International Summaries: In Dynamic Balance -- Criminal Subcultures of Three Dutch Prisons

• NCJ Number: 116753
• Author(s): M Grapendaal
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 4 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: NIJ/NCJRS international summary of "In dynamisch evenwicht: Een verkennend onderzoek naar de gedetineerdensubcultur in drie Nederlandse gevangenissen," 1987 (NCJ-116752).

Annotation

Data from three prisons in the Netherlands in 1985 were analyzed to determine whether a subculture existed among long-term inmates and whether the subcultures differed from one another.

Abstract

The analysis used information from prisons containing 160, 128, and 75 cells. The prisons' pseudonyms were Woudhage, Bolder, and Kogelaar. Three questionnaires, two for inmates and one for staff, were completed over a 2-month period that gathered information regarding inmate attitudes, inmate-staff relations, drug abuse, contacts with those outside the prison, criminal record, education, employment history, and other factors. Results revealed that an inmate subculture does exist in Dutch prisons, maintained mainly by inmates of Dutch cultural background who are sentenced for property crimes regardless of drug use. Its continued existence depends on the following three factors: (1) the continuity of inmate attitudes, (2) distinguishably different attitudes, and (3) distance from prison officials. Moreover, findings also suggest that the ideology of corrections officials has the most influence on the nature of subcultures within different prisons.