NCJ Number
89486
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1983) Pages: 38-42
Date Published
1983
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article assesses structural correlates of prison escape levels and how these conditions come to influence institutional breakdown in achieving correctional incapacitation. Youthfulness of the inmate population, prison resources, adequacy of treatment personnel, and prison supervision levels are observed to explain 70 percent of the total variance in Georgia prison escape levels.
Abstract
Results indicate that youthfulness of the inmate population and institutional ratios of treatment personnel were the 2 most important correlates of reported escapes from all 17 male institutions. Another important correlate is the ratio of inmates to treatment personnel. Thus, relationships between inmates and staff are an important deterrent to prison escapes. Treatment professionals further the incapacitative ideals of prisons by deterring such escapes. Public opinion is growing increasingly conservative, forming the basis for an ideology that all but ignores the importance of inmate rehabilitation. Notes, data tables, and 26 references are supplied.