Institutional aggression

• Dispositional explanation? (part 1)

  • Prisoners bring a subculture of criminality with them, including their own beliefs and values that influence behaviour outside and inside the prison. 
  • People are not blank slates and their use of violence reflects their time before they were put in prison where they used violence regularly. 
• Dispositional explanation (part 2)

  • Prisoners have a code of the streets where they use violence to establish power and respect.
  • It is argued that aggression is the result of these individual characteristics and not the prison environment.
  • The individuals would use violence regardless of the environment. 
• Dispositional explanation part 3?

  • Gang membership is a key way of importing these values as gangs are linked to violence and other anti-social behaviours.
  • A study of over 1000 inmates done by Drury and Delisi (2011) found that pre-prison gang members were likely to commit misconduct in prison including murder and hostage taking.
  • Thomas and McManimon (2005 said “people who prey on people in the streets will also prey on people in prison”. 
• Supporting study for dispositional explanation?

  • Supporting evidence comes from Camp and Gaes (2005) who studied 561 male inmates who were matched on previous criminal history and a predisposition to aggression.
  • Half were placed in the lowest security prison and half in the 2nd highest security prison.
  • They found that in the lowest security prison there was 33% in the lower security prison and 36% in the other prison for aggressive misconduct.
  • This shows a lack of significant difference between environments suggesting that it was dispositional factors that had a more significant impact.
• Reductionist - dispositional factors?

  • Reductionist - contradictory evidence from Dilulio et al (1991) - importation model only focuses prison violence to dispositional factors.
  • The role of prison staff and running must also be considered.
  • Dilulio says that poorly run prisons will involve the most violence like riots.
  • Poor management like weak and indecisive leadership, a culture of informal and unofficial rules are more important factors than innate personalities.
  • This suggests disposition factors are not as important in prison violence as first suggested.
• Situational explanation of institutional aggression?

  • Harsh prison environment causes prisoner violence.
  • The deprivation model explains that prisoners are deprived of so many things like heterosexual intimacy, resources and even safety.
  • Some deal with this by becoming secluded and withdrawn but others may lash out in prisoner violence against others.
  • It is important as it increases competition amongst prisoners. 
• Examples of situational factors?

  • Cooke et al (2008) highlighted these factors 
  • Overcrowding: Research shows violence like riots have been contributed to by overcrowding
  • Heat and noise: Prisons tend to be hot and noisy, which can raise tempers. Griffitt and Veitch showed studies on students that in high population density and higher temperatures, it led to negative emotions than comfortable temperatures and low population densities. 
  • Job burnout - When staff are psychologically and physically worn out, they may treat the prisoners worse and also lead to a decline in function of the prison. 
• Supporting study for situational explanation??

  • Supporting study - Cunningham (2010) - They analysed 35 inmate homicides in Texas prisons.
  • They found that the motivations behind the killings was due to deprivation.
  • It was also found that there were arguments over drugs and personal possessions.
  • This therefore supports predictions made by the theory that it is the prison environment that causes aggression
• Criticism study of situational explanation?

  • Hensley et al (2002) studied 256 males and female inmates in two prisons in Mississippi which allow conjugal visits.
  • They found no link between visits and reduced aggression, which contradicts the explanation that deprivation of freedom and heterosexual relationships increases aggression.
  • It could be argued that this is a specific environmental factor and there are loads of the other environmental factors affecting aggression.
• Point of conclusion?

  
  

  • Both dispositional and situational explanations have supporting evidence. An interactionist model may be the best explanation of institutional aggression. Both theories are valid.
• Rest of conclusion?

  • Deprivation does not necessarily lead to violence and individual characteristics would make it happen when combined in prison. Aggressive prisoners imported into a deprived prison are a massive problem. 
  • However, some researchers suggest that dispositional factors are a better explanation of inmate on inmate violence and situational explanations of deprivation may be better at explaining aggression.