Annotated Bibliography
Huey, M. & Mcnulty, T. (2005). Institutional Conditions and Prison Suicide: Conditional Effects of Deprivation and Overcrowding. The Prison Journal, 85(4), 490-515.doi:10.1177/0032885505282258. Sage Publications.
The article studies the correlation between violence, mainly suicide, and the effects of prison overcrowding as it relates to prisoners, the economy and communities outside of prison. The author uses national data on prisons in the U.S in order to show the consequences such as suicide that prison overcrowding causes. The author believes that prison overcrowding is a pivotal part of prison which deprives prisoners of having a fair life in prison which results in depression then suicide. He examines two theories (deprivation theory and overcrowding theory), and how they relate to suicide.
The author then goes on to identify the causes of suicide in general and how they are applied in prison. He says that because so much of their time is spent idle, cramped up with other inmates, racial tensions, and the “fight or flight” response kicks in and it becomes too much for them. He evaluates the prisoner characteristics in order to determine likelihood of suicide. He talks a great deal about deprivation theory, stating that it predicts that prisons in which inmates experience a greater loss of freedom, have lesser controls of daily routines, and are denied access to rehabilitative programs will have a higher incidence of suicide.
Overcrowding theory stresses the effects of crowding on inmates and how they can adapt to prison life, which can give them a higher chance of committing suicide. As a result of the increase in populations, services that are crucial to the inmate’s survival are denied. The author breaks both sections of his article down to design the framework of his article. He drew the data up from the census collected in 1990 and 1995 which cover 1,287 state, federal, and private facilities. The
Bibliography: Huey, M. & Mcnulty, T. (2005). Institutional Conditions and Prison Suicide: Conditional Effects of Deprivation and Overcrowding. The Prison Journal, 85(4), 490-515.doi:10.1177/0032885505282258. Sage Publications. Kennedy, E. (1985). Prison Overcrowding: The law’s Dilemma. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 478(1), 113-122. doi: 10.1177/0002716285478001010. Sage Publications.