Reported Head Injury and Disciplinary Rule Infractions in Prison

• NCJ Number: 159124
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 22 Issue: 3/4 Dated: (1995) Pages: 11-19
• Author(s): C Merbitz; S Jain; G L Good; A Jain
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): H129E0004
• Sponsoring Agency: Gang Intelligence Strategy Committee
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This study hypothesized that prison residents with brain injury would have greater difficulty following prison rules than prison residents without brain injury.

Abstract

To test grossly for brain injury, a simple structured interview was administered to 129 felons in the Protective Custody and Segregation Unit of a large midwestern prison. To assess compliance with prison rules, disciplinary tickets accrued per day of stay were counted for 41 reported head injury (RHI) and 41 reported no head injury (NI) residents. The RHI and NI groups averaged 0.2132 and 0.1373 disciplinary tickets per day, respectively. A t-test supported the hypothesis of differences in disciplinary ticket receipt frequency between the two groups. RHI residents were involved in disciplinary infractions nearly twice as frequently as NI residents. The study findings have some important implications for inmate rehabilitation and prison management, although the authors indicate a simple interview must be used with caution. 27 references and 2 tables