Patterns of Misconduct in the Federal Prison System

Abstract

Both the recent growth and resulting transformations in the federal prison population have presented the Federal Bureau of Prisons with a number of difficult challenges, including those of dealing with increasing numbers of incidents of misconduct and serious disturbances. Among the explanations that have been proposed for these problems is the notion of a "new offender," who is believed to be younger and more violent than previous generations of federal inmates. Analyses of misconduct data on a cross-section of inmates within the federal prison system failed to find consistent evidence that such offenders are driving changes in misconduct rates. However, when the analyses are limited to only a recent admissions cohort and focus on the early years of incarceration, some evidence does appear to support the perception among BOP staff that a different type of inmate is arriving in the federal prison system. These results are discussed in terms of the contrasting perspectives in the literature on misconduct and the need to address both the style of behavior that inmates "import" into prison with them and the conditions that they encounter and must cope with during the course of their incarceration. Finally, ways in which the Bureau is attempting to influence these behaviors, with some apparent success, are discussed.