NCJ Number
212463
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2005 Pages: 71-86
Date Published
2005
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined the impact of social support on inmate disciplinary infractions in State correctional facilities.
Abstract
While a great deal of social research has focused on inmate adjustment to prison, there has been relatively little attention paid to the role of social support on inmate adjustment. The current study extends the research on inmate adjustment to prison by utilizing a social support perspective to examine the relationship between social support factors and inmate rule violations among 9,107 inmates in 275 State correctional institutions. Data were drawn from the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities; researchers examined only the State data. Variables under analysis included overall rule violations per month, violent rule violations, drug and property rule violations, age, race, criminal history, sentence length, drug use history, calls or mail from children, visitation by children, marital status, participation in religion and training, and prison size and security level. Results of statistical analyses indicated that social support variables at both the inmate and prison levels predicted at least some of the variance in inmate rule violations. Specifically, the inmate-level variable of “calls from children” was negatively related to inmate rule violations, suggesting that social support leads to fewer rule violations in prison. At the prison-level, the only variable to impact rule violations was inmate participation in religious groups. Implications of the findings for policy are discussed, including the observation that both control and social support factors are important for the rehabilitation of offenders. Future research should continue this line of research with attention to ethnic differences in the role of social support on prison adjustment. Tables, references