Pre-Prison and Indigenous Predictors of Institutional Misconduct

Area of Science:

• Criminology
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Understanding institutional misconduct is crucial for effective correctional management.
• Importation theory suggests pre-prison characteristics influence behavior.
• Deprivation theory posits that the prison environment shapes inmate conduct.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively predict institutional misconduct using pre-prison and indigenous factors.
• To investigate the unique contributions of self-regulatory mode and social support to infractions.
• To examine the relationship between sentence length, custody level, and misconduct.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study design involving 114 incarcerated adults (male and female).
• Poisson regression analysis to predict the number of institutional infractions.
• Assessment of pre-prison factors (self-regulatory mode, social support) and indigenous factors (sentence length, custody level).

Main Results:

• Self-regulatory mode: Locomotion positively associated with misconduct; assessment negatively associated.
• Social support: Perceived guidance within an alliance negatively related to misconduct; guidance without an alliance positively related.
• Indigenous factors: Sentence length negatively related to misconduct; custody level unrelated.

Conclusions:

• Both importation and deprivation theories offer partial explanations for institutional misconduct.
• Specific aspects of self-regulation and social support significantly predict infractions.
• Sentence length is a significant predictor, while custody level is not, highlighting the complexity of inmate behavior.