Assessing Static and Dynamic Influences on Inmate Violence Levels

Abstract

Inmate misconduct creates problems for other inmates as well as correctional staff. Most empirical assessments of the correlates of inmate misconduct have been conducted at the individual level; however, a facility's level of misconduct may be of equal importance to prison management and state officials because these numbers can reflect order, or lack thereof, within an institution. Prior prison research also has typically been cross-sectional and conducted at one time point. In this study, the relative contributions of facility-and state-level predictors of misconduct, considered elements of the social organization of a prison, are examined across two time points for 512 state-operated prisons housing adult men. Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings reveal that predictors such as the racial composition of the inmates and staff, measures of administrative control, and state-level factors have both static and dynamic effects on levels of violent misconduct.