Publications
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Living Without Parole: Assessing Life Sentences by People Who Live It and People Who Study It
Mills, S., Maloney, E., Rue, C., Wright, K.A., & Spohn, C. (In Press). Living without parole: Assessing life sentences by people who live it and people who study it. In Dum, C., Fader, J., LeBel, T., & Wright, K.A. (Eds.), Handbook on lived experience in the justice system. Routledge.
This volume offers a diverse set of scholarly essays on the imaginative potential of corrections and sentencing research/practice that centers on the lived experience of the criminal legal system. The Editors define “lived experience” broadly, encompassing the subjective ways in which corrections and sentencing directly or indirectly affect a person’s daily life. They employ a diverse and expansive conceptualization of lived experience; for example, people with lived experience can be directly involved in writing or conducting the research or may be indirectly involved where the submission is about a program that includes people with lived experience in its operations (e.g., credible messengers).
The volume includes 60 chapters written by academics, practitioners, and lived experts who are currently or formerly system-impacted. Chapters include short reflection essays on the meaning of lived experience, state of the knowledge reviews on topics related to lived experience, and more traditional empirical entries that highlight specific dimensions of lived experience.
This groundbreaking and thought-provoking Handbook will appeal to academics, practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and students seeking to understand the many ways in which ways in which corrections and sentencing directly or indirectly affect a person’s daily life. This is Volume 10 of The ASC Division on Corrections and Sentencing Handbook Series. The handbooks provide in-depth coverage of seminal and topical issues around sentencing and corrections for scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers.
Imprisoned Minds: Lost Boys, Trapped Men, and Solutions from Within the Prison
Maloney, E.S., & Wright, K.A. (2025). Imprisoned minds: Lost boys, trapped men, and solutions from within the prison. Rutgers University Press.
In Imprisoned Minds, Erik Maloney tells the stories of men in prison that few people ever hear. Six gripping, first-person narratives of incarcerated men form his imprisoned mind concept: the men’s unimaginable childhood trauma and neglect set them on a pathway for prison or death. Maloney interviews his fellow prisoners with candor and savviness. He can do this because he is in prison alongside them—incarcerated for life at the age of twenty-one. Joined by a correctional scholar, Maloney presents a unique and informed perspective that blends lived experience with academic knowledge. A trauma-informed corrections can empower men to acknowledge and repair the harms of their past to regain control over their minds and their futures. Maloney has broken free from the mindset—and others can, too. Imprisoned Minds reminds us of the humanity of the nearly two million people behind bars in the United States and encourages solutions from within that can break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration.
Handbook on Lived Experience in the Justice System
Dum, C., Fader, J., LeBel, T., & Wright, K.A. (Eds.). (In Press)., Handbook on lived experience in the justice system. Routledge.
This volume offers a diverse set of scholarly essays on the imaginative potential of corrections and sentencing research/practice that centers on the lived experience of the criminal legal system. The Editors define “lived experience” broadly, encompassing the subjective ways in which corrections and sentencing directly or indirectly affect a person’s daily life. They employ a diverse and expansive conceptualization of lived experience; for example, people with lived experience can be directly involved in writing or conducting the research or may be indirectly involved where the submission is about a program that includes people with lived experience in its operations (e.g., credible messengers).
The volume includes 60 chapters written by academics, practitioners, and lived experts who are currently or formerly system-impacted. Chapters include short reflection essays on the meaning of lived experience, state of the knowledge reviews on topics related to lived experience, and more traditional empirical entries that highlight specific dimensions of lived experience.
This groundbreaking and thought-provoking Handbook will appeal to academics, practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and students seeking to understand the many ways in which ways in which corrections and sentencing directly or indirectly affect a person’s daily life. This is Volume 10 of The ASC Division on Corrections and Sentencing Handbook Series. The handbooks provide in-depth coverage of seminal and topical issues around sentencing and corrections for scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers.
Co-designing gender-responsive practice: Women’s Engagement through Communication, Action, Responsivity, and Education (WE CARE)
Klemm, A., & Wright, K. (2025). Co-designing gender-responsive practice: Women’s Engagement through Communication, Action, Responsivity, and Education (WE CARE). Advancing Corrections, 18, 160-172.
Gender-responsive strategies in corrections take the needs of incarcerated women out of the margins of correctional practice and recognize women as requiring a unique approach. The efficacy of that approach largely depends on the workforce who puts it into practice. A challenge to creating a gender- responsive trained workforce is that staff may be overburdened and oversaturated with training. We describe the design of a gender-responsive training that empowers staff alongside incarcerated women and university researchers to co-create an engaging, realistic, and actionable women-centered practice. We conclude with implications for a multiple evidence-informed training that we hope staff embrace and promote.
A High Potential for Something Good: Reflections on When Lived Experience Meets What Works
Wright, K. A. (2024). A high potential for something good: Reflections on when lived experience meets what works. In Rudes, D.S., Armstrong, G., Kras, K., & Carter, T. (Eds.), Handbook on prisons and jails. Routledge.
Engaging with the voices of people who live and work in prisons and jails could include their perspective on what is “known” in correctional research. Theories, programs, and policies based on the evidence for what works to reduce recidivism could produce an artificial ceiling for the potential impact of our correctional system and, worse, could unintentionally produce harm to the people who live and work within it. Including people most impacted by the problem in developing solutions could bring together the inside knowledge of lived experience with the outside knowledge of what works to produce a more complete approach for corrections moving forward. I explore the possibility of improving the integration of lived experience with evidence-based corrections through a critical examination of the concept of risk in corrections. The current metric of system success is reduced recidivism as achieved through individual risk reduction. A reimagined definition of correctional success could be achieved by putting the people back in to leverage both research and experience. I end with a reflection on how my own professional lived experience has changed the way that I think about and approach my work as a scholar.
Learning with the Others: Perspective-Taking and the Future of Criminal Justice in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program
Philippon, C., Wright, K.A., Telep, C.W., & Shaw, O.P. (2024). Learning with the others: Perspective-taking and the future of criminal justice in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 35, 136-155.
Alumni of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program declare their experience in the course as “life-changing.” If this impact holds true for all who have completed an Inside-Out course, the program will have transformed over 60,000 lives. We examine attitudinal change among Inside-Out alumni on factors expected to be influenced as a result of the ‘dialogue across difference’ critical to the foundation of the program. Across four courses representing 86 students, nonincarcerated “Outside” students reported higher post-course scores in support of the humanity of people incarcerated as compared to pre-course scores. Incarcerated “Inside” students reported higher post-course scores in support of the fairness and effectiveness of the criminal justice system as compared to pre-course scores. Our findings build on the limited empirical assessments in support of the numerous anecdotal accounts of the transformative power of a program that has been taught over 1,200 times across 48 U.S. states and 14 countries.
The Effects of Peer Inclusion in the Design and Implementation of University Prison Programming: A Participatory Action Research, Randomized Vignette Study
McKenzie, G.B., & Wright, K.A. (2024). The effects of peer inclusion in the design and implementation of university prison programming: A participatory action research, randomized vignette study. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 47, 30-36.
Objective: Including people most impacted by a challenge in designing and implementing solutions to that challenge has reemerged in social science research. In prison settings, academics’ outside knowledge of “what works” combined with incarcerated people’s inside knowledge of lived experience could lead to more comprehensive rehabilitative programs. This combined approach may make less sense as an intervention in prison, however, due to sensitive and complicated interpersonal dynamics. We determine if incarcerated women perceive prison programs as more efficacious when other incarcerated women are collaboratively involved in the design and implementation of those programs, as compared to other program delivery methods. Methods: We employ a participatory action research framework in administering a randomized vignette to 200 incarcerated women. We randomize who designs and teaches a prison program in a hypothetical scenario, with incarcerated women alongside university researchers the key combined condition of interest. We then ask a series of questions regarding incarcerated women’s perception of the program’s efficacy. Results: Women who received the combined condition were four times more likely to view the program as legitimate when compared to programs taught by correctional staff. The combined condition was not significantly different on legitimacy when compared to either researchers alone or incarcerated women alone. We did not observe other expected relationships between the combined condition and perceived program efficacy. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Researcher and incarcerated person-led programming should be implemented carefully in institutional settings to leverage the value of lived experience while avoiding creating further harm for confined people.
Coping with incarceration: examining the longitudinal relationship between individual coping styles and mental health outcomes
Meyers, T.J., Fahmy, C., & Wright, K.A. (2024). Coping with incarceration: Examining the longitudinal relationship between individual coping styles and mental health outcomes. Journal of Mental Health, 33, 14-21.
Background
Experiencing incarceration leads to increased rates of stress that result in a variety of negative physical, mental, and emotional outcomes. However, little research focuses on how individuals vary in their coping responses to stressful life events, like imprisonment.
Aims
This study extends prior research by examining whether changes in coping styles throughout the first year of incarceration influence mental health symptomology at 6- and 12-months post placement.
Methods
Using longitudinal data collected via semi-structured interviews with incarcerated men, this study measures changes in coping strategies and their effect on psychological well-being using the SCL-90-R. Ordinary least squares regression models were used to regress mental health symptomology on residual change scores of coping strategies.
Results
Changes in dysfunctional coping during the first 6- and 12-months of placement were associated with increased levels of adverse mental health symptoms. Changes in emotion- and problem-focused coping were not associated with mental health symptomology.
Conclusions
This research illustrates the need to continue exploration into individual responses to stressful events, such as initial incarceration, and suggests that prison systems should be designed in ways that decrease the need to adapt in dysfunctional ways, while providing opportunities for incarcerated people to cope in more productive ways.
Solitary confinement and the well-being of people in prison
Wright, K.A., Young, J.T.N., Matekel, C.G., Infante, A.A., Gifford, F., Meyers, T.J., & Morse, Stephanie J. (2023). Solitary Confinement and the Well-Being of People in Prison. Social Science & Medicine, 335, 116224.
Background
Solitary confinement and mental well-being has been researched extensively, with a significant increase in studies over the last ten years. These recent studies produce mixed evidence for whether placement in solitary confinement is associated with psychological distress. We advance our understanding of these relationships in two critical ways. First, we conduct both between- and within-person analyses within the same data to better understand the relationship of solitary confinement and mental well-being relative to the well-being of people in less restrictive prison settings. Second, we ask the men in our sample questions about their personality style, coping strategies, and interactions with staff, which allows us to explore how individual characteristics and prison experiences matter, alongside isolation, in understanding mental well-being.
Methods
We gather data from interviews at three time points with 122 men in solitary confinement and 204 men in other conditions of confinement in Arizona from 2017 to 2019. We merge these interview data with administrative data on study sample and population sample to include critical measures such as mental health score, risk level, and visitation status. Our interviews contain a Global Severity Index (GSI), created from 90 self-reported psychopathological symptoms experienced, that we use to assess well-being. We estimate cross-classified multilevel models to assess between-person differences and within-person change in well-being over time.
Results
There was a small relationship between solitary confinement and worsening well-bring (longitudinal, within-person) and a small relationship between solitary confinement and worse well-being (cross-sectional, between-person), with this between-person association reduced significantly upon inclusion of additional individual characteristics and prison experiences.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that the incarceration experience, including conditions of confinement, is associated with mental well-being in different ways for different people. We believe that collective confinement and well-being could receive the same scholarly attention and public concern as solitary confinement.
Racial Politics in the Contemporary Prison Society: the Importance of Race and Ethnicity to Prison Social Organization
Infante, A.A., Morse, S.J., Fahmy, C., & Wright, K.A. (2023). Racial politics in the contemporary prison society: The importance of race and ethnicity in prison social organization. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 50, 600-623.
Prior research documents race and ethnicity as central to how individuals navigate the social and
physical space of prisons. Racial segregation persists as a feature of prison life, and in navigating
this racialized structure, racial groups construct and enforce a set of racialized norms to govern
behavior (i.e., the “racial code”) that reinforce and reify prison racial politics. These processes,
however, have remained largely descriptive in nature. Using data from a sample of incarcerated
men in Arizona prisons (N = 251), this paper extends prior work by operationalizing the concept
of the racial code, assessing its dimensionality, distinguishing it from the prison code, and
differentiating how features of prison social organization influence racial code adherence and
mobilization. Results suggest that the racial code is distinct from the prison code, and that racial
differences exist in the extent of adhering to versus mobilizing the racial code, net of gang status.
Managing Violence: In-Prison Behavior Associated with Placement in an Alternative Disciplinary Segregation Program
Meyers, T.J., Testa, A., & Wright, K.A. (2023). Managing violence: In-prison behavior associated with placement in an alternative disciplinary segregation program. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 48, 250-272.
The use of segregation continues to be at the forefront of debates on the most effective way to address violence in prisons. Concern over the negative impact of these placements has prompted correctional administrators to employ alternative strategies to reduce their segregated populations and address serious misconduct. Few studies, however, have explored the impact that these strategies have on future behavioral outcomes. To address this gap, the current study explores the effectiveness of a disciplinary segregation program reserved for those who engage in violent misconduct during their incarceration. This study employs a quasi-experimental research design to estimate the treatment effects of placement in a disciplinary segregation program on subsequent levels of institutional misconduct during a one-year follow-up. Results from this study reveal that placement in the disciplinary segregation program had no effect on subsequent levels of serious in-prison misconduct amongst participants when compared to their matched counterparts. Our findings suggest that scholars and practitioners should work to build a response to in-prison violence that starts with what is known about the causes of violence and what effectively modifies attitudes and behaviors. Future research should include rigorous measures of both program process and implementation to better identify effective forms of intervention.
The Limits of Recidivism Reduction: Advancing a More Comprehensive Understanding of Correctional Success
Wright, K.A., Morse, S.J., & Sutton, M.M. (2022). The limits of recidivism reduction: Advancing a more comprehensive understanding of correctional success. In Gould, J.B., & Metzger, P. (Eds.) Transforming criminal justice: An evidence-based agenda for reform. NYU Press.
An evidence-based roadmap for how the American criminal justice system can be reformed.
This important volume brings together today's leading criminal justice scholars and practitioners to offer a roadmap for those who want to change the face of the American criminal justice system. This collection of essays addresses thirteen significant issues in justice reform, starting from a suspect’s first interaction with the police and continuing to gun violence, prosecutorial innovation, sentencing reform, eliminating bail, recidivism and re-entry, collateral consequences of crime, and eliminating false convictions. A common theme emerges in this volume: the American criminal justice system is riddled with weaknesses that cause harm and require greater accountability. Each chapter is both educational and prescriptive, helping readers to understand the problems that plague the criminal justice system, how those problems can be addressed, and who should take responsibility for them.
Part scholarly research, part account of the justice system’s workings and failings, and part agenda for action, Transforming Criminal Justice aims to educate and move readers to effect change.
Redefining Disciplinary Segregation: Perceptions of Effective Programming Among Program Participants and Staff
Meyers, T.J., Wright, K.A., & Phillips, S. (2022). Redefining disciplinary segregation: Perceptions of effective programming among program participants and staff. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 33, 756-784.
People who engage in violence during their incarceration create a number of challenges for those who live and work in our correctional facilities. In response, there is a growing focus on the use of short-term confinement in disciplinary segregation that includes therapeutic programming. The ability of these programs to affect future behavior, however, is mixed. To better understand why research is mixed, the current study incorporates the views and perspectives of staff and participants involved in rehabilitative efforts within a segregated housing setting. Structured interviews were carried out with 25 former program participants and 10 correctional staff who oversee the day-to-day management of a disciplinary segregation program in a U.S. prison that includes rehabilitative programming. Subject perspectives provide additional direction for the inclusion of programming in segregated housing and a note of caution for programs that are alternative in name but traditional in practice.
Correctional rehabilitation and positive psychology: Opportunities and challenges
Morse, S.J., Wright, K.A., & Klapow, M. (2022). Correctional rehabilitation and positive psychology: Opportunities and challenges. Sociology Compass, 16, e12960.
At this point it is clear that the pursuit of the rehabilitative ideal is stitched into the DNA of American corrections. However, in our collective quest to establish and defend ‘what works,’ correctional rehabilitation has lingered in a state of preoccupation with risks, deficits, and individual pathology. The framework of Positive Psychology provides an alluring blueprint for an approach to correctional rehabilitation where people are not considered different humans who are reduced to their deficits and their worst decisions. In the current paper we explore the possibilities of incorporating the principles of Positive Psychology into correctional rehabilitation to help promote a notion of correctional success that is more dynamic, humanizing, and inclusive. We begin by discussing the development, progression, and current state of correctional rehabilitation. We then turn to discussing the development, progression, and current state of Positive Psychology, suggesting that there is a missed opportunity in applying its principles to people who are impacted by the criminal justice system. We conclude with a section discussing the opportunities and challenges of bringing correctional rehabilitation and Positive Psychology together.
Imprisoned men: Masculinity variability and its implications for correctional programming
Morse, S.J., & Wright, K.A. (2022). Imprisoned men: Masculinity variability and its implications for correctional programming. Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research, 7, 23-45.
Prison is a place with an accumulation of men who espouse toughness and aggression, where those who deviate are punished and forced to renegotiate their thoughts on what it means to be a man. Behaviors not considered overtly masculine, such as receiving support in the form of correctional programming, may be off limits to men serving time. Guided by the larger masculinities and crime framework, we examine the perceptions of masculinity and its consequences through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five incarcerated men in the state of Arizona. We focus on three questions: what does it mean to be a man? Does the prison experience alter this conceptualization? Does this conceptualization affect participation in correctional programming? Our results reveal that there is variation in how incarcerated men define what it means to be man, the incarceration experience matters for how incarcerated men define and express their masculinity, and what it means to be a man in prison indirectly impacts engagement in correctional programs.
Managing violence: In-prison behavior associated with placement in an alternative disciplinary segregation program
Meyers, T. J., Testa, A., & Wright, K. A. (2021). Managing violence: In-prison behavior associated with placement in an alternative disciplinary segregation program. American Journal of Criminal Justice 48, 250-272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-021-09634-9
The use of segregation continues to be at the forefront of debates on the most effective way to address violence in prisons. Concern over the negative impact of these placements has prompted correctional administrators to employ alternative strategies to reduce their segregated populations and address serious misconduct. Few studies, however, have explored the impact that these strategies have on future behavioral outcomes. To address this gap, the current study explores the effectiveness of a disciplinary segregation program reserved for those who engage in violent misconduct during their incarceration. This study employs a quasi-experimental research design to estimate the treatment effects of placement in a disciplinary segregation program on subsequent levels of institutional misconduct during a one-year follow-up. Results from this study reveal that placement in the disciplinary segregation program had no effect on subsequent levels of serious in-prison misconduct amongst participants when compared to their matched counterparts. Our findings suggest that scholars and practitioners should work to build a response to in-prison violence that starts with what is known about the causes of violence and what effectively modifies attitudes and behaviors. Future research should include rigorous measures of both program process and implementation to better identify effective forms of intervention.
When in doubt: The value of uncertainty for release success among incarcerated women
Haverkate, D. L. & Wright, K. A. (2021). When in doubt: the value of uncertainty for release success among incarcerated women. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 60, 19-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2020.1827121
Reentry can be complicated and daunting, yet people leaving prison tend to be overly optimistic about their capability to remain crime-free. This optimism could be good—where a hopeful mindset could be indicative of a prosocial future narrative. Or this optimism could be bad—where a naïve mindset could be indicative of a lack of preparation for the challenges ahead. Our goal is to explore the concept of perceived uncertainty for reentry success with a focus for how it may be useful in better preparing people to rejoin society. Using data from 200 women incarcerated in Arizona, we explore 1) the demographic characteristics that are associated with perceived uncertainty for reentry success and 2) the extent to which perceived uncertainty is associated with the identification of specific obstacles upon their release. Our findings suggest that most women are optimistic about their capability to stay out of prison, but that age, education, and custody level are associated with perceived uncertainty in this capability. Women with uncertainty are more likely to identify employment as a barrier that could bring them back to prison. We suggest that a focus on perceptions of uncertainty is critical for research and programming on prison reentry.
Time well spent: Misery, meaning, and the opportunity of incarceration
Wright, K.A. (2020). Time Well Spent: Misery, Meaning, and the Opportunity of Incarceration. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 59, 44-64. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12352
People often leave prison worse than when they arrived; sometimes, they leave the same. People could leave prison better than when they arrived through a reimagined response to crime. They could be set up to live sustainable, fulfilling, and meaningful lives after prison. This approach could be informed by research on what makes for a meaningful life—regardless of whether a person has come into contact with the criminal justice system. A reimagined corrections could view time spent in prison as an opportunity rather than solely as a punishment; an opportunity to repair harm, empower people, and promote public safety.
On PAR with the yard: Participatory action research to advance knowledge in corrections
Haverkate, D. L., Meyers, T. J., Telep, C. T., & Wright, K. A. (2020). On PAR with the yard: Participatory action research to advance knowledge in corrections. Corrections: Policy, Practice, & Research, 5, 28-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2019.1576149
Participatory action research (PAR) focuses on conducting research with people, instead of on people. While this collaborative approach has been used across a range of disciplines, criminology has been slow to adopt the tenets of PAR. The current article seeks to reinvigorate the discussion of PAR as a research methodology within corrections. We highlight the success of our own project, where five incarcerated interviewers conducted over 400 interviews within the Arizona Department of Corrections. We describe the project—how we set it up, our perceived benefits, and our challenges—and we conclude with some thoughts on how PAR can be expanded in corrections specifically and in criminal justice in general. Our broader purpose is to highlight an innovative methodology to ensure conversations advance research that is translated into meaningful action.
The differential effects of prison contact on parent-child relationship quality and child behavioral changes
Haverkate, D. L. & Wright, K. A. (2020). The differential effects of prison contact on parent-child relationship quality and child behavioral changes. Corrections: Policy, Practice, & Research, 5, 222-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2018.1485529
The children of prisoners can suffer from behavioral issues, poor school performance, and a heightened risk of crime and delinquency across the life-course. Separation from one's family is part of what makes incarceration a punishment, but what can be done to ensure that this punishment has the least harmful effect on children? Using data from the Arizona Prison Visitation Project, the current study seeks to answer: 1) what type of prison contact (in-person, phone, or mail) is associated with greater changes in the quality of parent-child relationships?, 2) Is frequency of prison contact associated with changes in the quality of parent-child relationships?, and 3) Is a change in parent-child relationship quality associated with a change in child behavior? Examining results from the parent (N=127) and child (N=293) level, the study finds that in-person visitation is associated with increases in relationship quality. Mail contact and frequent phone contact were also found to important for relationship quality. This study provides support for the ability that prison visitation, and contact more broadly, may have to increase parent-child relationship quality. Implications of this work include considering measures to subsidize contact costs, encourage contact, and involve children in in-prison programming.
Imprisoned men: Masculinity variability and implications for correctional programming
Morse, S. J. & Wright, K. A. (2019). Imprisoned men: Masculinity variability implications for correctional programming. Corrections: Policy, Practice, and Research, 7(1), 23-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2019.1694854
Prison is a place with an accumulation of men who espouse toughness and aggression, where those who deviate are punished and forced to renegotiate their thoughts on what it means to be a man. Behaviors not considered overtly masculine, such as receiving support in the form of correctional programming, may be off limits to men serving time. Guided by the larger masculinities and crime framework, we examine the perceptions of masculinity and its consequences through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five incarcerated men in the state of Arizona. We focus on three questions: what does it mean to be a man? Does the prison experience alter this conceptualization? Does this conceptualization affect participation in correctional programming? Our results reveal that there is variation in how incarcerated men define what it means to be man, the incarceration experience matters for how incarcerated men define and express their masculinity, and what it means to be a man in prison indirectly impacts engagement in correctional programs.
Treating the seriously mentally ill in prison: An evaluation of a contingency management program
Meyers, T. J., Infante, A. A., & Wright, K. A. (2018). Treating the seriously mentally ill in prison: An evaluation of contingency management. Corrections: Policy, Practice, and Research, 5(4), 256-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2018.1530077
The management and care of inmates with mental health needs creates immense strain for correctional administrators and staff—leaving questions surrounding the best way to treat and house those with especially acute mental health needs. At the same time, those with mental illness experience a number of disproportionately adverse outcomes while incarcerated. This study evaluates a contingency management program aimed at treating seriously mentally ill inmates housed in a maximum-security prison. Program effectiveness was evaluated using an assessment of within-individual change in mental and behavioral health outcomes 1-year following placement. Supplemental analyses were conducted to identify characteristics of participants most likely to experience negative program outcomes. Results from this study suggest that the contingency management program under investigation is a promising approach to the treatment of seriously mentally ill inmates. Future research is needed, however, to build upon these findings.
Addressing serious violent misconduct in prison: Examining an alternative form of restrictive housing
Meyers, T. J., Infante, A. A., & Wright, K. A. (2018). Addressing serious violent misconduct in prison: Examining an alternative form of restrictive housing. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 62(14), 4585-4608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18778451
A number of scholars, civil, and human rights activists have expressed concern about the negative impact restrictive housing may have on the physical and mental wellbeing of inmates. Rigorous, theoretically informed outcome evaluations, however, are virtually nonexistent. Guided by theory and existing empirical evidence, this study explores the future behavioral and mental health outcomes associated with completing an alternative approach to restrictive housing in the Arizona Department of Corrections. To explore program outcomes, we use paired-sample t tests to determine whether post-program behavior is significantly different from preprogram behavior. In addition, we use cross tabulations and independent samples t tests to identify relationships between individual-level inmate and program characteristics and program outcomes. Results from this study suggest that a more therapeutic restrictive status housing program has the potential to improve the future behavior of program graduates; however, future research is needed to build upon these findings.