Ex-inmates’ Perceptions' and Experiences in Texas Public and Private Prisons

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

This poster will be a qualitative exploratory study that seeks to tap into the feelings and perceptions of 10-15 ex-inmates who have experienced both Texas public and Texas private prisons in regards to six key topics of interest: violence, safety and security, mental and physical healthcare, correctional officer professionalism, contraband, and food and commissary quality and pricing. The data collected will be in the form of in-depth interviews and will be obtained by snowball sampling ex-inmates who have experienced both types of prisons and are not currently on parole or electronic monitoring beginning with a childhood acquaintance of the principal investigator. The coding approach that will be used for this study will be grounded theory. The purpose of this research is to help researchers better understand inmates’ perceptions’ of these two types of prisons and it may also gain further insight into inmates’ perceptions’ of justice and punishment. This research may result in some light being shed on qualitative information about public and private prisons that is not accessible through conventional methods of research and also has the potential to provide a wealth of qualitative data that is not found in quantitative studies of this topic.

Author

• William Layne Dittmann, Sam Houston State University