Jails and Prisons

Administrative Segregation

Placement of an inmate in solitary confinement to provide him with supervision, protection, and control beyond that given the general prison population

Civil Commitment

A process in which a judge decides a person is mentally ill and is a danger to himself or others, and incarcerates that person indefinitely in a mental hospital rather than a prison

Classification

Determination of which inmates go to which institutions and the specific conditions under which they will be confined

Conjugal Visit Program

An extended private visit by an inmate’s lawful spouse or registered domestic partner

Custody Level

The degree of danger an inmate poses to other prisoners and to correctional staff

Deprivation Model

The perspective that the hardships prisoners endure lead to the development of a distinctive way of behaving in prison

Good Time Credits

Time taken off a prison sentence for an inmate’s satisfactory behavior or for participating in a prison program

Hands-off Doctrine

An approach that made courts reluctant to interfere with prison management or prisoner rights

Importation Model

The perspective assuming that inmate subculture does not develop as a result of prison circumstances but rather is brought in, or imported, from the outside when offenders enter

Incarceration

Confinement against one’s will in the criminal justice system (in a jail or prisoon) or a mental health facility (a secure psychiatric institution)

Inmate Code

Rules of behavior that inmates follow

Inmate Subculture

The norms, values, and beliefs that develop among prisoners

Institutionalization

The state of being depended on an institution to meet one’s basic needs—such as food, shelter, and friends—to the point of being unwilling, or unable, to function in the outside world

Jail

Municipal or regional facility that houses pretrial individuals believed to present a risk of danger or flight, those awaiting probation or parole revocation, and those sentenced to less than one year incarceration

Maximum-Security Prison

An institution in which inmates are subject to high levels of control and where their mobility is severely restricted by physical barriers

Medium-Security Prison

An institution in which inmates are inder greater control than in minimum-security prisons, and their freedom of movement is restricted to areas that are under close surveillance

Minimum-Security Prison

An institution that holds offenders who have short sentences, are nonviolent, and are unlikely to attempt escape or pose risks to others in the facility

Pains of Imprisonment

The deprivations inmates experience such as those related to liberty, autonomy, security, personal goods and services, and heterosexual relations

Prison

A secure state or federal facility that holds offenders sentenced to incarceration of one year or more

Prisonization

A process of socialization whereby prisoners adopt the norms, values, and beliefs of the inmate subculture as their own

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)

Legislation that established the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to develop national standards for detecting and preventing prison rape, as well as for punishing perpetrators

Punitive Segregation

isolation of an inmate for disciplinary reasons, to provide additional supervision and control of the individual

Risk Classification

An assessment of the level and kind of risk an individual present to correctional staff and other inmates

Security Level

The degree of danger associated with the inmates being housed in a prison

Security Threat Groups (STG)

Inmates who, when they collaborate, can jeopardize the institution’s security

Solitary Confinement

Isolation of an inmate that denies person the basic human need to interact with others

Supermaximum-Security (Supermax) Prison

A facility that provides the highest level of security possible—solitary confinement—using the latest correctional technology

Total Institution

A facility responsible for, and in control of, every aspect of life for tnose who live and work within it including food, shelter, medical assistance, clothing, and safety