RT Article
T1 Exploring the effect of exposure to short-term solitary confinement among violent prison inmates
JF Journal of quantitative criminology
VO 32
IS 1
SP 1
OP 22
A1 Morris, Robert G.
LA English
YR 2016
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1559130253
AB Objectives This study tracked the behavior of male inmates housed in the general inmate populations of 70 different prison units from a large southern state. Each of the inmates studied engaged in violent misconduct at least once during the first 2 years of incarceration (n = 3,808). The goal of the study was to isolate the effect of exposure to short-term solitary confinement (SC) as a punishment for their initial act of violent behavior on the occurrence and timing of subsequent misconduct. Methods This study relied upon archival longitudinal data and employed a multilevel counterfactual research design (propensity score matching) that involved tests for group differences, event history analyses, and trajectory analyses. Results The results suggest that exposure to short-term solitary confinement as a punishment for an initial violence does not appear to play a role in increasing or decreasing the probability, timing, or development future misconduct for this particular group on inmates. Conclusions Upon validation, these findings call for continued research and perhaps a dialog regarding the utility of solitary confinement policies under certain contexts. This unique study sets the stage for further research to more fully understand how solitary impacts post-exposure behavior.
K1 Inmate misconduct
K1 Corrections
K1 Punitive segregation
K1 solitary confinement
K1 Solitary confinement
K1 Propensity score matching
DO 10.1007/s10940-015-9250-0