NCJ Number
106640
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: (1987) Pages: 171-194
Date Published
1987
Length
24 pages
Annotation
An analysis of the handling of aliens in correctional institutions in the United States demonstrates the benefits of focusing on structural factors rather than process factors when conducting conflict-oriented research.
Abstract
Such research would focus on laws and policies and the ways they support the existing system, rather than focusing on the differential processing of certain types of offenders. However, most research on conflict issues has focused on criminal justice processing. This study demonstrated a structural approach by examining the effect of policy upon a particularly powerless group in the prison setting: the alien inmate. The study used data from the Texas Department of Corrections. Data came from a cross-sectional sample of all 590 alien inmates with immigration detainers as of September 23, 1984, and from a random sample of 603 nonimmigrant inmates who had no criminal detainers. The analysis indicated that alien inmates are singled out for restrictive and punitive sanctions, even though they may have a better criminal history than other inmates and a similar good-time classification. Some evidence also indicates that aliens are held in prison longer than inmates who are United States citizens. This selective treatment is the result of a policy that allows a civil detainer placed on the inmate by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to be treated in the same way as a criminal detainer. The INS detainer does not indicate pending criminal charges, but alien inmates serve their sentences under the stigma of fugitives from justice. They have none of the procedural safeguards that are available to inmates with outstanding criminal warrants. Footnotes and 36 references.