US inmates stage nationwide prison labor strike over 'modern slavery'

[janterry]

14. You bring up a good point

I have not done a proper lit review of prison research. When I was conducting research (I've done a little bit), it wasn't in the prisons. That's why I was clear with my own limitations.

However, I have pulled some of it, and as you might realize, prison populations are notoriously difficult to study. The last DOJ study of public/private prisons - looking at violence behind bars - was (according to an article in Mother Jones just last year) in 2001.

There are plenty of small scale studies, but I guess that was the last big one by DOJ. What I can tell you is that a survey of a prison is very complicated in general - I know that when auditors came into one of my prisons, an inmate told me that she didn't report about abuses because she didn't want to get into trouble (or get anyone else into trouble). This was when an auditor asked her in sotto voce. I think he left feeling like he had quietly gotten the 'skinny.' As it turned out, he had not.

Even my men were careful with what they said. They didn't want any retaliations and, sometimes, didn't want to get guards into trouble. You just put your head down and do your time - that's the motto of most prisoners. Anyway, I won't go into all of the confounds - but leave it to - when folks are IN prison, it's hard to good information and when they leave prison......they tend to want to have nothing to do with the state, researchers - anyone. So, information post-prison is also hard.

My interest, of course, is in rehabilitation programs (I worked in a substance abuse treatment program) and I can say that in FL, most programs were lacking.

Sure, on paper they had programs. But few benefited from them - I mean got a certificate that translated to a job post-prison. If I were designing a study, I might want to compare the Feds with the state prisons. As I've mentioned, the Federal system has GREAT programs. Programs offer hope (not just skills, though it 'for sure' offers that). Plus it helps control every day problems (you have something to do all day!)

At least in FL (and again, as I and you noted , in my limited experience - the state prisons had good programs on paper, but terrible ones IRL. They really didn't work.

I will add one thing about violence in the prisons. When you have 120 men in a single room, with no programs (or suck-y programs)......and all day long they are 'on top of each other). And it's hot (at least two of the prisons I worked at in FL had no air conditioning). Violence happens. Men get on each others nerves, they gamble (always a problem) and all kinds of other things.

No one could control that. Guards used all kinds of techniques to control it (good and bad - sometimes very bad). But imagine you're there - in the bubble - with one other guard watching 120 men.

Here's link to a picture of what it looked like (not of my prison, but another one I found online. This was similar to FL).
http://www.apr.org/post/prison-reform-alabamas-overcrowding-problem