NCJ Number: 66004
Title: DOES COED PRISON WORK?
Journal: PRISON JOURNAL Volume:59 Issue:1 Dated:(SPRING/SUMMER 1979) Pages:61-72
Author(s): J O SMYKLA
Corporate Author: Pennsylvania Prison Soc
Date Published: 1979
Page Count: 12
Sponsoring Agency: Institute for Scientific Information
Sale Source: Institute for Scientific Information
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Annotation: BY EXAMINING AVAILABLE DATA, THE SUCCESS OF ADULT COED PRISONS IN REDUCING RECIDIVISM RATES AND IMPROVING THE PRISON ENVIRONMENT IS EVALUATED.
Abstract: SINCE 1971, OVER 20 COED STATE AND FEDERAL FACILITIES HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED, ALTHOUGH OVER HALF HAVE SINCE REVERTED BACK TO ONE-SEX INSTITUTIONS OUT OF CONCEPTUAL FAILURE AND DILEMMAS OF OPERATION, IMPLEMENTATION, AND EVALUATION. CURRENTLY (1979), 10 ADULT COED PRISONS EXIST IN THE UNITED STATES. ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH INTO COED PRISONS INCLUDES SEVEN STUDIES SINCE 1973 FOCUSING ON SEX ROLES AND THE OVERALL PRISON ENVIRONMENT. TWO OF THE STUDIES REVEAL A LACK OF PREDATORY HOMOSEXUALITY IN COED PRISONS, WHILE OTHER STUDIES FIND SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION IN SUCH INSTITUTIONS. OVERALL, THE ETHNOGRAPHIC LITERATURE YIELDS FEW FINDINGS WHICH SUPPORT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COED PRISONS. RECIDIVISM RESEARCH, ANOTHER TYPE OF COCORRECTIONS RESEARCH, HAS BEEN UTILIZED IN A NUMBER OF STUDIES TO INDICATE A REDUCTION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. ONE STUDY SUGGESTS THAT FEMALES MAY NOT PROFIT AS MUCH AS MALES FROM THE CORRECTIONAL ENVIRONMENT. OTHER VAGUE AND UNSOPHISTICATED RECIDIVISM STUDIES SHOW SUCCESS FOR RELEASEES FROM COED PRISON. ALTHOUGH THE AVAILABLE RECIDIVISM DATA ON COCORRECTIONS SUGGEST THAT INCARCERATION IN A COED INSTITUTION HAS THE POTENTIAL OF REDUCING ADJUSTMENT PROBLEMS ON RELEASE, DATA DO NOT CONVINCINGLY DEMONSTRATE THE EFFECT OF THE COED EXPERIENCE ON POSTRELEASE BEHAVIOR OR AN OVERALL REDUCTION IN THE CRIME RATE. PROBLEMS WITH THESE STUDIES ARE (1) EXTRANEOUS FACTORS WHICH INTRUDE UPON THE MEASUREMENT; (2) NONCOMPARABILITY OF DEFINITIONS OF RECIDIVISM; (3) INSUFFICIENT TIME FRAMES FOR THE RECOMMENDED FOLLOWUP PERIOD TO HAVE ELAPSED; (4) INSUFFICIENT DATA COLLECTION ABILITY AND LACK OF RESEARCH ORIENTATION; AND (5) INSENSITIVITY TOWARD SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES SUCH AS PREGNANCY, ABORTION, AND PIMPING. UNTIL RECIDIVISM STUDIES EMPLOY RANDOM ASSIGNMENT TO EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, REPORTS OF HIGH SUCCESS RATES SHOULD BE GREETED WITH SKEPTICISM. A TABLE SHOWS PAST AND PRESENT COED ADULT PRISONS. (WJR)
Index Term(s): Coeducational corrections facilities; Corrections effectiveness; Effects of imprisonment; Female inmates; Male offenders; Recidivism; Sex discrimination; Sexual behavior
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