NCJ Number
78087
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1981) Pages: 201-222
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Research shows that a prisoner's ability to invoke various adaptive strategies may serve to diminish the deleterious effects of incarceration.
Abstract
Data were collected from personal interviews with 59 long-term inmates in order to specify the principal problems and needs of inmates serving long sentences and to describe the various adaptive strategies employed by these offenders to deal with their confinement. The interview subjects were primarily homicide offenders with prior criminal records, serving long minimum and maximum terms. Deprivations expressed by the sample as unique to long-termers were problems with future time perspective (the future is unchanging), maintenance of extra-prison relationships (many will be irrevocably lost to the long-termer), and the assault on self resulting from long-term exposure to the artificial world of prison. In the last instance, the lack of respect for others, the continual subjection to the passive role of inmate, and the need to 'do one's own time' foster loneliness and a need to maintain face at all times. The older age of these inmates and the association with other long-term inmates are important variables in the development of the long-term inmate perspective. Inmates' experience in the prison setting and increased maturity lead to the avoidance of trouble within the facility and an emphasis on the use of time for self-improvement rather than simply filling time. Additionally, long-termers concentrate on the 'here and now' rather than the future, on self-reliance so as to avoid institutionalization, and on restraint and conflict avoidance. A total of 27 references are included.