Samples of prison inmates varying in length of imprisonment from 0 to 6 years were administered an authoritarianism scale. An analysis of the data showed 14 sub-groupings of items, some of which were negatively related to time, others curvilinearly, and others completely unrelated. It was argued that ‘authoritarianism’ is a complex concept composed of more discrete and homogeneous components, some of which may be presumed to be more stable or ‘personality-based’ than others. Possible implications for penology were also mentioned.