Incarceration & Prison Society Review Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering incarceration models, prison social adaptations, juvenile justice, and correctional management based on the lecture notes from Chapters 12-15.

Parole

The conditional release of an inmate from incarceration, under supervision, after part of the prison sentence has been served.

Doing time

A prison adaptation where prisoners view their prison term as a brief, inevitable break in their criminal careers and a cost of doing business.

Jailing

A prison adaptation often used by state-raised youth who cut themselves off from the outside world and try to construct a life within the prison, often seeking power and influence.

The inmate code

The set of rules and values that develop within the prison social system and guide prisoners’ behavior.

Decarceration

The process of reducing prison populations through accelerated release, flexible parole enforcement, and alternative sentencing.

Reintegration model

A model of corrections that emphasizes maintaining the offender’s ties to the family and community as a method of reform.

Cost of Life Sentences

The estimated expense for each lifer in the U.S. is approximately $\$1 \text{ million}$, with more lifers in the U.S. than in other western nations.

Elderly Prison Management Costs

Costs for managing elderly prisoners are approximately triple the average cost.

Mentally Ill Incarceration Rate

Mentally ill individuals are $4 \text{ times}$ more likely to be incarcerated than others; there are currently more people with mental health problems in prison than in mental health hospitals.

Women's Prison Conviction Demographics

Drug offenses make up a larger proportion of incarcerated women than incarcerated men.

Community Corrections Assumptions

Assumptions including: criminal records are often not serious enough for incarceration, they are cheaper than prison, recidivism rates are comparable to prison, and offenders need support as they remake their lives.

Release Statistics

Between $93\%$ and $94\%$ of people will eventually be released from incarceration.

Expiration release

A release mechanism where an inmate is released without supervision after serving their full sentence; it is considered the most dangerous release mechanism for violent offenders.

U.S Conference of Mayors Principles

A set of police reform objectives released after the George Floyd killing including: redefining the role of local police, improving trust and legitimacy, prioritizing equal treatment, and establishing transparency.

Recidivism

A term referring to a return to criminal behavior; it tends to be higher for prisoners than for probationers.

Waivers

A term used in juvenile justice that is synonymous with transfers to adult court.

Juvenile Jurisdiction Categories

The four categories of cases under juvenile jurisdiction: Delinquency, Dependency, Status offenses, and Neglect.

Net widening

The process where sanctions, particularly intermediate sanctions, increase government control over people's lives rather than reduce it.

Protective custody

A housing option for gang drop-outs, sex offenders, or transgender inmates seeking safety from abusive inmates.

Disorganized criminal

An adaptive role in prison most likely to be exploited; these inmates may be mentally ill, disabled, have a low IQ, or struggle to adjust to prison life.

Prison Violence Factors

Contributing factors include inadequate supervision, flawed architectural design, availability of deadly weapons, housing of violence-prone prisoners near defenseless people, and tension from close quarters.

Defects of total power

The concept that prison management is limited because prisoners have little to lose, officer power to force compliance is limited, and the inmate-to-officer ratio creates attack risks.

Other conditional release

A release type very similar to discretionary release, sometimes used to avoid the politically unpopular term "discretionary release."

Technical violation

A violation resulting from a probationer's failure to abide by the rules and conditions of probation, rather than committing a new crime.

Long-term Prisoner Principles

Management principles including maximizing opportunities for choice in living circumstances, creating meaningful living, and maintaining contact with the outside world.

Fusion center

A center run by states and large cities to analyze and share information to prevent crimes and terrorism; they are controversial for creating massive databases of citizens' personal information.