The Effects of Overcrowding in Prison

Abstract

Prison crowding is often identified as the cause of inmate ill health and misconduct and of postrelease recidivism. Crowding can be measured objectively in several ways: in terms of floor space per prisoner, prisoners per living unit, and institutional population relative to stated capacity. Whether an inmate perceives conditions as crowded depends on objective crowding conditions and on the relative differences in crowding within a prison's housing accommodations. Research on prison crowding has not, however, convincingly demonstrated many adverse effects of crowding. The major findings on which most researchers agree are (1) that prisoners housed in large, open bay dormitories are more likely to visit clinics and to have high blood pressure than are prisoners in other housing arrangements (single-bunked cells, double-bunked cells, small dormitories, large partitioned dormitories); (2) that prisons that contain dormitories have somewhat higher assault rates than do other prisons; and (3) that prisons hou...