Being Assigned Work in Prison: Do Gender and Race Matter?

• Author: Courtney A. Crittenden,Barbara A. Koons-Witt,Robert J. Kaminski
• DOI: 10.1177/1557085116668990
• Date: 01 October 2018
• Published date: 01 October 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085116668990

Feminist Criminology

2018, Vol. 13(4) 359 –381

© The Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/1557085116668990

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Article

Being Assigned Work in

Prison: Do Gender and Race

Matter?

Courtney A. Crittenden1, Barbara A. Koons-Witt2,

and Robert J. Kaminski2

Abstract

With a majority of inmates being assigned some type of work while incarcerated,

work assignments are a staple of U.S. prisons. These work assignments are likely to

impact not only prisoner behavior while in prison, but also may impact their ability

to obtain gainful employment after prison. Historically, it has been noted that work

in prison has been influenced by gender and racial norms and stereotypes. These

stereotypical assignments may not be beneficial for inmates, especially in a time when

work assignments are increasingly providing the only work skills inmates may receive

while incarcerated. Using a nationwide data set of prisoners incarcerated facilities, the

current study uses multilevel modeling to examine the nature of work assignments

for male and female state prisoners and whether these assignments are based on

gender and/or racial stereotypes. Results indicate that there are indeed lingering

stereotypes influencing work assignments for men and women in U.S. prisons.

Keywords

female inmates, institutional corrections, intersections of race/class/gender, prison

programs, survey research

Introduction

Work assignments are highly common across U.S. prisons with over one half of

inmates being assigned some type of work during their incarceration (Stephan, 2008).

First introduced in penitentiaries as a way to keep inmates busy based on the premise

1The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Knoxville, USA

2University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

Corresponding Author:

Courtney A. Crittenden, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 615 McCallie Avenue,

Chattanooga, TN 37403, USA.

Email: courtney-crittenden@utc.edu

668990FCXXXX10.1177/1557085116668990Feminist CriminologyCrittenden et al.

research-article2016

360 Feminist Criminology 13(4)

that “idle hands are the devil’s playground,” this idea still holds true today. Idleness

among inmates has been claimed to be destructive to rehabilitation (Batchelder &

Pippert, 2002), and it is believed that when inmates are kept busy the amount of mis-

conduct problems in an institution will decline (Roberts, 1997). Additionally, when

inmates are busy, the stress among staff within a facility tends to decrease (Batchelder

& Pippert, 2002). Work helps offset the expenses of running prisons because inmates

can complete many of the tasks needed to help with prison operations and can help

lower maintenance costs as well (Batchelder & Pippert, 2002; Flanagan, 1989;

National Institute of Corrections, 1992). Work might also provide viable work skills

for inmates once they are released from prison (Flanagan, 1989), depending on the

type of work an inmate performs. Thus, it is no surprise that work assignments are

usually found in contemporary prisons.

As these work assignments are so common, they may also be the only work experi-

ences that individuals receive during their incarceration. Arguably, work assignments

are provided in prisons to give inmates an opportunity to gain meaningful employment

skills that may increase their abilities to find jobs upon release (Thompson, 2011).

This idea is especially important because vocational programs along with other reha-

bilitative programs have been cut in prisons due to budget shortages (Batchelder &

Pippert, 2002; Porter, 2011). As more prison programming options are eliminated or

scaled back, work assignments may become the only work experience an inmate might

receive. Considering that work skills have been identified as influential factors in suc-

cessful rehabilitation and reintegration (Cullen & Jonson, 2011), the types of work

inmates are assigned and the skills they are learning with this work are increasingly

important. Additionally, literature has shown that many inmates lack job skills or have

unstable employment histories (Ramakers, van Wilsem, Nieuwbeerta, & Dirkzwager,

2015) which make reentry more difficult and the need for programs and job skills even

greater.

Current literature regarding work assignments in contemporary prisons shows that

assignments are divided into three principle activities: prison industry, institutional

maintenance or service tasks, and agriculture (Flanagan, 1989). The most common

work assignments in prisons consist of facility support (e.g., office administration,

food service, and building maintenance) followed by public works (Cullen & Jonson,

2011), both of which involve institutional maintenance or service tasks. Historically,

and even more recently, research on prison work has noted that too often work duties,

and other correctional policies, programs, and services in prison are influenced by

stereotypes and controlling images (Franklin, 2008; Grana, 2010; Lee, 2000; Morash,

Haarr, & Rucker, 1994; Morash & Robinson, 2002), meaning that frequently people

are grouped into work areas based on what are perceived to be “appropriate tasks” for

certain gender and racial groupings. For example, work such as sewing, cooking, and

domestic tasks have been assigned to women (Franklin, 2008; Grana, 2010; Lee, 2000;

Morash et al., 1994), whereas men have been assigned tasks such as public works or

farming (Morash et al., 1994). This highlights the belief that women should be

reformed through domestic training (Labelle & Kubiak, 2004; Rafter, 1990), whereas

men are capable of more skilled and labor-based tasks. However, these examinations