Sociology Commons^™

Modern Approaches To Addressing The Mass Incarceration Of America's Mentally Ill Population, Cameron A. Bice, April N. Terry

Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research

Correctional facilities negatively affect individuals with pre-existing mental and behavioral health concerns while also creating an environment that manifests future mental illness. Issues include facility overcrowding, restrictive housing practices, lack of accessible services, and ill-informed practices and procedures when working with individuals with mental illness. Incarcerated individuals with mental illness also face disparities through (1) sentence length, (2) race/ethnicity and gender, and (3) increased risk in victimization. This paper draws attention to a long-standing, yet current critical issue in the American criminal justice system—the use of jails and prisons as modern-day psychiatric hospitals. This literature yields many options for disrupting …

Racialized Mass Incarceration In The United States: Exposing The Facade Of “Liberty And Justice For All”, Emily Wingfield

The Compass

No abstract provided.

Decarceration's Inside Partners, Seema Saifee

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines a hidden phenomenon in criminal punishment. People in prison, during their incarceration, have made important—and sometimes extraordinary—strides toward reducing prison populations. In fact, stakeholders in many corners, from policy makers to researchers to abolitionists, have harnessed legal and conceptual strategies generated inside the walls to pursue decarceral strategies outside the walls. Despite this outside use of inside moves, legal scholarship has directed little attention to theorizing the potential of looking to people on the inside as partners in the long-term project of meaningfully reducing prison populations, or “decarceration.”

Building on the change-making agency and revolutionary ideation inside …

Urbanicity And Female Jail Incarceration Rates In 1970 And 2018: The Rise Of Rural Female Jail Incarceration, Samantha M. Caimi

HON499 projects

This paper examines the role of county urbanicity as it relates to mean female jail incarceration rates in both the United States and Pennsylvania in the years 1970 and 2018. There are three research questions to be answered in this study. The first is whether mean female jail incarceration rates vary significantly by urbanicity (rural, small/mid, suburban, urban). The second is whether the relationship between female jail incarceration rates and urbanicity changed from 1970 to 2018. The third research question is whether the findings for questions 1 and 2 will be the same for both Pennsylvania and the United States. …

Reflective Writing In Prisons: Rehabilitation And The Power Of Stories And Connections, Sandeep Kumar

VA Engage Journal

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Even though the rate of crime is dropping, incarceration rates remain fairly steady. What’s more, recidivism (i.e., re-offending after conviction for other crimes) is also very high in the US. If offenders continue to offend, even after completing their sentences in a correctional system designed to address their underlying criminal activity, what is the point of having such a system? Can the system be made more accountable and better? Have we considered all the options for criminal reform? This article explores these questions using effective rehabilitation principles to …

Safe Consumption Sites And The Perverse Dynamics Of Federalism In The Aftermath Of The War On Drugs, Deborah Ahrens

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In this Article, I explore the complicated regulatory and federalism issues posed by creating safe consumption sites for drug users—an effort which would regulate drugs through use of a public health paradigm. This Article details the difficulties that localities pursuing such sites and other non-criminal-law responses have faced as a result of both federal and state interference. It contrasts those difficulties with the carte blanche local and state officials typically receive from federal regulators when creatively adopting new punitive policies to combat drugs. In so doing, this Article identifies systemic asymmetries of federalism that threaten drug policy reform. While traditional …

Reproductive Justice Disrupted: Mass Incarceration As A Driver Of Reproductive Oppression, Crystal M. Hayes, Carolyn B. Sufrin, Jamila B. Perritt

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

We describe how mass incarceration directly undermines the core values of reproductive justice and how this affects incarcerated and nonincarcerated women.

Mass incarceration, by its very nature, compromises and undermines bodily autonomy and the capacity for incarcerated people to make decisions about their reproductive well being and bodies; this is done through institutionalized racism and is disproportionately done to the bodies of women of color. This violates the most basic tenets of reproductive justice—the right to have a child, not to have a child, and to parent the children you have with dignity and in safety.

By undermining motherhood and …

Captives Of A New Alcatraz: The New York City Department Of Correction From 1954 To 1990, Jarrod Shanahan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) from 1954 to 1990—a period that began with an audacious program, led by progressive penologist and DOC Commissioner Anna M. Kross, to replace “custodial” prisoner warehousing with a rehabilitative model directed by civilian experts. As part of this plan the political legitimacy, executive strength, and most importantly, the institutional capacity of DOC were expanded, while the department’s plant facilities were increasingly concentrated on Rikers Island. The previously remote penal island was connected by bridge to mainland Queens amid plans for dazzling new jails and a university-affiliated research institute, to …

Disparities In Sentencing: The Impact Of Race, Gender And Mental Health, Briana Paige

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that race and mental health play on sentence length in the United States. Mentally ill people are gradually being confined in prisons across the United States and there is an absence of literature that looks at the interaction of race and mental health in regards to sentencing. The focal concerns perspective provides the theoretical framework that guides this study. Multiple linear regressions were used to examine both state and federal prison inmates to examine the effect race, mental health and other extra-legal factors play on sentence length. Results show that …

In Fear We Trust: Anxious Political Rhetoric & The Politics Of Punishment, 1960s-80s, Stella Michelle Frank

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Research Brief On Eti Prison Studies, John Pawasarat, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute worked with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and state Department of Public Instruction in the 1980s to improve educational programs at state correctional facilities incarcerating juveniles. In the 1990s ETI assisted the Milwaukee County Executive’s Youth Initiative to identify youth populations in need of intervention if future incarceration was to be prevented. From 2007 to 2016 ETI research and technical assistance focused on employment needs of Milwaukee County adult males who had been incarcerated in Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities.

Community Justice And Public Safety: Assessing Criminal Justice Policy Through The Lens Of The Social Contract, Caitlin J. Taylor, Kathleen Auerhahn

Sociology and Criminal Justice Faculty work

A reconceptualization of the idea of “community justice” is framed in the logic of the social contract and emphasizes the responsibility of the justice system for the provision of public safety. First, we illustrate the ways in which the criminal justice system has hindered the efforts of community residents to participate in the production of public safety by disrupting informal social networks. Then we turn to an examination of the compositional dynamics of California prison populations over time to demonstrate that the American justice system has failed to meet their obligations to provide public safety by incapacitating dangerous offenders. We …

Statewide Imprisonment Of Black Men In Wisconsin, Lois M. Quinn, John Pawasarat

ETI Publications

This report provides data on African American male incarceration for the state onf Wisconsin at the request of the NAACP Wisconsin Conference of Branches. For most ex-offenders, prison records remain public and impediments to employment for the rest of their lives. Consequently, unlike studies reporting point-in-time levels of incarceration or average daily inmate populations, this report identified the total populations of African American men who had been incarcerated in adult state correctional facilities from 1990 to 2012 using Wisconsin Department of Corrections public inmate records. State DOC records showed incarceration rates for African American men at epidemic levels throughout Wisconsin. …

Wisconsin's Mass Incarceration Of African American Males, Summary, John Pawasarat, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

This two-page paper provides a summarizes the Employment and Training Institute research on mass incarceration of African American males in Wisconsin, the state’s ranking as having the highest percentage of black males in state prison and local jails (according to the 2010 U.S. Census data), and costs of incarceration.

Wisconsin's Mass Incarceration Of African American Males: A Powerpoint Summary, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

The Employment and Training Institute analysis of Wisconsin Department of Corrections public inmate files showed incarceration rates for African American men at unprecedented levels in Wisconsin. This presentation summarizes ETI research on prison rates in Milwaukee and Wisconsin and offers recommendations for addressing workforce needs of ex-offenders.

Symbolic Imprisonment, Grief, And Coping Theory: African American Women With Incarcerated Mates, Avon Marie Hart-Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American men have been incarcerated at unprecedented rates in the United States over the past 30 years. This study explored how African American females experience adverse psychosocial responses to separation from an incarcerated mate. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory (GT) study was to construct a theory to explain their responses to separation and loss. Given the paucity of literature on this topic, helping professionals may not understand this problem or know how to support these women. Disenfranchised grief and the dual process model of bereavement were used as a theoretical lens for this study. Data were collected …

Studies On Religion And Recidivism: Focus On Roxbury, Dorchester, And Mattapan, George Walters-Sleyon

Trotter Review

This research article raises the question of whether religion can be considered a viable partner in the reduction of the high rate of recidivism associated with the increasing mass incarceration in the United States. Can sustainable transformation in the life of a prisoner or former prisoner as a result of religious conversion be subjected to evidenced-based practices to derive impartial conclusions about the value of religion in their lives? With a particular focus on three neighborhoods of Boston—Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan—this study examines the relevance of religion and faith-based organizations in lowering the high rate of recidivism associated with incarceration …

Inside/Outside: A Model For Social Support And Rehabilitation Of Young Black Men, Harold Adams, Castellano Turner

Trotter Review

This paper first identifies some of the most important problems facing incarcerated young black males. Next, we present an historical analysis that pinpoints the War on Drugs as the primary origin of mass incarceration of that group. Then we describe the major consequences for prisoners as well as collateral problems for their families, friends, and communities. We then outline the types of programs created to address these problems. We summarize research that shows the key to solving high recidivism rates is social support during incarceration and after release. We describe in particular a Boston-based organization, the Committee of Friends and …

Wisconsin's Mass Incarceration Of African American Males: Workforce Challenges For 2013, John Pawasarat, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

Among the most critical workforce issues facing Wisconsin are governmental policies and practices leading to mass incarceration of African Americans men and suspensions of driving privileges to low-income adults. The prison population in Wisconsin has more than tripled since 1990, fueled by increased government funding for drug enforcement (rather than treatment) and prison construction, three-strike rules, mandatory minimum sentence laws, truth-in-sentencing replacing judicial discretion in setting punishments, concentrated policing in minority communities, and state incarceration for minor probation and supervision violations. Particularly impacted were African American males, with the 2010 U.S. Census showing Wisconsin having the highest black male incarceration …

Book Review: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

Many in the legal academy have heard of Michelle Alexander’s new book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness. It has been making waves. One need only attend any number of legal conferences in the past year or so, or read through the footnotes in recent law review articles. Furthermore, this book has been reviewed in journals from a number of academic fields, suggesting Alexander has provided a text with profound insights across the university and public spheres. While I will briefly talk about the book as a book, I will spend the majority of this …

Ex-Offender Populations In Milwaukee County, John Pawasarat

ETI Publications

Released prisoners are among the most difficult labor force populations to serve and least likely to be successfully engaged in sustained employment due to persistent legal problems, low education attainment levels, high recidivism rates, and driver’s license suspension and revocation restrictions. The stigma of being an ex-inmate and the limitations this places on those released and expected to become gainfully employed are compounded further by legal sanctions placed on many adults who have spent time in correctional facilities. A total of 42,046 Milwaukee County working age adults have been in the DOC system, including men and women presently incarcerated in …

Barriers To Employment: Prison Time, John Pawasarat

ETI Publications

This paper was prepared at the request of Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County to assess the legal and employment needs of prisoners released from Wisconsin correctional facilities. Released prisoners are among the most difficult populations to serve and least likely to be successfully engaged in sustained employment due to persistent legal problems, low education attainment levels, high recidivism rates, and driver’s license suspension and revocation problems. The stigma of being an ex-inmate alone and the limitations it places on those released and expected to become gainfully employed are compounded by further legal sanctions …

Neighborhood Indicators Of Employment And Economic Family Well-Being For Zipcode 53206: Executive Summary, John Pawasarat, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

The 53206 zipcode neighborhood serves as a bellwether for poverty changes in Milwaukee and nationally. In the 1990s prior to welfare reform in Wisconsin it had the largest number of families receiving AFDC. In the 2000 Census it showed the largest number of families in poverty among Milwaukee zipcodes. The 2007 neighborhood indicator analyses showed substantial movement in a negative direction, particularly in the last 4-5 years as the number of men incarcerated from and released to these neighborhoods has risen dramatically and residents have been targeted by subprime lenders for refinancing mortgages. Assets were identified, including the relatively high …

New Indicators Of Neighborhood Need In Milwaukee Zipcode 53206, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

Milwaukee Neighborhood Indicators Reports were initially developed by the Employment and Training Institute with funding from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the City of Milwaukee to provide independent, timely and ongoing assessment tools to measure short-term and long-term progress toward improving economic and employment well-being of families in central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Indicators track changes by neighborhood since 1993, prior to the beginning of state and federal welfare reform. The 53206 ZIP code neighborhood serves as a bellwether for poverty changes in Milwaukee and nationally. In the 1990s prior to welfare reform in Wisconsin it had the largest number of …