NCJ Number
97437
Date Published
1985
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of the costs, causes, and preventive and diagnostic measures associated with prison riots.
Abstract
The seriousness of prison riots is noted and attention focuses on their costs to the prison administrator and to the taxpayers. Further, three causative theories developed by researchers to explain the dynamics of prison riots are presented. Fox holds that prisons are 'time bombs' and that riots are spontaneous. Smith proposes a 'conflict theory of riots,' suggesting that prison riots result from unresolved conflicts. Finally, Smelser's 'theory of collective behavior' identifies conditions (in sequence) that increase the probability of a riot. These determinants are structural conduciveness, strain or tension, growth or spread of a generalized belief, precipitation factors, mobilization and organization for action, and operation of social control mechanisms. Additionally, variables associated with prison riots identified by the South Carolina Department of Corrections' Collective Violence Study are enumerated. Correctional officers' and inmates' perceptions of riots are reviewed, and results from surveys of the two groups are provided. Three procedures that can assist in preventing riots are identified: effective inmate grievance mechanisms, the use of inmate councils as channels for communicating with prison officials, and the use of attitudinal survey instruments to identify general inmate unrest. Instruments for determining whether conditions are favorable for future prison riots are also discussed, and 12 indicators of prison tension are enumerated. Sixteen references, two tables, and a rating guide are included.