Seminary Program and Desistance in Prison: An Empirical Study of Self-identity, Religiosity, and Disciplinary Convictions

• In Event: Desistance In and Out of Prison

Abstract

We intend to first examine whether inmate’s participation in a seminary program contributes to desistance from misconduct in prison and, if so, whether the desistance is attributable to inmate’s self-identity (à la Giordano and her colleagues [2002, 2007] and Paternoster and Bushway [2009]) and religiosity as well as collective efficacy and legal cynicism. For this study, we will conduct surveys with a sample of 348 male offenders incarcerated in a maximum security facility within the Texas prison system. The sample consists of 217 seminary-student and 131 non-student inmates, and also includes 230 inmates (115 students and 115 non-students) matched using propensity score matching. Given that all 230 inmates in the treatment and comparison groups volunteered for the seminary program, the matching enables us to control for motivation, a common source of selection bias in evaluations of correctional programming. To further control for selection bias, we hold constant inmate’s criminal justice (e.g., length of sentence and custody level) and sociodemographic characteristics. Prison misconduct is measured in terms of the number and type of disciplinary convictions, recorded on a monthly basis. Finally, in order to operationalize desistance as a process rather than discrete event, we will conduct group-based trajectory analysis.

Authors

• Sung Joon Jang, Baylor University

• Grant Duwe, Minnesota Department of Corrections

• Byron Johnson, Baylor University

• Michael Hallett, University of North Florida

• Joshua Hays, Baylor University