NCJ Number
81140
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1982) Pages: 72-81
Date Published
1982
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Offender classification, if properly conceived and used as a correctional management tool, could reduce the effects of prison overcrowding. However, prison overcrowding distorts current classification decisions, and some classification policies may even cause further overcrowding.
Abstract
When prisons are overcrowded, classification decisions are not only more haphazard but also more restrictive; that is, prisoners are 'overclassified.' The various programs open to inmates desiring to move up through the system are often closed because of overcrowding. Thus, many prisoners remain in maximum-security institutions. Overcrowding has three types of effects on the day-to-day prison operation: (1) fewer resources and space, (2) increased stress, and (3) classification errors. These errors include assigning inmates on the basis of space available, assigning special inmates (mentally retarded, drug addicts, etc.) to secure facilities, and regressive classification -- moving inmates to more secure facilities as punishment for infractions. Since classification results in the drawbacks of labeling, misclassification to a more secure facility can lead to the more severe effects of labeling. Classification guidelines often have much to do with administrative convenience and unsupported assumptions about predicting human behavior. The author contends that if prisoners were placed appropriately and given access to even a modest variety of activities and programs, they would more likely meet demands to change their behavior or at least conform to institutional expectations. Movement through and then out of the system would inevitably follow. Perhaps reliance on a quasi-rehabilitative, quasi-predictive model could be reduced, especially when it comes to parole decisions. Footnotes and an illustration are included.