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Research on incarceration and mental health from a deprivation perspective has focused primarily on incarcerated men, rendering the links between prison deprivations and women's mental health largely unknown. Previous research indicates, however, that women experience prison differently than do men, making it important to examine how prison conditions impact women's mental health. Here, we use national data on 1490 women incarcerated in the United States and the 60 state prisons in which they reside to examine the links between prison conditions and symptoms of mental health conditions, net of individual-level factors. Hierarchal negative binomial regression models indicate that the punitiveness of the prison environment, the recent occurrence of a suicide in the prison, and fewer prison programs are all associated with symptom count. These results have important implications for understanding the mechanisms through which prison deprivations are linked to women's mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in carceral settings remain a fundamental concern for practitioners, policy-makers, and incarcerated persons (IPs) alike. In recent years, PTSD assessment tools designed for the general population have been adopted for use in prisons upon intake, sometimes side-by-side with other assessment tools. This study attempts to provide insight into how these tools are used for a majority of IPs within the United States. Based on results from six U.S. states and the federal prison system, we find that PTSD assessment would benefit from newer tools designed for the specific challenges in the prison environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barring Freedom, a travelling exhibition featuring artworks engaging the histories and current conditions of prisons and policing in the United States, was to open in April 2020. While COVID-19 disrupted that plan, the realities of inequity in the United States placed into stark relief by the pandemic and the uprisings of summer 2020 brought urgency to rethinking the curatorial vision of the exhibition to reach audiences beyond the gallery walls. Buoyed by the idea that, in the words of Angela Davis, art can 'propel people towards social emancipation', the exhibition and related programming was reconceived as an ongoing, interdisciplinary, public scholarship initiative reaching across the borders normally perceived between museums, prisons and universities. Opportunities arose for expanded forms of community building and participation that welcomed different forms of knowledge, furthering the political and aesthetic aims of the project to shift the social attachment to prisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent data suggest that recidivism rates remain dismal within United States correctional systems, with a significant majority of justice-impacted persons experiencing re-arrest following release. As a result, correctional systems across the nation are looking to implement more effective programming to increase positive outcomes both during and after incarceration. One method that has demonstrated rehabilitative impacts both during and following incarceration for inmates – as well as staff and facility benefits – is the use of Prison-Based Dog Training Programs (PBDPs) in carceral settings. Several studies have identified the need for more empirical research on PBDPs, and thus this research assesses the perceived impacts of a non-profit PBDP hosted by four prisons in the midwestern United States. Secondary data analysis of qualitative, subjective survey responses is used to evaluate the impacts of a non-profit, Service Animal Socialization program, as reported by participants (n = 97). In what is a larger sample size for carceral programming, findings suggest myriad perceived benefits and skills that are otherwise difficult to garner in carceral settings. Both perceived facility-wide benefits and personal benefits were reported by participants at all four locations, as were hard- and soft-skill development. Empowerment theory is utilized to interpret the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States spends over $80 billion to hold 2.3 million individuals in prison. Despite these expenditures, 68% of released prisoners are arrested within 3 years of reentry, 79% within 6 years, and 83% within 9 years. Incarcerated citizens leave prison more alienated, more traumatized, and less capable of prosocial skills than when they entered prison. The reasons for prison rehabilitation failure are clear. The prevailing philosophy in prisons is based on punishment, which psychology has demonstrated in countless studies, exacerbates fear, anger, aggression, deception, and often proclivities for depression and suicide. Furthermore, the majority of prisoners have experienced abuse and trauma prior to incarceration. The punishment-based prison culture functions as retraumatization by maintaining a sense of fear and insecurity and promulgating a distrust of authority, all of which lead to hostility and violence which then, exports to the community outside upon release. Observations from over 8 years of working with prisoners deemed to be "violent" in a high security state prison are provided along with supporting research that offers more effective alternative approaches. We provide specific recommendations regarding the implementation of trauma-informed processes to resolve these challenges which will significantly improve public safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author examines prison life and what it might mean to create a life of freedom and a society free of oppression and hatred. Topics discussed include cases of political prisoners who have been released from prison, the treatment of political prisoners in the U.S., the guidelines issued by the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush Jr. for compassionate release of federal prisoners, and the impact of authorities' injustices on communities.

During the latter part Of the twentieth century, prison populations in the United States increased exponentially and the nation became notorious for mass incarceration. Despite what many viewed as a broken prison system, in 1996 Congress passed the Prison Litigation Re/brm Act <"PLRA"). with the avowed purpose of hindering prisoners and their advocates *om bringing civil rights actions to challenge prison conditions, laws, and policies. To accomplish this, Congress curbed courts' most powerful remedial tool-injunctive relief As a result, early scholarship predicted that injunctive practice would become a useless tool in prison reform litigation. Instead, twenty-live years after Congress passed the Act. a limited injunctive practice has adapted and survived. Through a survey of.fifty consent decrees and a series of case studies, this Article shows that some injunctive practice remains possible where (1) lawyers carefully craft consent decrees to sidestep the PLRA's hurdles to injunctive relief, and (2) judges take persistent and stern measures to help move defendants toward compliance with the decrees. Ultimately, however, this restricted injunctive practice is not enough. This Article demonstrates that despite advocates' and judges' best dforts to circumvent the Act's limitations, the PLRA continues to hamper necessary prison reform. For this reason, it is time to rethink the PLRA-our nation's recent outcry for reconsideration Of the criminal justice system is an ideal catalyst for reassessing the Act and its effects on people least able to assert their rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that U.S. Corrections System has the highest incarceration rate in the world with the overcrowding U.S. prisons and jails makes an ideal environment for virus outbreaks, health officials have been warning the dangers of disease outbreaks. Topics include limited access to protective equipment make inmates highly susceptible to contagious viruses such as population in prison is rising; and expensive care risk to society as the number of state and federal prisoners.

The article focuses on guidance from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on handling the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons and jails has influenced constitutional litigation challenging conditions of confinement. It mentions pattern in cases challenging institutional responses to the pandemic under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. It also mentions level of deference contravenes foundational principles in both administrative and constitutional law.

The development of cognitive skills is influenced by characteristics of both individuals and the environments in which they live, including their homes, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. Contextual features of these environments shape and constrain cognitive development in various ways. This article considers the case of numeracy development within the highly constrained environment of prisons in the United States. Data are analyzed from recent PIAAC assessments of the incarcerated and household populations of the United States. Individuals' assessed numeracy skills and engagement in everyday numeracy practices, both inside and outside of prisons, are analyzed in relation to their education and other background characteristics. Although some of the observed differences in numeracy between household and prison populations can be attributed to differences in these background characteristics, significant differences in numeracy skills and practices remain after controlling for background characteristics. Such regression-adjusted differences may reflect the distinctive numerate environment of prisons. Prisoners' numeracy appears to be initially disrupted by incarceration but gradually improves as it adjusts over time to the new numerate environment. Numeracy also appears to be an important determinant of key social outcomes in prisons. Some methodological limitations of these findings are considered along with their implications for fostering numeracy development and improved social outcomes inside and outside of prisons as well as in other vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on perceived gap in existing scholarship on female incarceration and prison conditions and post incarceration re-entry. It argues reforms that target the front end of the incarceration process, namely sentencing, should be employed to address the rapidly rising rate of female incarceration. It also mentions Congress passed the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (SRA), which authorized the creation of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The imperative to heed social environment and power of the situation, particularly as applied to prison settings, dates to the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment; the widely cited study concluded that situational factors, not personality, created the damaging conditions observed. Despite critical need for research on prison climate, measurement has met stiff challenges, and little research on prison culture exists in the United States. This study applies a 17-item scale, primarily based on Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES), an instrument validated in Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It was administered to inmates and staff in three correctional facilities in the U.S. Midwest, one medium security and two maximum security. Survey results demonstrate higher levels of cohesion at the medium-security facility, but multivariate analysis suggests a much more complex relationship between facility and environment, varying particularly in response to perceived inmate threat. Qualitative data suggest that understanding these associations is vital to building socially adaptive conditions and prosocial change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of prison strikes in America in relation to the legal rights of prisoners under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and a lack of adequate constitutional protections for strikes. According to the article, thousands of prisoners in various states across America carried out strikes in August and September 2018 to protest poor living conditions, understaffing, and inhumane treatment in U.S. prison facilities.

Abstract: There has been growing interest in improving the health of Black men and the social determinants of health affecting them. In this paper, we argue that incarceration is an important social determinant of health in contemporary U.S. society for Black men and their families. Mass incarceration has deleterious health effects for those directly affected by it (the incarcerated), and mass incarceration contaminates the communities where it is geographically concentrated. Given the enormous differences in exposure to incarceration for Black men, this group is the most burdened by its effects. By extension, the larger Black community is disproportionately impacted due to the cascading effects of incarceration for families and neighborhoods. Therefore, it is necessary to include incarceration in research and policy addressing the health of Black men in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's ruling in the 2017 case Crowell v. Massachusetts Parole Board which deals with prison conditions and the court's determination that the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to parole and incarcerated individuals with disabilities. The mistreatment of prisoners with mental impairments is examined, along with litigant Richard Crowell's memory, speech, and cognition problems and the Massachusetts Equal Rights Act.

Women in local jails face a unique set of challenges than those serving time in state or federal prison; the case outcome may be unknown, she may be suffering from substance withdrawal, and plans for finding a caregiver for children must be made. Although there is a growing literature examining women in prison and the problems posed by long-term absences due to incarceration, little is known about the immediate crises faced by those in jail. This study focuses on women detained and incarcerated in a Midwestern jail and explores life narratives of past victimization, mental health, substance abuse, and parenting issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes Findings Letters in jail Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) cases for the years 1993 through 2013 to improve our understanding of the prevalence, content and correlates of constitutional violations investigated by the Department of Justice. CRIPA authorizes the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and file suit against local jail facilities for the unconstitutional conditions of individuals in their care. Investigating the allegations and providing local officials a Findings Letter are the first steps in a CRIPA action and determine what remedial action must be taken to avoid a federal lawsuit. The analysis revealed a high incidence of certain constitutional violations, longitudinal trends, and facility characteristics associated with CRIPA action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sexuality of imprisoned men was long one of the last taboo subjects within the modern penal system. In society in general, the perception of prisoners' sexuality was marked by socially distorted clichés and lack of interest in their plight. Early studies on the sexual deprivation of inmates and sexual violence within the U.S. prison system, above all J.F. Fishman‘s Sex in Prison: Revealing Sex Conditions in American Prisons (1934), D. Clemmer's The Prison Community (1940), and G.M. Sykes' The Society of Captives (1958), laid the groundwork for later research. An early German work dealing with the sexuality of prisoners is Karl Plättner's now forgotten Eros im Zuchthaus (1929), a vivid account of his own prison experience during the Weimar Republic and the consequences of sexual deprivation for inmates and their partners. Research on prison culture and sexuality among inmates was continued in the United States in the following decades. Despite the international interest in the subject, few studies were undertaken in the two post-war German states, with a resulting lack of concrete scientific data. This article reviews the early American research and Plättner's autobiographical work, then discusses several later 20th C. American studies and two German surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses living conditions for Native Americans within the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, through referencing experience of Robert Angelo Horse, Sioux inmate and president of the organization Native American Council of Tribes, Incorporated. An overview of the Native American Council's efforts to help Native American culture and spirituality to survive is provided.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including punishment in crime deterrence, juvenile justice, and prison life.

Queer geographers have recently begun to examine the lives of transgender persons, a heretofore gap in the literature. This article examines the experiences of incarcerated trans persons in the USA, thus extending this nascent trans geography work by considering a new population in a new space. As some scholarly and activist research has shown over the last decade or so, US trans persons are incarcerated at a disproportionately high rate and face harsh conditions while imprisoned. First-hand accounts of trans prisoners' experiences are, however, limited due to the difficulty of accessing this population for research purposes. Working in cooperation with a Montreal-based organization that facilitates pen-pal communications between queer persons inside and outside penitentiaries in the USA, we conducted qualitative research with 23 trans feminine individuals confined in facilities in several states. Our findings unfortunately corroborate the findings laid out in the small existing literature on trans prisoner issues, demonstrating that they endure harsh conditions of confinement. We detail these conditions here, while also pointing to informant responses that offer insight into the ways in which trans incarcerated persons cope with the hypermasculine and heteronormative environment of the US prison. These results are offered in the spirit of advancing a queer abolitionist politics that centers the knowledge and experiences of trans incarcerated persons. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores how mass incarceration does not provide a workable solution to societal problems in the U.S. and how humane conditions can be ensured for those in prison. Topics discussed include the prevailing culture of mass incarceration and its detrimental effects on the well-being of inmates. The need for prison administrators to provide programs that will assist in the rehabilitation and eliminate the culture of violence and alienation is mentioned.

The article examines how the prison crisis in the U.S. is influencing the future of the country's criminal justice system. Topics discussed include observation on the overcrowding of prisons and efforts to resolve the crisis by way of legislation, executive action, or policy changes. The public safety crisis that may arise from the transfer of risks and costs from the prisons to the case loads of probation officers and court dockets is mentioned.

The article discusses the recommendations of the report entitled "Strategic Assessment: Federal Probation and Pretrial Services System" that were acted upon by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Topics discussed include the impending crisis brought about by increased workload and prison overcrowding, emphasis on post-conviction supervision, and the overall recommendation for the system to be a result-driven organization with a comprehensive outcome measurement system.

Prisons housing adult men have been identified as hypermasculine environments. As a gender process, masculinities are influenced by a multitude of factors. Although presentations of masculinities vary across men and over time, researchers have identified some shared masculine ideals many men try to embody. As a subset, the hegemonic or dominant form of masculinity includes elements that ensure a level of domination is held by those who embody certain traits, particularly within the context of gendered social relations. The tools and strategies prisoners use to exert or shape their masculinity within the prison social structure, however, have not yet been examined in the context of Canadian federal prisons housed in Ontario. Within the prison culture, I argue, hegemonic masculinities determine social interactions and enforce a hierarchy among prisoners where power and domination are asserted through physical, psychological and material means. How masculinities are manifested and exerted as well as how they governed social relations with other prisoners were investigated through in-depth face-to-face interviews with 56 Canadian ex-prisoners. Findings suggest ‘prison’ masculinities are contextually influenced and exaggerate traditional constructs of masculinity evident in larger society. The hypermasculine nature of the prison experience, the oppressive and hierarchical nature of masculinities in prison and the limited opportunities for the expression of masculinities by prisoners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A macro-level perspective for understanding differences in levels of inmate assaults and nonviolent offenses across US prisons is presented which emphasizes the greater relevance of population composition as opposed to environmental and managerial controls over inmates. We argue that population effects are more relevant due to a heavy reliance on custodial risk assessments which place high concentrations of the most dangerous offenders within particular facilities or units within facilities, rendering these environments less effective for controlling inmate misconduct regardless of tighter security and greater use of administrative controls relative to lower security environments. A partial test of our model was conducted with a national US sample of 247 state prisons for men and women. Results indicate that while both facility and population factors are relevant predictors of offense levels, population effects are stronger and more prevalent. The implications of specific findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The study explores the ways hypermasculine aggression is both communicated and resisted in prisons. Design/methodology/approach - It is based on ethnographic observa-tion conducted at two correctional facilities: a mixed-security prison for young men where the author has facilitated conflict transformation workshops since 2006 and a maximum-security prison for men where she has taught a weekly writing class since 2007. Findings -- It found that performances of masculinity among both prisoners and prison guards are frequently structured around symbolic expressions of violence, but that both groups also engage in supportive behaviors that communicate the possibility of nonviolent caring male identity. Research limitations -- The study was limited to two correctional insti-tutions in one state in the United States. Conditions at other correctional facilities may lead to different types of gendered performance. Also, in the tense atmosphere of a prison, neither inmates nor corrections officers express themselves fully in the presence of an outside observer. Social implications -- The violent masculinities valued and practiced in prisons replicate in communities and institutions beyond the prison walls. Attention to the alternative masculinities practiced in correctional institutions can help scholars challenge the destructive ideologies of hegemonic masculinity and reduce its prevalence; it can influence policy makers to establish more humane conditions and procedures of benefit to individuals, families, and communities. Originality/value -- The study is of value to scholars of gender, culture, and social justice; to policy makers interested in criminal justice reform; and to activists and people of conscience seeking to reduce violence on both sides of the bars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US prisons represent an important site for the delivery of social services--even in light of the punitive policy shifts of recent decades--because a significant segment of the nation's low-income, minority population is incarcerated every year. Prison officers interact daily with prisoners and are responsible for maintaining prisoners' security and welfare. As a result, this group of workers can be understood as street-level, front-line bureaucrats who implement penal policy and play a role in distributing needed resources to millions of society's most vulnerable citizens. We examine prison officers through this lens to assess how officers' perceptions of prison resources, work stress, and work support are associated with their attitudes toward the prisoners in their care. We find that work stress and work support operate as mediating pathways between prisoner officers' assessments of available resources and their attitudes toward prisoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politicians in the United States frequently cite public anger when they attack “country-club” conditions in prisons. Despite the ubiquity of this rhetoric, it is backed by limited empirical support. Few studies measure American citizens’ attitudes toward prison conditions, and even fewer studies do so with data from random samples of the population. To address this limitation in our knowledge, I measure public perceptions of life in prison and opinions about the appropriate severity of punishment in prison with data from an original public opinion survey administered to a national sample of the U.S. population. I find that a plurality of respondents both perceive life in prison to be unpleasant and voice the opinion that life in prison should be harsher still. I contextualize these findings within the broader study of public opinion about punishment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) requires that prisoners exhaust available administrative remedies before filing a federal action challenging prison conditions. Thus, an inmate can only file a lawsuit in federal court after proceeding through each step of the prison's grievance procedure and meeting all procedural requirements. This exhaustion process is complicated by the fact that most prison systems provide little guidance about the specificity with which a prisoner must describe a grievance in order to preserve the right to assert a claim in federal court. Either they say nothing about the level of detail required in grievances or the requirement is very general. In Strong v. David, the Seventh Circuit held that in situations where the administrative rulebook is silent as to specificity, a grievance suffices if it "object[s] intelligibly" to some asserted shortcoming. While several courts agree that a grievance must provide only enough information for prison officials to be able to investigate the prisoner's problem, other courts hold grievances inadequate when they fail to articulate legal theories or spell out the elements of legal claims. This inconsistency among courts is particularly problematic considering the common characteristics of prisoner-plaintiffs, most of whom proceed pro se. This Note argues that in situations of administrative silence, federal courts should adopt the Seventh Circuit's "object intelligibly" standard for determining the adequacy of prisoner grievances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relationship between prisons and prisoner rehabilitation in California from the 1960s through the early 2010s, contending that prisons should focus on the rehabilitation of prisoners. An overview of criminal justice administration in California prisons, including in regard to the punishment of unemployed men, is provided.

The article discusses the social aspects of crime and imprisonment in the U.S. An overview of U.S. prisoners' hunger strikes to improve their prison conditions, including in regard to prison officials force-feeding hunger strikers at the Pelican Bay State Prison security housing united (SHU), California, is provided.

An introduction is presented which discusses articles within the issue on the theme of the reality of prisons, with a particular focus on the putative violence of the institutional practices involved in imprisonment.

Abstract: Background: Prison is a major “place” for drug users in the US, yet remarkably little is known about the lived experience of incarceration. More information about prison life is needed to improve health outcomes for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. Methods: Thirty (30) formerly incarcerated women were interviewed about prison food. All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. Qualitative data analysis software was used to code and organize the data using thematic analysis. Results: As described in these participants’ narratives, prison food systems contributed to the construction of boundaries that distinguished the prison place from places and life outside the institution's walls. Participants also described boundaries within the prison that resulted in a patchwork of interior places, each with their own unique structure, meaning, and food system. These places, constructed by physical location, movement, and power, or lack thereof, included various micro-geographies that further defined women's individual prison experience. The boundaries that separated these places were not fixed: Women shifted and diminished internal and external borders by resisting food policies and reproducing their outside lives inside. Conclusion: These findings call for public policy officials and prison administrators to reexamine the prison place in order to facilitate healthier eating behaviors and lay the groundwork for more positive communication between inmates and correctional staff and administration. More research is needed to measure how these types of changes to the prison food environment impact nutritional, mental health, substance abuse, and criminal justice outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

If a man in prison says that he was made "to feel like a woman," this is commonly understood to mean that he was degraded, dehumanized, and sexualized. This association of femininity with punishment has significant implications for the way our society understands not only the sexual abuse of men in prison but also sexual abuse generally. These important implications are usually overlooked, however, because law and society typically regard prison feminization as a problem of gender transposition: that is, as a problem of men being treated like women. In contrast, this Article argues that feminization is punitive for both men and women. It is as unnatural and wrong for women to be degraded, dehumanized, and sexualized under coercive circumstances as it is for men to be. This Article suggests that examining the sexual abuse of men in prisons can help disrupt the persistent and uncritical linking of feminization and women. By reading the sexualized abuse of men in prison as a form of forced feminized performance--a coerced drag--this Article hopes to expose the artificiality and violence of compelled feminization. The proper approach to assessing forced feminization is to focus on its oppressive structure, not on the gender of its victims. When we do so, we can see what all victims along the spectrum of sexual and domestic abuse have in common, and we can form social and legal responses accordingly. The phenomenon of male sexual abuse in prison thus provides a potentially illuminating opportunity to think about the structure and consequences of sexual abuse in general. This is significant not least because social and legal responses to sexual abuse outside of the prison setting-- where sexual abuse is generally perpetrated by men against women--are constrained by pernicious gender stereotypes and a massive failure of empathy. Understanding the phenomenon of male prison sexual abuse is thus essential not only for addressing a specific problem in carceral institutions, but also for forcing law and society to consider sexual abuse in a productively counterintuitive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eighth Amendment has been interpreted to demand proportionality between an offender's crime and his punishment. However, the current proportionality standard is widely regarded as meaningless. In weighing the severity of the crime against the harshness of the punishment, modern courts do not consider any aspect of the sentence beyond the number of years listed. This Note argues that a more comprehensive analysis of the features of a sentence that contribute to its severity has the potential to reinvigorate the proportionality principle by giving courts a fuller picture of the harshness of modern sentences. Although there are some hurdles to conducting this more robust analysis, this Note proposes methods by which courts could consider the true length of carceral sentences, the prison conditions in which the sentences are served, and the collateral consequences that accompany many criminal convictions. In so doing, this Note demonstrates that some methods of accounting more accurately for the harshness of punishments are neither impracticable nor in tension with other areas of Eighth Amendment doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long argued that inmate behaviors stem in part from cultural belief systems that they 'import' with them into incarcerative settings. Even so, few empirical assessments have tested this argument directly. Drawing on theoretical accounts of one such set of beliefs-the code of the street-and on importation theory, we hypothesize that individuals who adhere more strongly to the street code will be more likely, once incarcerated, to engage in violent behavior and that this effect will be amplified by such incarceration experiences as disciplinary sanctions and gang involvement, as well as the lack of educational programming, religious programming, and family support. We test these hypotheses using unique data that include measures of the street code belief system and incarceration experiences. The results support the argument that the code of the street belief system affects inmate violence and that the effect is more pronounced among inmates who lack family support, experience disciplinary sanctions, and are gang involved. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on the thinking of intellectual writer Walter Lippmann who stated that the mass media has created pseudo-environment in the mind of spectators who see it. The author states that majority spectators has not experienced the prison life directly but through cultural products such as television programs and films. He discusses concept of self conscious cultural criminology which can be seen in intersections of cultural studies, sociology and media studies. He also presents contextual analysis of the U.S. television's representation of incarceration.

The article discusses the relation and difference between reform and abolition of repressive U.S. institutions including the prison-industrial-complex as of 2013. Topics covered include the link of closure to abolition, the disparity between penal and prison abolition, the difference between negative and positive reforms, and the inverse relation of positive reforms to abolition. Also mentioned are strategies that have been used in the successful closing of institutions.

The article discusses various medical models of treatment for prisoners in U.S. penal institutions as of April 2013, focusing on an assessment of the meaning of imprisonment, as well as information about author John Howard's books about jail fever and the conditions in English jails in the eighteenth century. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the 2011 case Brown v. Plata, which deals with a humanitarian medical crisis in California's prisons, disease, and prison overcrowding.

Background: Relatively little is known about the current health care situation and the legal rights of ageing prisoners worldwide. To date, only a few studies have investigated their rights to health care. However, elderly prisoners need special attention. Objective: The aim of this article is to critically review the health care situation of older prisoners by analysing the relevant national and international legal frameworks with a particular focus on Switzerland, England and Wales, and the United States (US). Methods: Publications on legal frameworks were searched using Web of Science, PubMed, MEDLINE, HeinOnline, and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Searches utilizing combinations of keywords relating to ageing prisoners were performed. Relevant reports and policy documents were obtained in order to understand the legal settings in Switzerland, England and Wales, and the US. All articles, reports, and policy documents published in English and German between 1774 to June 2012 were included for analysis. Using a comparative approach, an outline was completed to distinguish positive policies in this area. Regulatory approaches were investigated through evaluations of soft laws applicable in Europe and US Supreme Court judgements. Results: Even though several documents could be interpreted as guaranteeing adequate health care for ageing prisoners, there is no specific regulation that addresses this issue completely. The Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing contributes the most by providing an in-depth analysis of the health care needs of older persons. Still, critical analysis of retrieved documents reveals the lack of specific legislation regarding the health care for ageing prisoners. Conclusion: No consistent regulation delineates the provision of health care for ageing prisoners. Neither national nor international institutions have enforceable laws that secure the precarious situation of older adults in prisons. To initiate a change, this work presents critical issues that must be addressed to protect the right to health care and well-being of ageing prisoners. Additionally, it is important to design legal structures and guidelines which acknowledge and accommodate the needs of ageing prisoners. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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