The Consequences of Sanctioning Prisoners

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12411
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• Author: Thomas H. Cohen
• Date: 01 November 2018

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

WITHIN-PRISON SANCTIONING AND

RECIDIVISM

The Consequences of Sanctioning Prisoners

Examining the Relationship Between Within-Prison

Sanctioning and Recidivism

Thomas H. Cohen

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

The high recidivism rates among prisoners released into the community is a problem

of serious concern for researchers, policy makers, and the general public. The

Bureau of Justice Statistics(BJS) recently reported that within 9 years of release, an

estimated 83% of state prisoners were rearrested for new crimes (Alper and Durose, 2018).

Given these failure rates, it is incumbent on researchers and policy makers to develop

an understanding of offender life-course trajectories during their time in prison, when

negative events including the application of within-prison sanctions could have particularly

deleterious effects on their lives (Moffitt, 1993). Although within-prison sanctions are

crucial for maintaining safety and control in prison facilities, there is growing evidence

of a linkage between such sanctions and subsequent offender recidivism activity (Cochran

and Mears, 2017; Lovell, Johnson, and Cain, 2016). Specifically, within-prison sanctions

could place additional pressures on inmates’ negative life-course trajectory,resulting in their

further “ensnarement” into an antisocial lifestyle (Moffitt, 1993).

The importance of the ensnarement hypothesis as a theoretical framework in which to

understand the influence of within-prison sanctions on postrelease recidivism is discussed in

this innovative study by Ian Silver and Joseph Nedelec (2018: 1005–1035). Before delving

into the actual study and the policy essay by Zachary Hamilton and Elizabeth Drake

(2018: 1037–1048), I briefly place this research in the broader context of the ensnarement

hypothesis and the potential of this theoretical framework to explicate the linkage between

within-prison sanctions and reoffending behavior.

The views and opinions expressed in this essay are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views

of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts or the Federal Probation and Pretrial Services Office. Direct

correspondence to Thomas H. Cohen, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, One Columbus Circle, NE,

Washington, DC 20544 (e-mail: thomas_cohen@ao.uscourts.gov).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12411 C2018 American Society of Criminology 1001

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 17 rIssue 4