Lifers and Long-Termers - Doing Big Time (From Pains of Imprisonment, P 115-128, 1982, Robert Johnson and Hans Toch, ed. - See NCJ-89065)

• NCJ Number: 89071
• Author(s): T J Flanagan
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Research on offenders serving long terms or life sentences reveals that these inmates suffer special stresses, such as fears of irrevocably losing external relationships and personal deterioration. Prisons have paid little attention to designing regimes for such individuals.

Abstract

Long-term prisoners face serious problems in maintaining ties with family and friends and become ambivalent about these contacts which bring news of external change and the gradual slipping away of human resources. Moreover, long-termers find friendships within prison diffcult to develop because of the limited numbers of convivial colleagues, the need to maintain face at all times, and the periodical severance of personal relationships. Long-termers also worry about personal deterioration, being well aware of the cumulative effects of regimentation, passivity, and lack of personal choice within the prison environment. Additional sources of stress are the indeterminacy of prison sentences and long exposure to the noxious features of prison life. One adaptive strategy is the philosophy of minimum expectations in which an inmate expects nothing positive from the prison term and does not consider events which might occur beyond the release date. Many adopt the here and now perspective, exhibiting maturity, predictability of action, and the prison sense that results from years of doing time. Researchers have suggested that coping strategies are related to an offender's preprison ideological stance, although they agree that inmates might shift ideologies in trying to function effectively. Although the expanded use of long-term imprisonment as a response to crime is likely, few corrections officials have considered its potential human costs. Innovative intervention strategies should recognize the importance of choice in people's lives, try to build meaningful lives in prison, and foster the retention of extraprison relationships. The article contains 2 footnotes and 24 references.