Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Prison Journal Abstracts

The Prison Journal, Vol. 87, No. 3, 295-310 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0032885507304525
Model-Based Estimates of HIV Acquisition Due to Prison Rape

Steven D. Pinkerton, Carol L. Galletly, David W. Seal, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Nearly 1.4 million men are incarcerated in federal and state prisons in the United States. These men are disproportionately affected by HIV in comparison with the at-large male population. The elevated prevalence of HIV infection in U.S. prisons has raised concerns over the potential for intraprison HIV transmission due to rape and other forms of sexual victimization. However, the number of men who acquire HIV after being raped in U.S. prisons is not known. We developed a mathematical model of HIV transmission to estimate the likelihood that an incarcerated man would become infected as a result of prison rape and to provide preliminary estimates of the number of prison rape victims who acquire HIV. Our results suggest that between 43 and 93 currently incarcerated men already have or will acquire HIV as a result of being raped in prison.

The Prison Journal, Vol. 87, No. 3, 311-327 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0032885507304351
Educational Opportunities Within Correctional Institutions
Does Facility Type Matter?


Lauren O'Neill and Doris Layton MacKenzie, University of Maryland, College Park
David M. Bierie, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, D.C.

Prior research suggests that educational opportunities during incarceration can help prepare one for reentry into the community and are effective in reducing recidivism. This article evaluates the differences between education programs offered at two Maryland State Correctional Facilities. Inmates serving a "six and out" sentence were randomly assigned to either the Herman L. Toulson Boot Camp or a traditional facility, Metropolitan Transition Center. Both facilities were to provide the same educational opportunities to inmates. The differences between the education provided at these facilities and the impact of these programs on the inmates' ability to obtain a General Equivalency Diploma while incarcerated are evaluated. Findings suggest that inmates have better access to education and are more successful at educational achievement in the small therapeutic environment provided at the boot camp. If replicated, the findings would support policies for increasing resources for educational programming at traditional facilities and design/implementation guidelines for successful therapeutic facilities.

The Prison Journal, Vol. 87, No. 3, 271-294 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0032885507304636
The Muncy Way
The Reformatory Ideal at the End of the 20th Century


Matthew Silberman, Bucknell University

Despite efforts to bring parity to women's prisons, the reformatory ideal still played an important role in shaping the daily routines of incarcerated women in Pennsylvania at the end of the 20th century. Programs at Muncy, the only maximum security prison for women in Pennsylvania, emphasized their special needs as victims of physical and sexual abuse. Traditional emphasis on training for domestic life was transformed into a therapeutically oriented focus on emotional control. Relying on data from a survey and interviews conducted with women incarcerated at Muncy in 1999, this article describes the gendered nature of prison life and the way in which treatment programs for women were transformed from an emphasis on restoring moral virtue to fallen women to providing therapy for the mentally ill.

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