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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
The use of restrictive housing in prisons is at the forefront of national discussions on crime and punishment. Civil and human rights activists have argued that its use should be limited due to harmful effects on the physical and psychological health of inmates as well as its limited ability to reduce subsequent offending. Stacked against this is the need for correctional administrators to respond to institutional violence in a manner that ideally curtails future violence while doing no further harm to the well-being of those housed in these environments. The current project explores the effectiveness of a Restrictive Status Housing Program (RSHP) designed for inmates who commit violent assaults within the Arizona Department of Corrections. The program, as designed, moves beyond exclusively punitive approaches to segregation by encouraging behavior modification that is influenced by cognitive behavioral training. This study advances the literature and informs correctional policy by: 1) examining the effects of program participation on future behavioral outcomes, and 2) exploring mechanisms through which the program works (or does not work) by interviewing former RSHP participants and staff. The current research uses a mixed-method research design and was carried out in two phases. For Phase 1, quantitative data on behavioral outcomes of program participants (N = 240), as well as a carefully constructed comparison group (N = 1,687), will be collected and analyzed using official records over a one-year follow-up. Phase 2 will examine qualitative data derived from semi-structured interviews with former RSHP participants (n = 25) and correctional staff who oversee the day-to-day management of the program (n = 10). Results from the current study suggest that placement in the RSHP has null, and at times, an adverse effect on subsequent levels of institutional misconduct. Policy implications and recommendations based on these findings are discussed.
ContributorsMeyers, Travis John (Author) / Wright, Kevin A. (Thesis advisor) / Young, Jacob T.N. (Committee member) / Telep, Cody W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
People are not expected to do well while in prison. People often do not do well in prison. Prison research is replete with accounts of the harmful psychological, behavioral, and social effects of incarceration, but much less attention or acknowledgment is given to the people who do not experience these negative outcomes and perhaps even flourish while on the inside. This dissertation better understands who is doing well in prison, who is experiencing change for the better in prison, and how the prison experience impacts reflections on well-being in life through three separate studies. The first study uses a negative case framework to identify incarcerated men who are doing well by avoiding negative outcomes across a number of psychosocial and behavioral domains (e.g. mental health, coping strategies), as well as assesses what background and environmental characteristics are associated with those who are doing well behaviorally and psychosocially. The second study identifies individuals who are reporting improvement in their personal circumstances during the first year of incarceration and assesses the processes and events that are associated with reported improvements. Specifically, an equifinality framework is used to highlight the numerous pathways that can lead to a single positive outcome (e.g., reporting improvement in prison). A multifinality framework is also used to highlight the numerous outcomes that can be associated with a single life event (e.g., incarceration). The final study of the dissertation descriptively assesses life satisfaction, psychological flourishing, generativity, and meaning in life among a sample of incarcerated men, as well as assesses the correlates of high well-being during incarceration. Using data from The Arizona Living and Working in Prison project (studies 1 and 2) and the Enhancing the Prison Environment project (study 3), results from this dissertation reveal a sizeable portion of incarcerated people who are doing well while incarcerated via avoiding negative outcomes and experiences, experiencing change for the better, and reporting high levels of well-being.
ContributorsMorse, Stephanie J. (Author) / Wright, Kevin A. (Thesis advisor) / Young, Jacob T.N. (Committee member) / Telep, Cody W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022