Female Institutional Misconduct: A Test of Deprivation, Importation, and Gendered Importation Theories

Abstract

Although deprivation and importation theories are frequently offered as explanations of institutional misconduct, there have been few studies that have tested either approach on women in prison. Moreover, despite research that suggests women have different pathways to crime, research studies have not incorporated gendered variables into the importation perspective. As such, this study tests three explanations of misconduct in a large sample of female inmates. Using logistic and negative binomial regressions, results support deprivation, importation, and gendered importation explanations relative to understanding of female misconduct.

The Keepers: Returning Citizens’ Experiences With Prison Staff Misconduct

“…Differences were particularly apparent in women’s exposure to sexual violence compared with men’s physical violence and in women’s and men’s varied understandings of the mechanisms of contraband operations. These results offer support for existing research that highlights the differing “pains of imprisonment” between women and men (Leigey, 2019).…”

“…Below, we describe respondents’ experiences with the forms of misconduct that emerged as most central to our analysis based on the definition of staff misconduct provided above: medical neglect, violence, and contraband. Recognizing both that “the lens through which women view their surroundings” is unique (Steiner et al, 2020, p. 645), and that far less is known in the literature to date about the incarceration experiences of women relative to men, especially with regard to misconduct (Leigey, 2019), we present our findings with attention to comparative experiences by sex.…”

Serious, Violent, and Chronic Prison Misconduct: Are the Predictors the Same for Women and Men?

“…On the other hand, other research indicates that severe maladjustment among women in prison has gender-specific determinants that are traced to gendered pathways involving trauma exposure, substance dependence, adult victimization, and psychiatric morbidity (cf., Blackburn & Trulson, 2010; Craig & Trulson, 2019; Komarovskaya et al, 2007; Leigey, 2019; McCorkle, 1995; Warren & South, 2006). Although female prisoners eschew the extreme gang involvement and homicidal behaviors in correctional settings (DeLisi et al, 2020; Ralph & Marquart, 1991; Trulson & Marquart, 2010), they evince other risk factors that portend greater maladjustment relative to male prisoners.…”

“…Although female prisoners eschew the extreme gang involvement and homicidal behaviors in correctional settings (DeLisi et al, 2020; Ralph & Marquart, 1991; Trulson & Marquart, 2010), they evince other risk factors that portend greater maladjustment relative to male prisoners. Chief among them are familial backgrounds and sense of loss while confined, poorly treated (and stabilized) psychiatric symptoms, and the exacerbating effects that confinement has on their underlying trauma experiences (Leigey, 2019; McClellan et al, 1997; Severson, 2019; Warren & South, 2006). Consequently, it is important to stratify institutional misconduct models by sex to see if different correlates emerge.…”

The Gray Pains of Imprisonment: Examining the Perceptions of Confinement among a Sample of Sexagenarians and Septuagenarians

“…The effect of the pains of imprisonment on serious misconduct (Leigey, 2019; Rocheleau, 2013), institutional violence (Leigey, 2019; Rocheleau, 2013), recidivism (Windzio, 2006), and mental health (Edgemon & Clay-Warner, 2019) have been considered. The pains of imprisonment for special populations of prisoners have also been examined including women (Crewe et al, 2017; Mertens & Vander Laenen, 2020; Walker & Worrall, 2000), juveniles (Cox, 2011; Windzio, 2006), foreign nationals (Warr, 2016), and fathers from ethnic minority backgrounds (Ugelvik, 2014).…”