Inmates and Prison Involvement With Drugs

• Author: David Patrick Connor,Richard Tewksbury
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1043986216672770
• Subject Matter: Articles

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2016, Vol. 32(4) 426 –445

© The Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986216672770

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Article

Inmates and Prison

Involvement With Drugs:

Examining Drug-Related

Misconduct During

Incarceration

David Patrick Connor1 and Richard Tewksbury2

Abstract

Using data from one Midwestern state, the present study focuses on the importation

and deprivation characteristics of 543 adult inmates to identify the types of inmates

who participate in drug-related behavior during their incarceration. Overall, findings

reveal that currently or formerly married inmates, as well as those engaged in general

prison misconduct, were more likely to be involved in drug-related activity behind

bars. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for policy and

practice are discussed.

Keywords

drugs, drugs inside prisons, prison misconduct, disciplinary infraction

Introduction

Inmates confined inside prisons across the United States are forbidden from possess-

ing, using, and distributing illicit drugs. The rationale behind prohibiting drugs in the

general population is often based on their negative effects (Inciardi, 2008; National

Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010). In a similar vein, administrators of correctional insti-

tutions recognize that drugs are problematic inside prisons for at least three reasons.

First, the presence of drugs may lead to institutional violence (Feucht & Keyser, 1999;

1Seattle University, Seattle, WA, USA

2University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

Corresponding Author:

David Patrick Connor, Department of Criminal Justice, Seattle University, 901 12th Avenue, P.O. Box

222000, Seattle, WA 98122, USA.

Email: connord@seattleu.edu

672770CCJXXX10.1177/1043986216672770Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeConnor and Tewksbury

research-article2016

Connor and Tewksbury 427

Prendergast, Campos, Farabee, Evans, & Martinez, 2004). Inmates who use drugs may

subsequently behave in aggressive and hostile ways that facilitate violent acts. At the

same time, the distribution of drugs supports violence behind bars, as debts and dis-

agreements between drug dealers and clients are often resolved through assaults and

killings (Pollock, 2013). Further, physical force may become a standard response used

by drug dealers who must react to competitors, informants, thieves, and inmates who

are unwilling to involve themselves and their visitors in drug smuggling. Second,

inmates who use drugs while incarcerated may experience emotional and physical

complications, including anxiety, depression, paranoia, and panic attacks (Williamson

et al., 1997), and they may spread infectious diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and

hepatitis C, throughout correctional institutions. Intravenous drug users behind bars,

for instance, commonly share needles and other equipment (Dolan, Wodak, Hall,

Gaughwin, & Rae, 1996; Shewan, Gemmell, & Davies, 1994).

Third, the financial costs associated with institutional drug activity emerge as per-

haps the most salient concern. In terms of violence that results from the presence of

drugs, such disruptive activity inside prisons may lead to greater expenses associated

with its negative repercussions, like inmate and staff member injury and destruction of

property and infrastructure. Each incident of inmate misconduct, on average, costs

approximately $1,000 (Lovell & Jemelka, 1996). The liabilities posed by inmate mis-

conduct, resulting litigation, and the potential need for constructing higher security

prisons are likely to make such costs even greater (Tewksbury, Connor, & Denney,

2014). Further, inmates with emotional and physical complications (e.g., infectious

diseases) may require long-term care, including various medications for treatment,

creating a significant financial burden. Inmates with HIV may cost correctional sys-

tems at least $10,000 each year, on top of the annual expenses of housing them (Potter

& Rosky, 2014). Moreover, liabilities may be presented if inmates contract infectious

diseases or develop other health issues due to drug activity while incarcerated, increas-

ing financial responsibility.

Because drug-related pursuits by inmates are considered activities that may lead to

institutional violence, health problems, and significant financial costs, such behavior

is universally defined as illegal inside U.S. correctional institutions. This does not

mean, however, that inmates universally refrain from drug-related activity while incar-

cerated. Conditions of confinement may increase the desire to engage in drug-related

behavior (Stark, Herrmann, Ehrhardt, & Bienzle, 2006; Swann & James, 1998), and

illicit drugs are often pervasive inside prisons and entrenched in prison culture (Cope,

2000; Gillespie, 2005; Inciardi, Lockwood, & Quinlan, 1993). Indeed, despite their

inability to openly possess, use, and distribute drugs inside prisons, some inmates may

be willing to risk institutional detection and punishment to become involved in drug-

related pursuits. Inmates who engage in such activity behind bars may also be more

likely to continue such pursuits after confinement and ultimately return to prisons.

Thus, identifying the types of inmates who are most likely to be involved in drug-

related activity behind bars is an important issue to address, as it may help to alleviate

problems associated with institutional security, inmate health, correctional expendi-

tures, and inmate reentry.