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Adaptation To Imprisonment

Indigenous or Imported?

University of Cambridge, mkd25{at}cam.ac.uk

Peter Ayton

City University

George Loewenstein

Carnegie Mellon University

The study investigated the effects of time spent in prison and quality of life before prison on male, federally sentenced prisoners' adaptations to imprisonment, controlling for sentence length and prison security level. Data consisted of responses on a self-administered survey completed by 712 prisoners. Findings tended to support the independent effects of the indigenous (deprivation) and importation approaches rather than their interaction effects. Time spent in prison had a direct effect on prisoners' participation in programs, their thoughts of needing control over their lives, their feelings of hopelessness, and their disciplinary infractions in prison. Prisoners' quality of life before prison had a direct effect on their participation in programs, their feelings of happiness, and their prison infractions. Finally, time spent in prison and quality of life before prison interacted to affect prisoners' contact with their family and friends.

Key Words: deprivation model • importation model • prisoner adaptation • disciplinary infractions • prison regime • prison security • psychological adjustment

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