NCJ Number
46580
Date Published
1975
Length
4 pages
Annotation
PROBLEMS IN COCORRECTIONS ARE DISCUSSED, WITH REFERENCE TO EXPERIENCES IN WISCONSIN AND AT THE FEDERAL CORRECTION INSTITUTION AT FORT WORTH, TEX.
Abstract
FOUR TYPES OF PRISON INMATES ARE IDENTIFIED: THE 'SQUARES,' WHO GOT INVOLVED IN SITUATIONAL CRIME AND WHO NEVER EXPECTED TO FIND THEMSELVES IN PRISON; THE 'OPERATORS,' FOR WHOM CRIME IS A WAY OF LIFE; THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM PRISON, OR AT LEAST SOME FORM OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION, IS A WAY OF LIFE; AND THE 'STREET PEOPLE,' YOUTHS WHO ARE JUST COMING TO KNOW CRIME AND PRISON AS THEIR WAY OF LIFE. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT COCORRECTIONS PROGRAMS MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THESE DIFFERENT TYPES OF INMATES. IN MOST STATES, HOWEVER, COCORRECTIONS HAS INVOLVED CONVERTING AN ALL-MALE OR ALL-FEMALE INSTITUTION BY INTRODUCING A CERTAIN NUMBER OF INMATES OF THE OTHER SEX WITHOUT MAKING ANY SIGNIFICANT PROGRAM CHANGES. A HETEROSEXUAL ELEMENT IS INTRODUCED INTO AN ESSENTIALLY HOMOSEXUAL STRUCTURE, AND TROUBLE RESULTS. THE APPROACH TO COCORRECTIONS TAKEN AT THE FORT WORTH FACILITY IS DESCRIBED. THE FORT WORTH EXPERIENCE IS SAID TO SUGGEST THAT THE ONLY CONTEXT IN WHICH COCORRECTIONS CAN BE CONTEMPLATED HONESTLY IS ONE IN WHICH THERE IS A WIDE AGE RANGE AMONG INMATES, IN WHICH BOTH MEN AND WOMEN HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A MULTIPLICITY OF RELATIONSHIPS, AND IN WHICH IT IS POSSIBLE FOR MEN AND WOMEN TO RELATE IN WAYS OTHER THAN STRICTLY SEXUAL WAYS. (LKM)