Rethinking Prison Classification and Creating Alternative Mental Health Programs Beyond Supermax Administrative Segregation: Mississippi's Experience (original) (raw)

Beyond Supermax Administrative Segregation

Criminal Justice and Behavior, 2009

Litigation in Mississippi required the Department of Corrections to ameliorate substandard conditions at the supermaximum Unit 32 of Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, remove prisoners with serious mental illness from administrative segregation and provide them with adequate treatment, and reexamine the entire classification system. Pursuant to two federal consent decrees, the Department of Corrections greatly reduced the population in administrative segregation and established a step-down mental health treatment unit for the prisoners excluded from administrative segregation. This article describes and discusses not only the process of enacting the changes but also the outcomes, including the large reductions in rates of misconduct, violence, and use of force.

Prison Segregation: Symposium Introduction and Preliminary Data on Racial Disparities

2013

This short essay introduces the Michigan Journal of Race & Law Journal’s symposium, Inhumane and Ineffective: Solitary Confinement in Michigan and Beyond. I look at the extremely limited available demographic information about prisoners in solitary confinement, and present preliminary data that supports a working hypothesis of racialized skew in isolated confinement, compared to the already highly skewed demographics of general prison population. In four of eight datapoints (representing prisons in Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, and New York), non-white prisoners are substantially overrepresented in supermax facilities; statistical testing confirms that the difference is statistically significant. (In three of the other four — Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island — the small overrepresentation is not statistically significant; likewise, the tiny proportion of underrepresentation in Maryland lacks statistical significance.) The essay concludes with the customary call for further...

Specialized Prisons and Services: Results From a National Survey

The Prison Journal, 2007

Criminal Justice Treatment Practices survey are examined to describe types of services provided by three types of prisons: those that serve a cross-section of offenders, those that specialize in serving offenders with special psychosocial and medical needs, and those that specialize in serving legal status or gender specific populations. Information is presented on the prevalence and type of specialized prisons and services provided to offenders as reported by wardens and other facility directors drawn from a nationally representative sample of prisons. Additional analyses explore organizational factors that differentiate prisons that serve specialized populations including staffing, training, other resources, leadership, and climate for change and innovation. Implications for expanding and improving services for special populations in correctional settings and the values of specialized prisons are discussed.

Administrative Segregation: A Review of State and Federal Policies

The use of administrative segregation in prison is a controversial correctional policy. Proponents argue this type of housing is necessary for maintaining institutional safety and order, whereas critics contend it is damaging to inmate mental health. Despite the increase in academic attention over the last decade, there is much that remains unknown about the uses and effects of this practice. This study addresses this gap in knowledge by content-analyzing the administrative segregation policies of 48 state and federal prison systems. The results provide evidence of consistency and discrepancy across key elements of these policies, including placement criteria and review procedures. Findings further highlight how basic information regarding mental health provisions and conditions of confinement are missing from a substantial number of policies. This investigation emphasizes a need for more governmental accountability and transparency in the use of this correctional policy and identifies several areas for future research.

Supermax Prisons Myths, Realities, and the Politics of Punishment in American Society

2006

Abstract In recent years, a number of new policies in corrections have developed, one of which is the placement of disruptive inmates in supermaximum, or supermax, prisons. The extant empirical research on supermax facilities suggests that these institutions have the potential to damage inmates' mental health while failing to meet their purported goals thereby resulting in added problems for correctional administrators and increased economic costs to public budgets without apparent benefits.

SUPERMAX PRISONS: THEIR RISE, CURRENT PRACTICES, AND EFFECT ON INMATES

In recent years, a number of new approaches in corrections have developed, one of which is the super-maximum, or " supermax, " prison. This article explores the roots of these institutions, explains how they operate, and examines their potential effects on inmate populations. The extant empirical research on supermax facilities suggests that these institutions have the potential to damage inmates'mental health while failing to meet their purported goals (e.g., deterring inmates in the general prison population from committing criminal acts inside prison), resulting in added problems for correctional administrators and increased economic costs to public budgets without apparent benefits.