Assessing the Link Between Exposure to a Violent Prison Context and Inmate Maladjustment

• NCJ Number: 252407
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2016 Pages: 328-356
• Author(s): Benjamin Steiner; Benjamin Meade
• Date Published: July 2016
• Length: 29 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-IJ-CX-0003
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study tested the hypothesis that exposure to a violent prison context directly increases maladjustment among the inmate population and that exposure to a violent prison context moderates the relationships between individual-level risk and protective factors and maladjustment.

Abstract

The importance of prison safety has generated a number of studies of the correlates to inmate maladjustment, and researchers have found that both individual and environmental characteristics impact the level of maladjustment across prisons; however, no studies have examined the impact of exposure to a violent prison context on maladjustment. The current study analyzed data collected from a national sample of inmates confined in state prisons. It found that exposure to violent prison contexts is associated with higher rates of inmate maladjustment, and it determined that exposure to a violent prison context moderates the relationships between individual-level risk and protective factors and some indicators of maladjustment. (Publisher abstract modified)