NCJ Number
161099
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: January 1996 Pages: 39-42
Date Published
January 1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A recent research study hypothesized that prison industry participation would improve inmate institutional behavior; inmates randomly selected for the study had been employed in prison industries in New York State for at least 6 consecutive months during 1981-1982.
Abstract
Study participants were identified from prison industry payroll records in five maximum-security prisons. A control group of inmates who had not participated in prison industries was also drawn from the same five facilities during the same period. The final study sample included 1,077 inmates, 511 industry participants and 566 control group members. Industry participants and control group members were compared in terms of the effect of prison industry employment on inmate misconduct. Official records of inmate involvement in updating prison rules were used to measure inmate adjustment. The initial comparison of rule violations showed that industry participants had lower infraction rates than control group members both before and after starting their correctional jobs. Therefore, prison industry participation was an important factor in modifying the behavior of inmates prone to relatively high prison rule violation rates. 9 footnotes