Gangster John Dillinger, who was both a bank robber and a murderer, escaped jail twice. His initial escape was from a jail in Ohio with the help of eight of his friends. There is still debate about what exactly the gun was made from, and how the escape happened, but popular opinion is that he used a wooden gun painted black with shoe polish. Guards were fooled by the gun and allowed Dillinger to leave the prison. While on the run he made the most of his time and got a few more robberies under his belt before being killed in a shootout with the FBI a few months later in July.
In another extraordinary tale that has been popularized by a blockbuster film starring Clint Eastwood, three prisoners escaped Alcatraz. Alcatraz was a maximum-security federal prison located on an island off the coast of San Francisco. Surrounded by water, it was deemed to be inescapable. That all changed on June 11, when Frank Lee Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin escaped by digging a tunnel through a concrete wall using a spoon. The prisoners then went into the water via a boat they had made from over 50 stolen raincoats.
Their escape was not noticed by prison guards until the next morning. At that time a search began but ultimately the men were never heard from again. The FBI and Alcatraz jail officials assume, to this date, that the three men drowned in the water.
If this theory is true, their bodies have never been discovered. There has been some speculation that the three men escaped and moved to Brazil. A letter was submitted to the police in claiming to be from John Anglin. It claimed that while all three successfully escaped, he was the only remaining one still alive at the age of The FBI stated that fingerprint and DNA evidence was inconclusive, and the authenticity of the letter could not be positively concluded.
In a photo was revealed that allegedly showed the two brothers in Brazil 13 years after their disappearance. Authorities have not confirmed that this photo is in fact the escaped convicts. Image Source: History. In another now-turned-Hollywood-classic, the escape of Frank Abagnale has been heavily popularized.
Frank started committing crimes as young as 15, and escaped prison twice. He was eventually recaptured in April , at which point he made his more grandiose escape. In April , Frank used his wits to trick the guards into aiding in his escape.
At this time in the US, many prisons were being inspected by federal workers for civil right issues. Frank seized the opportunity to manipulate the prison guards into believing he was an undercover inspector posing as a prisoner for a review. He spent weeks building up the story. He used an accomplice on the outside to further convince the guards by forging a fake FBI business card that identified him as an officer.
The guards gave him special treatment thinking that they were helping the prison pass the inspection with flying colors. Eventually, he walked right out the prison and the guards allowed it, thinking they had fooled Frank. He was on the run for another two months before being re-arrested. However, the PR damage was done and the story got out making Frank an instant sensation for his ingenious escape.
Image Source: Toshi Times. All prisoners shall have the right to take part in cultural activities and education aimed at the full development of the human personality. Efforts addressed to the abolition of solitary confinement as a punishment, or to the restriction of its use, should be undertaken and encouraged. Prisoners shall have access to the health services available in the country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation.
With the participation and help of the community and social institutions, and with due regard to the interests of victims, favourable conditions shall be created for the reintegration of the ex-prisoner into society under the best possible conditions. See Lynch [, pp. For example, in an ethnographic study of a modern and otherwise apparently well-run prison in California, Irwin , p.
For long-termers, the new situation of doing time, enduring years of suspension, being deprived on material conditions, living in crowded conditions without privacy, with reduced options, arbitrary control, disrespect, and economic exploitation is excruciatingly frustrating and aggravating.
Anger, frustration, and a burning sense of injustice, coupled with the crippling processing inherent in imprisonment, significantly reduce the likelihood [that prisoners can] pursue a viable, relatively conventional, non-criminal life after release.
Irwin , p. In , the Commission held a series of information-gathering hearings. However, the Commission also observes that, despite the decreases nationally in riots and homicides,. Although most of the research conducted on the effects of imprisonment on individuals focuses on male prisoners e. In fact, the incarceration rates of white and Hispanic women in particular are growing more rapidly than those of other demographic groups Guerino et al. Compared with men, women are sentenced more often to prison for nonviolent crimes: about 55 percent of women sentenced to prison have committed property or drug crimes as compared with about 35 percent of male prisoners Guerino et al.
Women also are more likely than men to enter prison with mental health problems or to develop them while incarcerated: about three-quarters of women in state prisons in had symptoms of a current mental health problem, as opposed to 55 percent of men James and Glaze, Schram, ; Ritchie, ; Solinger et al. Also as in male prisons, Owen reports that overcrowding permeated the conditions of daily life at CCWF.
Women prisoners also are more likely to be the targets of sexual abuse by staff e. Specifically, women victims of sexual coercion and assault in prison are much more likely than their male counterparts to report that the perpetrators were staff members e. Beck finds that of all reported staff sexual misconduct in prison, three-quarters involved staff victimizing women prisoners. A majority of women prisoners are mothers, who must grapple with the burden of being separated from their children during incarceration e.
In , 62 percent of female state and federal inmates compared with 51 percent of male inmates were parents. Of those female inmates, 55 percent reported living with their minor children in the month before arrest, 42 percent in single-parent households; for male inmates who were parents, the corresponding figures were 36 and 17 percent Glaze and Maruschak, In the s and s, new laws and changing practices criminalized many juvenile offenses and led more youth to be placed in custody outside the home, 9 including many who were tried as adults and even incarcerated in adult prisons.
In addition, many youth face collateral consequences of involvement in the justice system, such as the public release of juvenile and criminal records that follow them throughout their lives and limit future education and employment opportunities National Research Council, Youth transferred to the adult criminal justice system fare worse than those that remain in the juvenile justice system Austin et al.
The number of juveniles held in adult jails rose dramatically from 1, in to 8, in , a percent increase. In the late s, 13 percent of confined juveniles were in adult jails or prisons Austin et al. Although federal law requires separation of children and adults in correctional facilities, a loophole in the law does not require its application when those children are certified as adults.
In , 7, youth were counted in jails Minton, , and 3, prisoners in state-run adult prisons were found to be under 18 Sabol et al. The number of juvenile inmates has declined in recent years, with 1, in prisons Carson and Sabol, In an overall trend that is very similar to the one we have described for adults, the confinement rate of juveniles increased through the s and s.
By , the juvenile confinement rate had reached a peak of juveniles in placement per , population. The confinement rate of juveniles rose steadily from in , to in the mids, to in , reaching a peak in before starting to decline Allen-Hagen, ; Child Trends, n.
It is worth noting that the placement rate did not change substantially between and ; the increased confinement rate is due largely to the growth of delinquency referrals handled by juvenile courts during that period rather than greater use of placement National Research Council, With the growth in prison and jail populations, juveniles still represent less than 1 percent of the overall incarcerated population.
When youth are confined in jails, detention centers, or prisons designed for adults, they have limited access to educational and rehabilitative services appropriate to their age and development. Living in more threatening adult correctional environments places them at greater risk of mental and physical harm Deitch et al.
Research also has shown that placing youth in the adult corrections system instead of retaining them in the juvenile system increases their risk of reoffending Bishop and Frazier, ; Mulvey and Schubert, ; Redding, These disadvantages are borne disproportionately by youth of color, who are overrepresented at every stage of the juvenile justice process and particularly in the numbers transferred to adult court. Youth of color also remain in the system longer than white youth.
Minority overrepresentation within the juvenile justice system raises at least two types of concerns. First, it calls into question the overall fairness and legitimacy of the juvenile justice system. Second, it has serious implications for the life-course trajectories of many minority youth who may be stigmatized and adversely affected in other ways by criminal records attained at comparatively young ages National Research Council, Congress first focused on these kinds of racial disparities in when it amended the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of P.
If the number of minority youth was disproportionate, then states were required to develop and implement plans for reducing the disproportionate representation. Despite a research and policy focus on this matter for more than two decades, however, remarkably little progress has been made toward reducing the disparities themselves. On the other hand, at least in the past decade, some jurisdictions have begun to take significant steps to overhaul their juvenile justice systems to reduce the use of punitive practices and heighten awareness of racial disparities for more discussion, see National Research Council [].
The steady decline in the juvenile confinement rate, from per. Thus, the requirement was broadened from disproportionate minority confinement to disproportionate minority contact, and states were required to implement strategies aimed at reducing disproportionality.
Imprisonment produces negative, disabling behavioral and physical changes in some prisoners, and certain prison conditions can greatly exacerbate those changes. As discussed further below, numerous empirical studies have confirmed this observation.
Many aspects of prison life—including material deprivations; restricted movement and liberty; a lack of meaningful activity; a nearly total absence of personal privacy; and high levels of interpersonal uncertainty, danger, and fear—expose prisoners to powerful psychological stressors that can. Prison stress can affect prisoners in different ways and at different stages of their prison careers. Some prisoners experience the initial period of incarceration as the most difficult, and that stress may precipitate acute psychiatric symptoms that surface for the first time.
Preexisting psychological disorders thus may be exacerbated by initial experiences with incarceration e. Other prisoners appear to survive the initial phases of incarceration relatively intact only to find themselves worn down by the ongoing physical and psychological challenges and stress of confinement. They may suffer a range of psychological problems much later in the course of their incarceration Taylor, ; Jose-Kampfner, ; Rubenstein, For some prisoners, extreme prison stress takes a more significant psychological toll.
Posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD is a diagnosis applied to a set of interrelated, trauma-based symptoms, including depression, emotional numbing, anxiety, isolation, and hypervigilance. Studies conducted in the United States have observed the highest prevalence: PTSD is reported in 21 percent of male prisoners Gibson et al. Herman proposes an expanded diagnostic category that appears to describe more accurately the kind of traumatic reactions produced by certain experiences within prisons.
A person must 1 be exposed to a severe stressor resulting in intense fear or helplessness; 2 undergo psychic reexperiencing or reenacting of the trauma; 3 engage in avoidance behavior or experience psychic numbing; and 4 experience increased arousal, typically in the presence of stimuli related to or reminiscent of the original trauma American Psychiatric Association, For additional discussion of the disorder, see Wilson and Raphael As reported in Haney , p.
Complex PTSD can result in protracted depression, apathy, and the development of a deep sense of hopelessness as the long-term psychological costs of adapting to an oppressive situation. Of course, the unique and potent stresses of imprisonment are likely to interact with and amplify whatever preexisting vulnerabilities prisoners bring to prison.
Prisoners vary in their backgrounds and vulnerabilities and in how they experience or cope with the same kinds of environments and events. As a result, the same prison experiences have different consequences for different prisoners e. Many prisoners come from socially and economically marginalized groups and have had adverse experience in childhood and adolescence that may have made them more rather than less vulnerable to psychological stressors and less able to cope effectively with the chronic strains of prison life than those with less problematic backgrounds e.
As noted earlier, significant percentages of prisoners suffer from a range of serious, diagnosable psychological disorders, including clinical depression and psychosis as well as PTSD. The exact onset and causal origins of these disorders cannot always be determined—some are undoubtedly preexisting conditions, some are exacerbated by the harshness and stress of incarceration, and others may originate in the turmoil and trauma generated by prison experiences.
The incidence of psychological disorders among prisoners is discussed further in Chapter 7. Clemmer , p. Incorporating these mores is a matter less of choice than of necessity. In addition to the internalizing of cultural aspects of the prison, prisonization occurs as prisoners undergo a number of psychological changes or transformations to adapt to the demands of prison life. It is a form of coping in response to the abnormal practices and conditions that incarceration entails.
The nature and degree of prisonization will vary. Two notable characteristics of the prison environment contribute to the process of prisonization: the necessary structure and routines that can erode personal autonomy and the threat of victimization. Maintaining order and safety within prisons often requires that routines and safeguards be established.
As a result, daily decisions—such as when they get up; when, what, or where they eat; and when phone calls are allowed—are made for prisoners. Over long periods, such routines can become increasingly natural Zamble, , and some prisoners can become dependent on the direction they afford.
As Irwin , p. Those who succumb to prisonization may have trouble adjusting to life back in the community, which is more unstructured and unpredictable. In extreme cases, some lose the capacity to initiate activities and plans and to make decisions Haney, In addition, prisoners often are aware of the threat of victimization, especially in overcrowded institutions.
As part of the process of prisonization, prisoners develop strategies for coping with or adjusting to this threat McCorkle, Some prisoners become hypervigilant. Some cope with the threat of victimization by establishing a reputation for toughness, reacting quickly and instinctively even to seemingly insignificant insults, minor affronts, or slightest signs of disrespect, sometimes with decisive even deadly force Haney, ; Phillips, Other prisoners adopt aggressive survival strategies that include proactively victimizing others King, ; Rideau and Sinclair, As King , pp.
The process of adapting to the prison environment has several psychological dimensions. Often unable to trust anyone, they. Some prisoners can become psychologically scarred in ways that intensify their sense of anger and deepen their commitment to the role of an outsider, and perhaps a criminal lifestyle Irwin, The prisonization process has additional psychological components.
Finally, as Lerman b, pp. Prisoners who have deeply internalized the broad set of habits, values, and perspectives brought about by prisonization are likely to have difficulty transitioning to the community. Not surprisingly, according to Haney , p. We have repeatedly emphasized that even maximum and medium security prisons vary widely in how they are physically structured, in the procedures by which they operate, and in the corresponding psychological environment inside.
We have focused our analysis primarily on what can be regarded as the common features of prison life, lived under ordinary circumstances. However, the aphorism that. In this section, we consider two prison conditions that are at the extreme ends of the social spectrum of experiences within prison—overcrowding and isolation.
As noted earlier, the rapid increase in the overall number of incarcerated persons in the United States resulted in widespread prison overcrowding. The speed and size of the influx outpaced the ability of many states to construct enough additional bedspace to meet the increased demand Haney, Specifically, as of the end of , only 20 state prison systems were operating at less than percent of design capacity, while 27 state systems and the Federal Bureau of Prisons were operating at percent of design capacity or greater see Guerino et al.
California has experienced significant prison population reductions since then, largely in response to the federal court directive issued in Brown v. Plata In the mids, the average prisoner in a maximum security prison in the United States was housed in a single cell that was roughly 60 square feet in dimension slightly larger than a king size bed or small bathroom. That relatively small area typically held a bunk, a toilet and sink usually fused into a single unit , a cabinet or locker in which prisoners stored their personal property which had to be kept inside the cell , and sometimes a small table or desk.
After the s, double-celling or, in extreme cases, triple-celling, dormitory housing, or even the use of makeshift dormitories. See Carson and Sabol , p. The use of double-celling can place a significant strain on prison services if not accompanied by commensurate increases in staffing, programming resources and space, and infrastructure to accommodate the larger population of prisoners in confined spaces.
During the period of rapidly increasing rates of incarceration, legislators, correctional officials, and prison architects came to assume that double-celling would continue, and as noted earlier, the Supreme Court in essence authorized its use. Despite the initial widespread concern over double-celling among correctional professionals, prison litigators, and human rights groups, this practice became common in prison systems across the United States.
Although many prisoners have a decidedly different view, correctional officials report that it causes a minimum of disruption to basic prison operations Vaugh, Several correctional practices have perhaps ameliorated the dire consequences that were predicted to follow widespread double-celling.
One such practice is use of the larger cells mentioned above. These are smaller than the previously recommended 60 square feet of space per prisoner, and not all prisons adhere to this new standard. However, those that do—typically prisons built more recently—provide double-celled prisoners with more space than they had in the small cells common in older facilities. In addition, even in some older facilities that do not meet the newer standard, the adverse consequences of double-celling can be mitigated by extending the amount of time prisoners are permitted to be out of their cells and increasing the number of opportunities they have for meaningful programming and other productive activities.
A large literature on overcrowding in prison has documented a range of adverse consequences for health, behavior, and morale, particularly when overcrowding persists for long periods e. More recently, British researchers found that overcrowding and perceived aggression and violence were related to increased arousal and stress and decreased psychological well-being Lawrence and Andrews, Four were caught, but one made a successful getaway to England, where he opened a pub.
His attempt was foiled when the prison keeper noticed a lump in the mattress. The first inmate to violate the funeral honor system, he was caught later that day. He was captured nine days later on Long Island. They were all caught within 30 hours. The last known escape attempt happened in May , when two men — Nicholas Zimmerman, 27, and Steven Finley, 26 — had several accomplices both inside and outside the prison help with their plan.
The men had conspirators show up with fake IDs and guard uniforms, but their plan was foiled at the gate. Sing Sing has long captured the imagination of filmmakers. Here's a sampling of some of the movies starring "the big house. Hampered by Vail's injuries, the two inmates were recaptured two days later by a team of state troopers and investigators who responded to a stolen-car report in the Village of Horseheads.
A report issued by the state Department of Correctional Services a year after the escape pointed to a "widespread breakdown" in the Elmira prison's security system.
The men used a stolen sledgehammer to chip an 8-inch-byinch hole into the ceiling of their cell, climbed into the ventilation system and escaped to the roof. They left behind dummies in their beds, and used a foot rope of bedsheets to descend the outer wall of the prison. The state undertook several corrective actions at the Elmira Correctional Facility following the escape, including advising correction officers that it is their duty to "count actual living, breathing bodies" during their rounds.
Policies for inmate use of tools also were tightened down, and cell standards were improved to make it easier to detect any alterations to ceilings or walls.
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