SAGE Journal Articles
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Abstract
The current study analyzed a subset of the experimental data collected by Berk, Ladd, Graziano, and Baek (2003) to test whether different intensities of incarceration make inmates more criminal while incarcerated. There were 561 male inmates whose equivalent classification scores indicated they had the same level of risk to commit institutional misconduct at the time they were incarcerated. One half of these inmates were sent to the lowest security-level prisons in California, and the other one half were sent to prisons one step down from the highest security level in California. If prisons are criminogenic, then the probability of misconduct should vary with the security level to which the inmates were assigned. Instead, inmates were equally likely to commit misconduct in prison regardless of whether they were assigned to a Level I (lowest security level) or a Level III prison.
Abstract
The supermax prison was designed to control the most violent, assaultive individuals, gang members, and other prisoners who could not be managed in less secure settings. Pelican Bay State Prison, which houses California's supermax, holds approximately 1,300 inmates in its security housing unit (SHU). This article examines the mission, architecture, and organization of Pelican Bay State Prison, the architecture and procedures in the SHU, the training and mind-set of correctional officers who work at Pelican Bay, the inmate culture and mentality, and the findings of the federal court in Madrid v. Gomez, which addressed conditions in the SHU. The authors maintain that the mission of Pelican Bay, combined with the officer and inmate cultures, creates a self fulfilling prophecy: the super violent supermax.