Importation and deprivation correlates of misconduct among Romanian inmates

Abstract

Correctional literature on determinants of prisoner misconduct is largely focused on the situation in the USA or West European countries. This study expands the research in this field by presenting findings from Romania, an East European country whose prison system faces severe problems, among which overcrowding and poor confinement conditions are of the utmost concern. Therefore a survey was conducted on a sample of 280 adult male inmates in four large Romanian prisons. These exceptional data were supplemented with information from official records drawn from the prison administration's databases. A unique combination of importation and deprivation factors, with a particular focus on several prison deprivations perceived by inmates as problematic, is examined in relation to the prevalence of four types of inmate misbehaviour: total misconduct, contraband infractions, violence and defiance. The findings show a clear relationship between importation and deprivation characteristics and prison misconduct. Also a differential impact of these characteristics is shown, depending on the type of prison infraction examined. The study concludes by advancing a set of policy recommendations to reduce the incidence of institutional misconduct in Romanian prisons.

The association between imported factors and prisoners' mental health: Implications for adaptation and intervention

“…Citing a wide range of literature Dhami et al (2002) suggest that 'imported' factors have been shown to be better predictors of mal-adaption than indigenous factors, but they note that some 'imported' factors appear to have no predictive power. Similarly, Dâmboeanu and Nieuwbeerta (2016) found a strong relationship between a range of importation and indigenous factors and types of prison misconduct, but also reported differential impact. The testing of situational factors is less commonly reported in the literature, but Jiang and Fisher-Girolando (2002) found situational factors to be the most powerful predictor of violent incidents although the relative power differs depending on the nature of the infraction.…”

Murder as Importation: An Empirical Study of the Continuity of Homicide Offending From Community to Confinement

“…A large corpus of studies using prisoner data from California (Caudill et al, 2014), Kentucky, Ohio (Cao et al, 1997), Tennessee (Lahm, 2008), Oregon (Cihan et al, 2017), Texas (DeLisi et al, 2011), the federal Bureau of Prisons (Dhami et al, 2007; Walters & Crawford, 2013), and regional and national-level U.S. data (Celinska & Sung, 2014; Diamond et al, 2012; Jiang & Fisher-Giorlando, 2002; Poole & Regoli, 1983; Worrall & Morris, 2012) provide empirical support for the importation model. The viability of the importation model is not limited to an American context as empirical support also exists using data from Canada (Ruddell & Gottschall, 2011), Germany (Klatt et al, 2016), and Romania (Dâmboeanu & Nieuwbeerta, 2016).…”

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

“…Deprivation theory posits that institutional misconduct is explained by the prison environment (Dâmboeanu & Nieuwbeerta, 2016). Its proponents would evaluate prison regulations, inmate–inmate and staff–inmate interactions, and the quality and quantity of amenities when examining violations.…”