Ethnographic Reflections on Event-Time in Jail

This chapter marshals ethnographic data from county jails in southern California to examine how a penal environment shapes the ways prisoners experience time, track time, and orient themselves to the past, present, or future. Building from research that conceptualizes the ordering of social behavior according to “event” or “clock” time, it is argued that incoming prisoners experience a disorienting incongruity between clock time in free society and event time in jail. Temporal congruity is conceptualized as another kind of social need like identity verification, group inclusivity, and other basic social needs identified by social psychologists. Additionally, and in part because penal time was organized around events, prisoners use somewhat idiosyncratic quality-of-life events to create timetables and thereby break indefinite time into manageable segments. Finally, a relationship between self-efficacy and temporal orientation (past, present, or future) is shown with the argument that as self-efficacy increases, so does the likelihood of prisoners being oriented to the future. On the other hand, the lower the self-efficacy, the greater the likelihood of an orientation to the present. Given the findings, it is recommended that jails operate on more conventional time schedules with regular access to natural light. This work has implications for the sociology of time as well as future studies of punishment.

The ‘Olympic Hurdles’ of Obtaining Federal Benefits for Inmates with Disabilities: A Study of Two Massachusetts County Jails

Sixty-four percent of US jail inmates are reported to suffer from mental health issues, compared to just 18.9% of the general population. This disparity becomes greater when considering a broader definition of disability, and individuals with disabilities are overrepresented in correctional facilities. They are often left without the ability to find employment at reentry, with Supplementary Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) providing pathways to housing and improved living conditions. However, complicated application procedures often result in the formerly jailed returning to prior lifestyles and rearrests. This study explores SSI/SSDI systems at two Massachusetts county jails.

Influenza Vaccination in Massachusetts Jails: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

Objectives Influenza infects millions of people each year and contributes to tens of thousands of deaths annually despite the availability of vaccines. People most at risk of influenza complications are disproportionately represented in people incarcerated in US prisons and jails. The objectives of this study were to survey health administrators in Massachusetts county jails about institutional influenza vaccine policies and practices and estimate influenza vaccination rates in Massachusetts jails from 2013 to 2020. Methods In April 2020, we administered surveys to the health services administrators in Massachusetts’ 14 county jails to gather information about influenza vaccination policies and delivery practices. To calculate influenza vaccination rates for each facility, we obtained data on influenza vaccine orders from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for each county in Massachusetts for influenza seasons 2013-2020. We calculated summary statistics for each reporting facility and each year, conducted a Kruskal–Wallis analysis to compare vaccination rates between years, and used a linear regression model to identify predictors of vaccination rates. Results Influenza vaccination rates in Massachusetts jails ranged from 1.9% to 11.8%. We found no significant differences in vaccination rates between years. Influenza vaccine ordering and delivery practices varied by jail, and respondents had high levels of confidence in influenza policies and vaccine delivery practices. Conclusions Influenza vaccination rates in Massachusetts jails are low, and delivery practices in jails vary. Lack of influenza vaccinations in jails is a gap in health care that needs to be prioritized, especially considering the current COVID-19 pandemic. Further investigations for effective and equitable vaccination in this population should involve people who are incarcerated and people who make influenza vaccine policies in jails.

Prisons and COVID-19 Spread in the United States

Objectives. To empirically evaluate the relationship between presence of a state or federal prison and COVID-19 case and death counts. Methods. We merged data on locations of federal and state prisons and of local and county jails with daily case and death counts in the United States. We used a selection-on-observables design to estimate the correlation between prisons and COVID-19 spread, controlling for known correlates of COVID-19. Results. We found empirical evidence that the presence and capacities of prisons are strong correlates of county-level COVID-19 case counts. The presence of a state or federal prison in a county corresponded with a 9% increase in the COVID-19 case count during the first wave of the pandemic, ending July 1, 2020. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the public health implications of these facilities extend beyond the health of employees and incarcerated individuals, and policymakers should explicitly consider the public health concerns posed by these facilities when developing pandemic-response policy. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print July 14, 2021: e1–e8. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306352 )