BECAUSE MEN FROM DIFFERENT CULTURAL GROUPS APPROACH IMPRISONMENT WITH DIFFERENT FRAMES OF REFERENCE, CONFINEMENT IS A QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE FOR SOME INMATES IN THESE GROUPS. WHEN THESE INMATES SUFFER PSYCHOLOGICAL BREAKDOWNS IN PRISON, THEIR CRISES MAY REVEAL SPECIAL SUSCEPTIBILITIES CREATED BY SPECIALIZED PAST EXPERIENCES. THE FOCUS IS ON FAILURES IN COPING, ON SEQUENCES IN WHICH MEN MEET OBSTACLES WHICH THEY CANNOT OVERCOME, AND IN WHICH THEY EXPERIENCE PERSONAL CRISES THAT CULMINATE IN ACTS OF SELF-MUTILATION. PATTERNS OF THESE BEHAVIORS ARE EXAMINED FOR THREE MAJOR CULTURAL GROUPS: LATIN, BLACK, AND WHITE PRISONERS. THE DATA FOR THIS BOOK STEMS FROM A THREE YEAR STUDY OF SELF-MUTILATION AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE IN NEW YORK STATE PENAL INSTITUTIONS. A SEMISTRUCTURED CLINICAL INTERVIEW CONDUCTED WITH A SAMPLE OF SELF-DESTRUCTIVE INMATES AND A SAMPLE OF NON-SELF-DESTRUCTIVE INMATES WAS THE MAJOR RESEARCH TOOL USED IN THE PROJECT. AVAILABLE BACKGROUND AND CRIMINAL CAREER INFORMATION WAS ALSO COLLECTED ABOUT INMATES WITH RECORDED INCIDENTS OF SELF-INJURY AND ON COMPARISON SAMPLES DRAWN FROM THE RELEVANT POPULATIONS. THE PENAL INSTITUTIONS SURVEYED FELL INTO TWO CATEGORIES: A PRISON SAMPLE, WHICH CONSISTS OF ALL NEW YORK CITY PRETRIAL DETENTION FACILITIES. IN THE STUDY ANALYSIS, THE DEGREE AND TYPE OF IMPACT CONFINEMENT HAS ON LATIN, BLACK, AND WHITE PRISONERS IS INFERRED FROM RATES OF SELF-MUTILATION AND FROM CLASSIFICATIONS OF MOTIVES FROM SUCH SELF-DESTRUCTIVE CONDUCT. PATTERNS OF SUSCEPTIBILITY TO PRISON PRESSURE ARE TRACED (WHERE PLAUSIBLE) TO PREDISPOSITIONS THAT STEM FROM SPECIALIZED CULTURAL EXPERIENCES. CULTURALLY LINKED SURVIVAL PATTERNS ARE ALSO RELATED TO A NORMATIVE PRISON SURVIVAL MODEL AND TO LESS SALIENT PRISON ADJUSTMENT STRATEGIES AND NORMS. THE TEXT CONCLUDES WITH A DISCUSSION OF THE THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)