. The findings of the current study revealed that exposure to supermax confinement had no impact on offenders' postrelease behaviors. (Publisher abstract modified)