The importation and deprivation models were used to study lifers and death-sentenced inmates. According to the former, a prisoner's adaptation to the institutional environment is the result of entering a strange new world with an entirely different set of indigenous behavioral norms. Deprivation theory claims that rule violations are best predicted by factors related to inmates' terms of incarceration. This study provided strong support for the importation model. The variables most consistently related to rule violations were the preprison variables, age and race. Young blacks violated prison rules most often and were overrepresented among the high-rate and assaultive violators. The deprivation model was also supported by convergences in the patterns of rule violation. Overall, murderers with no hope for parole did not present a disproportionate threat to the institutional population. Their average rates of infraction were quite low, suggesting that there is no need for special provisions to protect other inmates from those with no hope for parole. Figures, tables, references