Abstract
This chapter will consider the pains of imprisonment for women and their methods of adaptation during incarceration, particularly the creation of play families. The mode of adaptation espoused by an offender in prison can negatively or positively impact rehabilitative and reintegrative success. The importance of embracing a new conventional role while incarcerated and obtaining support for that role, during incarceration and post-release, will be highlighted. HIV prison-based programming as a way to develop conventional roles and mitigate adherence to the inmate code is considered.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Atchley, R., & McCabe, P. (1968). Socialization in correctional communities: A replication. American Sociological Review, 33(1), 774–785.
Bowker, L. (1981). Gender differences in prisoner subcultures. In L. Bowker (Ed.), Women and crime in America (pp. 409–419). New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Brown, B., & Spevacek, J. (1971). Disciplinary offenses and offenders at two differing correctional institutions. Corrective Psychiatry and Journal of Social Therapy, 17(4), 48–56.
Cao, L., Zhao, J., & Van Dine, S. (1997). Prison disciplinary tickets: A test of the deprivation and importation models. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25(2), 103–113.
Casey-Acevedo, K. (2001). The effect of time on the disciplinary adjustment of women in prison. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45(4), 489–497.
Casey-Acevedo, K., & Bakken, T. (2003). Women adjusting to prison: Disciplinary behavior and the characteristics of adjustment. Journal of Health and Social Policy, 17(4), 37–60.
Clemmer, D. (1940). The prison community. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Cranford, S., & Williams, R. (1998, December). Critical issues in managing female offenders. Corrections Today, 60(7), 130–134.
DeBell, J. (2001). The female offender: Different…not difficult. Corrections Today, 63(1), 56–61.
Dobash, R., Dobash, R. E., & Gutteridge, S. (1986). The imprisonment of women. New York, NY: Basil Blackwell.
Eaton, M. (1993). Women after prison. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
Flanagan, T. (1983). Correlates of institutional misconduct among state prisoners. Criminology, 21(1), 29–39.
Flangan, T. (1980). Time served and institutional misconduct: Patterns of involvement in disciplinary infractions among long-term and short-term inmates. Journal of Criminal Justice, 8(5), 357–367.
Fox, J. (1984). Women’s prison policy, prisoner activism, and the impact of the contemporary feminist movement: A case study. 64(2), 15–36.
Genders, E., & Player, E. (1990). Women lifers: Assessing the experience. 70(1), 46–57.
Giallombardo, R. (1966). Society of women: A study of a woman’s prison. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Goodstein, L., & Wright, K. (1989). Inmate adjustment to prison. In L. Goodstein & D. Mackenzie (Eds.), The American prison: Issues in research and policy (pp. 229–251). New York, NY: Plenum.
Greer, K. (2000). The changing nature of interpersonal relationships in a women’s prison. 80(4), 442–468.
Heffernan, E. (1972). Making it in prison: The square, the cool, and the life. New York, NY: Wiley-Interscience.
Hewitt, J., Poole, E., & Regoli, R. (1984). Self-reported and observed rule breaking in prison: A look at disciplinary response. Justice Quarterly, 1(3), 437–447.
Humphrey, E. (1987). Review of the literature on female security issues. State of New York Department of Correctional Services Office of Classification and Movement and Division of Program Planning Research and Evaluation
Irwin, J., & Cressey, D. (1962). Thieves, convicts, and the inmate culture. Social Problems, 10(2), 142–155.
Jensen, G. (1977). Age and rule-breaking in prison: A test of sociocultural interpretations. Criminology, 14(4), 555–566.
Jensen, G., & Jones, D. (1976). Perspectives on inmate culture: A study of women in prison. Social Forces, 54(3), 590–603.
Jones, R. (1993). Coping with separation: Adaptive responses of women prisoners. Women and Criminal Justice, 5(1), 71–97.
Kessler, R., & McLeod, J. (1984). Sex differences in vulnerability to undesirable life events. American Sociological Review, 49(5), 620–631.
Koons, B., Burrow, J., Morash, M., & Bynum, T. (1997). Expert and offender perceptions of program elements linked to successful outcomes for incarcerated women. Crime and Delinquency, 43(4), 512–532.
Kruttschnitt, C., & Krmpotich, S. (1990). Aggressive behavior among female inmates: An exploration study. Justice Quarterly, 7(2), 371–389.
Larson, J., & Nelson, J. (1984). Women, friendship, and adaptation to prison. Journal of Criminal Justice, 12(6), 601–615.
Leger, R. (1987). Lesbianism among women prisoners: Participants and nonparticipants. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 14(4), 448–467.
Linquist, C. (1980). Prison discipline and the female offender. Journal of Offender Counseling, Services, and Rehabilitation, 4(4), 305–318.
Long, G., Sultan, F., Kiefer, S., & Schrum, D. (1984). The psychological profile of the female first offender and the recidivist: A comparison. Journal of Offender Counseling, Services, and Rehabilitation, 9 (1/2), 119–123.
LPSSC (The Lifers Public Safety Steering Committee of the State Correctional institution at Graterford, Pennsylvania). (2004). Ending the culture of street crime. 84(4), 48S–68S.
MacKenzie, D. (1987). Age and adjustment to prison: Interactions with attitudes and anxiety. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 14(4), 427–447.
MacKenzie, D., & Goodstein, L. (1985). Long term incarceration impacts and characteristics of long-term offenders: An empirical analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 12(4), 395–414.
MacKenzie, D., Robinson, J., & Campbell, C. (1989). Long-term incarceration of female offenders: Prison adjustment and coping. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 16(2), 223–238.
McCarthy, B. (1980). Inmate mothers: The problems of separation and reintegration. Journal of Offender Counseling, Services, and Rehabilitation, 4(3), 199–212.
McClellan, D. (1994). Disparity in the discipline of male and female inmates in Texas prisons. Women and Criminal Justice, 5(2), 71–97.
McCorkle, R., Miethe, T., & Drass, K. (1995). The roots of prison violence: A test of the deprivation, management, and ‘not-so-total’ institution models. Crime and Delinquency, 41(3), 317–331.
Owen, B. (2004). Women and imprisonment in the United States: The gendered consequences of the U.S. imprisonment binge. In B. Price & N. Sokoloff (Eds.), The criminal justice system and women: Offenders, prisoners, victims, and workers (3rd ed., pp. 195–206). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Pollock, J. (1984). Women will be women: Correctional officers’ perceptions of the emotionality of women inmates. The Prison Journal, 64(1), 84–91.
Pollock-Byrne, J. (1990). Women, prison and crime. California, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Poole, E., & Regoli, R. (1980). Race, institutional rule breaking, and disciplinary response: A study of discretionary making in prison. Law and Society Review, 14(4), 931–946.
Propper, A. (1982). Make-believe families and homosexuality among imprisoned girls. Criminology, 20(1), 127–138.
Ramirez, J. (1983). Race and the apprehension of inmate misconduct. Journal of Criminal Justice, 11(5), 413–427.
Reed, D., & Reed, E. (2004). Mothers in prison and their children. In B. Price & N. Sokoloff (Eds.), The criminal justice system and women: Offenders, prisoners, victims, and workers (3rd ed., pp. 261–273). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Reisig, M., Holtfreter, K., & Morash, M. (2002). Social capital among women offenders: Examining the distribution of social networks and resources. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 18(2), 167–187.
Richards, B. (1978). The experience of long term imprisonment: An exploratory investigation. British Journal of Criminology, 18(2), 162–169.
Schrag, C. (1944). Social role types in a prison community. Master’s thesis, University of Washington, Seattle
Smart, C. (1976). Women, crime, and criminology: A feminist critique. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
Sommers, I., Baskin, D., & Fagan, J. (1994). Getting out of the life: Crime desistance by female street offenders. Deviant Behavior, 15(2), 125–149.
Stephan, J. (1989). Prison rule violators. Bureau of justice statistics special report. Washington DC: US Department of Justice
Suter, J., Byrne, M., Byrne, S., Howells, K., & Day, A. (2002). Anger in prisoners: Women are different from men. Personality and Individual Differences, 32(6), 1087–1100.
Sykes, G. (1958). The society of captives: A study of maximum security prisons. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Sykes, G., & Messinger, S. (1960). Inmate social systems. In R. Cloward (Ed.), Theoretical studies in social organization of the prison (pp. 5–19). New York, NY: Social Science Research Council.
Tischler, C., & Marquart, J. (1989). Analysis of disciplinary infraction rates among female and male inmates. Journal of Criminal Justice, 17(6), 507–513.
Toch, H., & Adams, K. (1986). Pathology and disruptiveness among prison inmates. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 23(1), 7–21.
Toch, H., & Grant, D. (1989). Noncoping and maladaptation in confinement. In L. Goodstein & D. Mackenzie (Eds.), The American prison: Issues in research and policy. New York, NY: Plenum.
Wheeler, S. (1961). Socialization in correctional communities. American Sociological Review, 26(5), 694–712.
Wolf, S., Freinek, W., & Shaffer, J. (1966). Frequency and severity of rule infractions as criteria of prison maladjustment. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 22(2), 244–248.
Wolfgang, M. (1961). Quantitative analysis of adjustment to the prison community. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, 51(6), 607–618.
Wright, K. (1999). A study of individual, environmental, and interactive effects in explaining adjustment to prison. Justice Quarterly, 8(2), 217–242.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 The Author
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Collica, K. (2013). Female Offenders and the Inmate Subculture. In: Female Prisoners, AIDS, and Peer Programs. SpringerBriefs in Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5110-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5110-5_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5109-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5110-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)