THE DEPRIVATION MODEL FOCUSES UPON THE NOTION THAT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS ARE BASED ON COERCION AND THAT THE INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCE DEGRADES AND DEPRIVES THE INMATE. THE INMATES' ADAPTIVE RESPONSE TO THESE STRUCTURALLY GENERATED PROBLEMS IS TO CREATE A NEW NORMATIVE ORDER--ONE WHICH PROVIDES THE INMATE WITH SOCIAL STATUS IN AN OTHERWISE STATUS-DEPRIVING SITUATION. THE IMPORTATION MODEL ARGUES, IN CONTRAST, THAT THE INMATE SUBCULTURE IS A PRODUCT OF PRIOR SOCIALIZATION AND EXPERIENCES. EACH THEORETICAL MODEL IS ASSESSED AS A PREDICTOR OF INMATE ADAPTATIONS TO CONFINEMENT. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, DATA WERE GATHERED FROM TWO INSTITUTIONS FOR JUVENILES, ONE MALE AND ONE FEMALE. THE FINDINGS INDICATE THAT THE DEPRIVATION MODEL OF IMPRISONMENT WAS THE BETTER PREDICTOR OF PRISONIZATION FOR MALES. FOR FEMALES, BOTH THE IMPORTATION AND THE DEPRIVATION MODELS SEEMED TO BE RELATIVELY STRONG PREDICTORS OF PRISONIZATION. THE MEANING AND IMPLICATIONS OF THESE RESULTS ARE DISCUSSED EXTENSIVELY. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)... MSP