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PRISONIZATION IN FIVE COUNTRIES Type of Prison and Inmate Characteristics
Author(s) -
AKERS RONALD L.,
HAYNER NORMAN S.,
GRUNINGER WERNER
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1977.tb00042.x
Subject(s) - prison , opposition (politics) , normative , institution , psychology , test (biology) , social psychology , criminology , sociology , political science , law , paleontology , politics , biology
Abstract Interorganizational and cross‐cultural comparisons are made among different types of prisons located in five countries‐the United States, Mexico, England, West Germany, and Spain‐as a test of the relative importance of functional and importation variables in prisonization. A normative orientation among inmates which is in opposition to staff expectations is found in all prisons in all countries. Adherence to this orientation by individual inmates is most prevalent among American inmates and last among Mexican inmates. The functional theory of the inmate system receives more support than the importation theory with regard to the general orientation to the institution and its programs and to attitudes toward and interaction with staff; but the two models do about equally well in accounting for the extent to which prisoners adopt the inmate code. Theoretical and policy implications of the study are discussed .