Long-Term Prisoners: Their Adaptation and Adjustment

• NCJ Number: 130908
• Journal: Federal Prisons Journal Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1991) Pages: 45-51
• Author(s): T J Flanagan
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Originally presented as part of a Federal Bureau of Prisons Issues Forum.

Annotation

This article reviews the research on the adjustment and adaptation of long-term inmates, identifies the unique problems of long-term inmates, discusses how long-term inmates adapt to prison, and offers suggestions for the management of long-term inmates.

Abstract

Although research on long-term inmates over the last two decades does not show that long-term inmates undergo severe deterioration in physical and mental health over time in prison, there are unique stresses experienced by many long-term inmates. Although all inmates suffer from restricted contact with family and friends outside the prison, long-term inmates fear that such relationships will be irrevocably lost. Long-term inmates are also concerned about their physical and mental deterioration while in prison as they sense that they have lost control over experiences that make life worth living. Additional sources of stress are the indeterminacy of sentences and chronic exposure to noxious features of the prison environment. To address these stresses, the management of long-term inmates should maximize their opportunities for choice within the prison environment, create opportunities for the inmate to cultivate meaningful experiences and activities while in prison, and provide opportunities for the inmate to maintain contact with life and relationships outside the prison. 26 references