Prison Transiency and Prison Life

• In Event: Voting Rights and Transiency in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

Rates of prison transiency—inter-facility transfers of incarcerated people—have increased over the past two decades within state prison systems across the US. This seemingly routine aspect of prison life may have substantial impacts on individuals and how they experience incarceration, especially in large state prison systems. Using data from Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC), we examine the effects of prison transfers on an individual’s access to in-prison programming and changes in their visitation patterns over time. These analyses are important for advancing knowledge about how this seemingly mundane administrative practice—one that has become more commonplace in the era of mass incarceration and one that may produce both intentional and unintentional pains and benefits—affects incarcerated people and incarceration systems.

Authors

• Pranjali Ravindra Sathe, University of Cincinnati

• Joshua Cochran, University of Cincinnati

• John Wooldredge, University of Cincinnati