Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) of Restrictive Housing Prisoners

• In Event: New Research on Social Control and Social Organization in Prison

Abstract

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are those events or experiences of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction that occur to children prior to age 18. These include psychological, physical, or sexual abuse; emotional or physical neglect; and encountering a series of problems among family members including mental health, substance use disorder, domestic violence, criminal behavior, and parental separation or divorce. This study examines the prevalence and nature of ACEs in prisoners residing in restrictive housing in California (Pelican Bay, CSP-Corcoran, and CA Correctional Institution) all Special Housing Units akin to supermax facilities. This content analysis study extracts both quantitative data on ACEs and also qualitative data on the childhood experiences to examine the high prevalence and nature of ACEs among prisoners in solitary confinement. Although one limitation of this research is that the proposed methodology might undercount these prisoners’ ACEs score, the fact that most of the exercises and questions reflect prisoners’ childhoods demonstrates a keen sense of the nature of ACEs among prisoners who have been sentenced to solitary confinement for serious misbehavior and violence in the prison.

Author

• Ann Marie Rocheleau, Stonehill College