Exploring Prison Misconduct and the Factors Influencing Rule Infraction in Northern Ireland

Research has linked prison misconduct to reoffending and re-entry experiences, yet no studies have sought to examine the factors influencing misconduct in Northern Ireland or if these factors operate differently for separated prisoners (those claiming their offences are politically motivated and demanding to be held separately to the rest of the prison population) compared to the general prison population. This study addresses this gap by examining the characteristics related to misconduct in Northern Ireland. Using a cross-sectional sample of 892 imprisoned adult men, the findings indicate that increased involvement in misconduct is associated with multiple needs. Younger age, racial/ethnic identity, accommodation issues, addiction, impairments, property offences, previous incarceration, prison complaints, not having a drug test and engagement/suspected engagement in serious self-harm while imprisoned increased the risk of misconduct. Reporting a nationality other than British, Irish or Northern Irish, passing prison drug tests and prison visitation lowered the risk of misconduct. Factors were found to operate in a similar manner for both the general prison population and separated prisoners, with the exception of prison complaints. Given the link between misconduct and reoffending, it is argued that specialist supports are required to address the multiple needs of those who frequently engage in misconduct if efforts to reduce recidivism are to be enhanced.

Risk Factors for Interpersonal Violence in Prison: Evidence From Longitudinal Administrative Prison Data in Northern Ireland

The present study uses a prospective longitudinal research design to examine whether previously identified risk factors for prison interpersonal violence can predict violent prison misconduct in Northern Ireland (NI). Administrative data drawn from the records of 429 adult males imprisoned on November 22, 2017 were used to predict involvement in violent prison misconduct during a 1-year follow-up period. The results revealed that only a small number of previously identified risk factors were found to be significant in the NI context. Nationality, neighborhood deprivation, history of addiction, submission of prison complaints, past involvement in prison misconduct, and number of incarcerations emerged as significant, while religion, head injury/epilepsy, property offences, and prison visits were significant at the marginal level. Given the variation in risk factors identified as significant in the NI context compared to previous research, it is argued that cultural context matters when attempting to generalize the risk factors for prison interpersonal violence from one jurisdiction to another. These results offer some support for the importation theory, although it should be noted that the inclusion of prison environmental factors was limited due to the nature of the data. It is argued that specialist services and supports should be provided to address the factors contributing to interpersonal prison violence, including interventions to improve feelings of fairness, identify and treat underlying medical issues, as well as support visitation.

Prison Culture, Management, and In-Prison Violence

Academic attention to violence and other forms of in-prison misconduct is on the rise, although most research continues to be framed within now stale perspectives. A broader framework is needed that builds on the more contemporary aspects of these perspectives and incorporates other elements of prison culture and management that potentially influence violent offending and victimization in prison. This article begins with an overview of cumulative knowledge on prison culture to highlight relevant ideas on inmate adaptation to confinement and how violence might manifest from (mal)adaptation. How prison management shapes and reflects culture is also discussed with an emphasis on how prison officers affect inmate safety. A bi-level framework is presented that brings together the piecemeal contributions of research to date to provide a more comprehensive understanding of offending and victimization that should facilitate crime prevention in prison while improving the humanity of the prison experience.

The Effects of Mental Health and Substance Abuse/Dependence Disorders on Prison Misconduct Among Male Inmates in Taiwan

This study examined the relative effects of mental illness, substance abuse/dependence, and co-occurring mental disorders and substance abuse/dependence (CODs) on prison misconduct among male inmates ( N = 2,065) incarcerated in Taiwan’s nine correctional facilities. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed that COD-affected inmates have the highest risk of prison misconduct compared to those with singular drug abuse/dependence disorders or no disorders, similar to the findings of previous studies conducted in the United States. These results highlighted the importance of clinical screenings and assessments for inmates who might have CODs. Integrated treatments may be more appropriate for inmates with CODs, rather than providing separate treatments for mental and drug abuse/dependence disorders.

The Development and Validation of a Classification System Predicting Severe and Frequent Prison Misconduct

This study presents the results from the development and validation of a fully automated, gender-specific risk assessment system designed to predict severe and frequent prison misconduct on a recurring, semiannual basis. K-fold and split-population methods were applied to train and test the predictive models. Regularized logistic regression was the classifier used on the training and test sets that contained 35,506 males and 3,849 females who were released from Minnesota prisons between 2006 and 2011. Using multiple metrics, the results showed the models achieved a relatively high level of predictive performance. For example, the average area under the curve (AUC) was 0.832 for the female prisoner models and 0.836 for the male prisoner models. The findings provide support for the notion that better predictive performance can be obtained by developing assessments that are customized to the population on which they will be used.

Gender and the Effect of Disciplinary Segregation on Prison Misconduct

Scholars and policymakers have advanced different arguments for why restrictive housing may improve or worsen inmate behavior, yet few studies exist that assess the impact of this housing on such outcomes. This study draws upon prior theory and research to hypothesize that inmate adjustment will worsen after placement in disciplinary segregation among a 3-year admission cohort of inmates from a large Midwestern state department of corrections ( N = 40,979), and further that this effect will be more harmful to men. The results of our propensity score matching analyses reveal the use of disciplinary segregation is associated with a greater probability of misconduct among men and has no appreciable effect on women. These findings challenge the view that disciplinary segregation is an effective strategy for improving inmate behavior in prison. This work further highlights the need for continued research on the utility of restrictive housing.

Examining Developmental Patterns of Prison Misconduct: An Integrated Model Approach

Recent prison scholarship has employed an integrated model of the developmental/life-course perspectives and importation model to examine prison misconduct. Using longitudinal data from a large sample of inmates incarcerated in a U.S. prison system, this study attempts to validate and expand recent prison research by systematically examining the relationship among inmate characteristics and misconduct trajectories, particularly for the higher/chronic pattern of misconduct relative to other identified clusters. The results show that smaller groups of inmates have persistent criminal careers and continually engaged in high level of misconduct. In addition, several inmate characteristics associated with prison misconduct can also be useful to distinguishing high-risk inmates/persistent offenders from groups that offend at low rates over time. These findings could provide vital information to prison officials in developing and designing alternative prison services, assistance, and rehabilitation programs based on the misconduct trajectories.