Inmate Optimism and Institutional Obedience

• In Event: Inside and Out: The Challenges of Living in Prison and Returning Home

Abstract

This paper increases the knowledge and expands the literature on offenders’ optimism about their future and the impact of optimistic attitudes towards institutional obedience. Research detailing how optimism influences inmates while they are incarcerated suggests that being motivated through positive self-perceptions about the future can improve inmate behavior (Dhami, Ayton, & Loewenstein, 2007). In particular, a look at into how self-reported optimism is related to an inmate’s want to obey institutional rules is examined. Data for this paper comes from self-reported surveys of 3,524 men and women from a mid-Atlantic state. This paper analyzes the relationship between inmate optimism and their will to follow institutional rules. Directions for future research are discussed.

Authors

• Frances P. Abderhalden, University of Central Florida

• Thomas Baker, University of Central Florida

• Jill A. Gordon, Virginia Commonwealth University