Prison adjustment of youthful inmates with mental retardation

Adaptation of young inmates with and without mental retardation to prison regime was examined. The mean number of disciplinary reports received across five categories of infractions were compared. Differences were evaluated with one-way analysis of variance and follow-up tests. Results indicated that (a) youthful mentally retarded and nonretarded prison inmates did not adjust to incarceration in a similar manner and (b) behavior in prison was significantly different across certain measures by group. Inmates with mental retardation demonstrated poor overall adjustment in prison.