NCJ Number
228470
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 34 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2009 Pages: 428-449
Date Published
September 2009
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the correspondence between perceptions of safety and security from the point of view of inmates and from official reports of rule-breaking behavior.
Abstract
Findings from the study demonstrated that the rankings of the prisons with performance measures derived from inmates' perception of safety correlated with measures obtained from official misconduct rates. These results add to the growing evidence that inmate assessments of prison conditions could be a reliable data source and provide additional information for prison performance measures. Future research should examine different security levels, different levels of misconduct, and longer periods of time. Generally, conditions of confinement and institutional performance measures are generated using objective data sources. Institutions are ranked based on factors such as rates of misconduct, GED completions, or similar operational concerns. Although providing valuable information, inmate surveys are an alternative data source that can potentially provide accurate and pertinent information. This study examined how performance measures derived from inmate survey data correlated with more objective, operational data. Specifically, the analysis focused on misconduct rates and inmates' perceptions of safety at 10 low-security prisons. Performance measures derived from two different data sources, inmate survey data and agency records of inmate misconduct were compared. Tables, appendixes, notes, and references