MENTAL DETERIORATION IN PRISON: A SURVEY OF THE EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT ON MENTAL CAPACITIES AS MEASURED BY PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS

• NCJ Number: 44475
• Author(s): F FERRACUTI; A PIPERNO; S DINITZ
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 127 pages
• Corporate Author: Ministero di Grazia E Giustizia
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Country: Italy
• Note: NUMBER 13 IN THE SERIES OF THE STUDIES AND RESEARCH OFFICE OF THE GENERAL DIRECTORSHIP OF INSTITUTES FOR PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT

Annotation

RESULTS OF RESEARCH ON ITALIAN AND AMERICAN PRISONERS TO DETERMINE WHETHER MENTAL DETERIORATION RESULTS FROM CONFINEMENT AND, IF SO, WHETHER IT IS RELATED TO LENGTH OF IMPRISONMENT ARE REPORTED.

Abstract

FOLLOWING AN OVERVIEW OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF PRISON CONFINEMENT, INCLUDING RELEVANT LITERATURE, RESEARCH STUDIES, THEORY, AND A DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING, TWO STUDIES PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LENGTH OF INCARECERATION AND MENTAL DETERIORATION ARE EXAMINED. THE ITALIAN SAMPLE, FORMED IN 1971, CONSISTED OF 450 ADULT MALE SUBJECTS IN AN OBSERVATION INSTITUTE CONNECTED WITH THE REBIBBIA PRISON (ROME); SAMPLE SELECTION WAS BASED ON 3 GROUPS OF EQUAL SIZE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO LENGTH OF INCARCERATION, THE MEMBERS OF WHICH WERE RANDOMLY CHOSEN WITHIN EACH GROUP. OF THE 450 SUBJECTS, 150 HAD BEEN INCARCERATED FOR LESS THAN 29 MONTHS, 152 FOR BETWEEN 29 AND 52 MONTHS, AND 148 FOR BETWEEN 53 AND 147 MONTHS. BETWEEN 1971 AND 1973, DATA WERE COLLECTED USING THE FOLLOWING TESTS: THE WECHSLER-BELLEVUE ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE, FORM 1; THE OHIO CLASSIFICATION TEST (INTELLIGENCE); THE BENDER VISUAL MOTOR GESTALT TEST (ORGANIC PATHOLOGY); AND THE RORSCHACH TEST ANXIETY, SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT, AND ORGANIC PATHOLOGY). THE AMERICAN RESEARCH, CONDUCTED IN 1974 BY THE PROGRAM FOR THE STUDY OF CRIMINALITY AND DELINQUENCY OF OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, USED THE SAME SAMPLE SELECTION PROCEDURES AS THE ITALIAN STUDY AND INVOLVED 124 SUBJECTS INCARCERATED AT THREE OHIO PRISONS. THE GROUP BREAKDOWN, ROUGHLY CORRESPONDING TO THAT OF THE ITALIAN SAMPLE, WAS AS FOLLOWS: 45 INMATES INCARCERATED FOR LESS THAN 3 YEARS, 40 INCARCERATED FOR BETWEEN 3 AND 6 YEARS, AND 39 INCARCERATED FOR MORE THAN 6 YEARS. TEST DATA FOR THE AMERICAN INMATES DID NOT INCLUDE THE BENDER-GESTALT AND THE RORSCHARCH TESTS. DATA FOR BOTH SAMPLES WERE ALSO COLLECTED ON SUBJECT AGE, EDUCATION, OCCUPATION, OFFENSE, LENGTH OF INCARCERATION, NUMBER OF DISCIPLINARY MEASURES, NUMBER OF TRANSFERS, PLACE OF BIRTH (GEOGRAPHIC AND URBAN/RURAL), AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE. RESULTS OF FACTORIAL ANALYSIS AND ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE IN RELATION TO VARIABLES SHOW THAT A CERTAIN LEVEL OF MENTAL DETERIORATION EXISTS, BUT THIS FACTOR IS NOT LINKED WITH ANY OTHER VARIABLE. THE AUTHORS CONCLUDE THAT THE SYNDROME OF 'PRISONIZATION' AS POSTULATED BY CLEMMER, WHICH DESCRIBES MANY TYPES OF DAMAGE CAUSED BY IMPRISONMENT, IS NOT UNIFORMLY CORRELATED WITH THE LENGTH OF IMPRISONMENT FOR THE POPULATON EXAMINED IN THE STUDY, AND THAT DETERIORATION IS DISTRIBUTED DIFFERENTIALLY IN THE PRISON POPULATION, AFFECTING SOME INMATES, PARTICULARLY THOSE LESS PREPARED BY THEIR OWN INTERNAL RESOURCES TO FACE THE PRISON ATMOSPHERE, TO A GREATER EXTENT THAN OTHERS. SUPPORTING STATISTICS ARE PRESENTED IN TABULAR FORM, AND A DATA COLLECTION FORM AND BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE INCLUDED. FOR AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRANSLATION OF THIS DOCUMENT, SEE NCJ-47083. -- IN ITALIAN.