Prison violence
Prison violence refers to the physical and sexual assaults that occur within correctional facilities, affecting both inmates and staff. Rising statistics indicate a troubling increase in such incidents across the United States, with many cases, particularly sexual assaults, going underreported. The environment of incarceration contributes to this violence, often exacerbated by factors such as overcrowding, lack of recreational activities, and the harsh treatment of inmates. The reasons behind violent behavior in prisons are explored through two primary theories: deprivation theory, which posits that the harsh conditions of confinement lead to violence, and importation theory, which suggests that inmates bring violent behaviors from the outside world into the prison environment.
Prison violence can manifest as individual acts, such as assaults between inmates or against staff, or collective acts like riots, which have historical precedents in US prisons. Sexual abuse is a significant and increasing concern, with particular vulnerabilities observed among young or first-time offenders, inmates with mental disabilities, and those in the LGBTQ+ community. Legislative responses, such as the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, aim to address these issues by improving data collection and accountability mechanisms within correctional systems. Understanding the dynamics of prison violence is crucial for fostering discussions around criminal justice reform and inmate rights.
Subject Terms
Prison violence
SIGNIFICANCE: Government studies have shown that assaults on staff and inmates of correctional facilities are rising across the United States, even though many assaults—especially sexual assaults—are underreported by prison officials. Trends toward making convicted offenders serve longer sentences and lose more privileges make it seem likely that prison violence will continue to increase.
Prison violence and sexual abuse may be an inevitable consequence of being locked up. Television dramas such as Home Box Office’s Oz and popular films such as The Shawshank Redemption (1994) have highlighted the dangers and brutality that inmates often face from prison guards and fellow prisoners. Many people can visualize the lasting images from films in which inmates are beaten, raped, and abused for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the victims may be seen as easy targets for others; in others, violence may be a manifestation of gang activity, and some inmates resort to violence simply in order to protect themselves from others.
Many dramatic productions treat prison violence and sexual abuse as normal aspects of prison life. These productions contribute to the public expectation that violence is a natural by-product of housing criminals together under one roof. At the same time, some people charge that state and government agencies too often turn a blind eye to the abuses suffered by inmates.
Prison violence and sexual abuse are potential problems faced by all prisoners; however, many prisons are reluctant to provide adequate information about the abuse taking place within their facilities. For this reason, statistics on prison violence and abuse must be examined with caution. Statistics on violence and sexual abuse tend to underestimate incidence rates. Solid and unbiased research on prison violence is difficult to find and even more difficult to conduct because of the inherently taboo nature of the subject.
Reasons for Violent Behavior
Two long-standing and competing theories have been advanced to explain prison violence. Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, the deprivation theory suggests that inmates act violently because of the “pains” they experience while incarcerated. From this perspective, prison is a harsh, degrading place that controls inmates totally. Inmates are told when to eat and when to sleep. Stripped of their identities, they become mere bodies with numbers. Under the harsher conditions imposed by many modern prisons, inmates’ pains take on new forms. Many inmates spend twenty or more hours in their cells every day with few or no recreational or educational programs. Research indicates that variables such as lack of programs, higher security levels, gang activity, and prison overcrowding may all increase violent behavior.
The second major explanation for prison violence is the importation theory. It holds that inmates engage in violence because they are violent people to begin with. In fact, inmates merely carry into the prison system the same violent attitudes and behaviors they have outside prisons. This theory points to variables such as age, race, gender, and aggressive personality as causes of increased violent behavior during incarceration. Research on prison violence combines elements of both theories. It looks at how inmates with such traits as aggressive personalities react in particular prison environments.
Individual and Collective Violence
Prison violence takes several different forms. It can be individual, when it occurs between fellow inmates or between inmates and staff members. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the homicide rate in state prisons rose to 12 homicides per 100,000 inmates in 2019, up from 10 per 100,000 inmates in 2018. The 143 homicides in state prisons were an all-time high since the Bureau of Justice Statistics began collecting data in 2001. Research has shown that male inmates are much more likely to be sexually and physically violent than female inmates. However, the most influential and important predictor of violent behavior is age. All research on the subject has indicated that inmates under the age of twenty-five are the most likely to behave violently. Moreover, as inmates age, they tend to commit fewer acts of violence. Other individual characteristics, such as race, education, prior criminal history, marital status, and personality, showed mixed results when predicting violent behavior.
Prior to the movement for prisoner rights of the late 1960s and 1970s, physical beatings, extended solitary confinement, strip searches, torture, and other forms of inhumane treatment by prison guards were commonplace in American prisons. Interestingly, research has indicated that staff abuse of inmates tends to occur most often in maximum-security facilities. In general, however, individual acts of staff violence against inmates were more common before the 1980s, but sporadic incidents still occur. Data on staff violence is especially difficult to find and should be looked at with an especially cautious eye.
Collective violence typically involves large groups of inmates acting out together. The most common form of collective violence is rioting. More than three hundred prison riots have occurred in US history. The most notable occurred at New York’s Attica prison in 1971 and at New Mexico’s state penitentiary in 1980. Both of the Attica prison riot and the New Mexico state penitentiary riot resulted in the deaths of both inmates and guards and millions of dollars in property damage. Studies of both riots emphasize issues relating to overcrowding, poor food, lack of medical facilities, guard brutality, and other forms of inhumane treatment. Most important, however, those incidents attracted public attention to the mistreatment of inmates in US prisons and helped bring about sweeping prison reforms. In 2015, a riot at a Texas prison rendered the facility uninhabitable after the inmates, who had reportedly expressed grievances regarding poor conditions and abuse for years, set the tents they were housed in on fire; all 2,800 inmates, largely convicted of immigration and nonviolent drug offenses, were moved to another facility.
Sexual Abuse
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 27,826 inmates experienced incidents of sexual victimization at adult correctional facilities in 2018, a 14 percent increase from the 2015. For a variety of reasons, the exact numbers of inmates who suffer from this form of abuse may never be known precisely. Some inmates are reluctant to report such abuse, and some prison officials are inclined to ignore it. Moreover, many staff members may not be adequately trained to respond to incidents of sexual abuse.
Compounding the problem of quantifying sexual abuse in prisons is the fact that definitions of sexual abuse vary greatly from institution to institution. For example, some prisons classify rape, sexual harassment , and sexual abuse as the same offenses, while others classify them as separate offenses. Nevertheless, research studies do indicate which inmates are most at risk of becoming victims of sexual abuse.
The most likely to be victimized are young first-time offenders and physically weak older inmates. Also at increased risk are inmates who fit the stereotype of educated middle-class members of outside society who lack “street smarts.” At the same time, inmates with mental illness or mental disabilities are also likely targets of sexual violence. LGBT inmates are at higher risk of victimization as well.
Sexual abuse among inmates has been of even greater importance over the past decades than in the past because of the threat of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2021, 11,810 inmates in the United States were believed to be infected with HIV/AIDS.
To address the overlooked issue of prison violence, the US Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003. This law was designed to collect more accurate and reliable data on prison violence, to protect inmates from violence, and to increase the accountability of prison staff and inmates to report these actions. A final rule in accordance with the act was released in 2012 that included a standard requiring that all allegations of sexual assault be investigated "promptly and thoroughly."
Bibliography
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