Time Served and Institutional Misconduct - Patterns of Involvement in Disciplinary Infractions Among Long-term and Short-term Inmates

• NCJ Number: 76181
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 8 Issue: 6 Dated: (1980) Pages: 357-367
• Author(s): T J Flanagan
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 11 pages
• Grant Number(s): 76-SS-99-6038
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
• Corporate Author: Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Ctr
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Dallas, Texas, November 8-11, 1978.

Annotation

The relationship between prison misconduct and the length of prisoner stay was investigated in a study of two groups of prisoners in a northeastern State -- one group had served sentences longer than 5 years and the other had had sentences of less than 5 years.

Abstract

The subjects were 1,466 male inmates released from supervision between 1973 and 1976. Demographic data were collected for each subject, and each former inmate's disciplinary history was recorded. The disciplinary infraction rates of long-term inmates were significantly lower than those of short-term prisoners, even during early years of confinement. The types of infractions committed by subjects in the two groups were similar; however, long-term subjects committed more serious violations. Older prisoners tended to commit fewer offenses. Short-term prisoners committed the greatest number of offenses during the middle of their sentences; offenses among long-term inmates were spread over the course of their sentences. Tabular data, a graph, notes, and 24 references are included.