Substance Use and Prison Misconduct: The Gendered Effect of Treatment Availability

• In Event: The (Stalled) Gender Revolution in Incarceration Contexts

Abstract

Substance abuse is wide-spread in the criminal justice involved population. Substance abuse treatment, reported only by 11 percent of incarcerated individuals, is not. Female institutions have been identified as especially ill-equipped to provide treatment to substance dependent offenders. Existing scholarship has identified drug involved individuals as more likely to commit rule violations in the prison-setting. At the same time, participation in in-prison programming has emerged as a protective factor for rule breaking among the general incarcerated population. This paper uses a series of multivariate regression analyses to examine if those who have a more recent history of substance abuse are more likely to violate prison rules, if this relationship is mediated by in-prison drug treatment, and whether this relationship is general or gendered.

Authors

• Amber Griffin, Sam Houston State University

• Elisa Toman, Sam Houston State University