Institutional Experiences and Misconduct: Understanding Prison Environments, Inequalities, and Reform

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Prisons are complex social institutions where individual experiences, structural inequalities, policy shifts, and housing conditions intersect to shape behavior and institutional outcomes. Drawing on large-scale administrative data and in-depth interviews across three states, this panel explores how institutional factors and policies influence misconduct, safety, and adaptation among incarcerated individuals. Panelists examine the impact of educational attainment on prison misconduct, the unintended consequences of decarceration policies for those still incarcerated, racial and ethnic disparities in victimization and offending among incarcerated women, and incarcerated individuals’ perceptions of disciplinary segregation conditions and treatment. By analyzing these dimensions of contemporary prison life, this panel provides insight into the challenges of maintaining institutional safety while addressing disparities and promoting humane correctional practices.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 48. Jails & Prisons

Individual Presentations

• The impact of low educational attainment on in-prison misconduct and violent infractions - Isabel Richmond, Michigan State University; Natalie Rivera, Michigan State University; Vivian Aranda-Hughes, Michigan State University; April Terry, Fort Hays State University

• What about those we left behind?: The unintended consequences of decarceration for those still incarcerated - Baylee Allen-Flores, DePaul University

• Racial and ethnic disparities in victimization and perpetrating among incarcerated women - Natalie Rivera, Michigan State University; Vivian Aranda-Hughes, Michigan State University

• Living in the box: Prisoner perceptions of restrictive housing conditions - Abigail Hayes, University of Nebraska Omaha; Jennifer Tostlebe, University of Nebraska Omaha; David Pyrooz, University of Colorado Boulder; Ryan Labrecque, RTI International

Chairs

• Vivian Aranda-Hughes, Michigan State University

• Jennifer Tostlebe, University of Nebraska Omaha