NCJ Number
180584
Date Published
November 1998
Length
29 pages
Annotation
An ongoing study of female inmates in two of California's five correctional institutions for women focuses on whether women's attitudes toward prison, behaviors of prison, and perceptions of prison have changed over time and vary depending on the institutional context; preliminary findings focus on the institutional context.
Abstract
The theoretical framework for the study is the situational version of the functionalist model. The data gathered so far has been collected by means of interviews with approximately 40 inmates at the California Institution for Women and the Valley State Prison, discussions with administrators at each institution, and the authors' impressions and observations during site visits. Results were similar to those of other prison research with respect to relationships among women in prison, the infrequency of violence in comparison with male facilities, the presence of drugs, and inmates' perceptions that being apart from family members is one of the most difficult aspects of imprisonment. The institutional differences to which the participants alluded the most often were the contrasting physical designs of the prisons and the distinctive administrative philosophies. These factors interacted to create very different institutional contexts. These preliminary findings suggested that once institutionalized an offender becomes part of a different and larger audience and that this audience is determined in part by the inmates and in part by the culture and context of the prison itself. Notes and 34 references