By Vasiliki Georgoulas-Sherry,  & Hanna Hernandez

Jail populations continue to be under-evaluated and under-researched. While there is a plethora of research on correctional incarcerated populations, there is a need to better assess jail populations as more people interact with these institutions. To evaluate and research this population, the Washington Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) applied for and received the 2021 State Justice Statistics (SJS) grant from Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Under this grant from BJS, the SAC will draw on the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC)'s Jail Booking and Reporting System (JBRS) to evaluate the potential demographic disparities by rates of days in jail and by rates of recidivism. Main conclusions: 1. The proportion of jailed individuals who spent an above average number of days in jail during their initial booking was higher for males, higher for individuals who were part of the BIPOC community and decreased with an increased age of 36 years of age and older. 2. On average, male jailed individuals who recidivated had more days in jail for their initial booking. And, on average, non-BIPOC jailed individuals who recidivated had more days in jail for their initial booking than BIPOC jailed individuals who recidivated. 3. The proportion of jailed individuals who spent an above average number of days in jail following recidivism was higher for males, and BIPOC jailed individuals who recidivated had more days in jail following recidivism. Age did not impact the number of days in jail following recidivism.

Olympia, WA: Washington State Statistical Analysis Center, 2022. 21p.

By Emily Lupton Lupez,  Steffie Woolhandler, ; David U. Himmelstein

Growing old and dying inside: improving the experiences of older people serving long prison sentences Dr Jayne Price In partnership with the Building Futures Programme. This report is an uncomfortable read, shining a stark light on the difficulties faced by the increasing number of older people serving long sentences. For me, four issues stand out from the consultation that underpins this report. First, the experiences of the men and women who took part powerfully illustrate the mismatch between the diverse needs of this often-hidden group of people and the rigidity of many prison regimes. These needs cannot be met by the prison system alone but raise important challenges for health and social care commissioners and providers, as well as external partners involved in the provision of purposeful activities. Second, that this activity is critical for many older people serving long sentences. But many find that few opportunities are available to them. For the ageing population future employment is less of a concern, how their time, often decades, can be spent productively and meaningfully in activities suited to their age and length of sentence. The testimonies here suggest that governors should enhance the role that prisoners themselves can play in supporting others. This report suggests that when encouraged effectively, those serving long sentences can help to fill the gaps that currently exist in many parts of the estate. Third, like much of PRT’s Building Futures Programme, this report demonstrates the value of enabling people with lived experience to engage in issues of operational and policy improvement and provides ideas for positive change. It also includes very personal, honest, and desperate reflections about the experience of incarceration. This underlines what we see at Recoop: many older people inside feel they are punished not just through losing their liberty but also through a series of humiliations and deprivations throughout their sentence, which can get harder as they age. Finally, those who participated in this report provide a painful reminder of the need for a national strategy for older prisoners; something promised by the government in 2020 but yet to be published. The pressure on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to provide decent, safe, and rehabilitative secure environments is probably as acute as it has ever been, particularly with the current and very real overcrowding challenges. This cannot be achieved without a comprehensive, integrated and estate-wide approach. The long-awaited older prisoner strategy must address the changes required, including ensuring funding and commissioning is in alignment. This requires joint working and commitment from the MoJ, Public Health and NHS England to fulfil their collective responsibilities to address the perfect storm of issues that is painfully illustrated in this report. Without this, it will not be able to deliver what is needed. 

London: Prison Reform Trust, 2024. 52p.

By Howard League for Penal Reform

Sentence inflation: a judicial critique “Overcrowding has had a mesmeric effect on the prison system and has absorbed energy which could have been used in improving prisons. In addition, prisons are expensive and have damaging effects on prisoners. It is therefore important… to reduce the prison population to an unavoidable minimum.” The Woolf Report, 1991 This paper, signed by the four surviving former Lords Chief Justice of England and Wales, and the only surviving President of the Queen’s Bench Division who was also Head of Criminal Justice, raises serious concerns about the state of sentencing law and practice in this country. It urges not merely the new government, but politicians of all parties, to reflect on Lord Woolf’s words above. In 1991 the prison population of England and Wales was just nudging 40,000. Today it stands at over 88,000 – of whom more than 80% are sentenced – and it has been rising steeply. We already have the highest rate of imprisonment per capita in Western Europe, and the Ministry of Justice’s own projections suggest that by March 2028 we face a ‘low’ scenario of 94,600, a ‘high’ scenario of 114,800, and a central estimate of 105,800. This forecast should be treated as unacceptable. There have been two main causes of the steady rise in prison numbers that has taken place since the Second World War. The first is a continuous escalation in the length of sentences imposed for more serious offences. The second is a lack of confidence in the efficacy of non-custodial sentences for less serious offences. These factors might have been offset if imprisonment had proved an occasion for effective rehabilitation, but it has not. Other causes include the increase in the requirement for many prisoners to serve twothirds of the sentence before release, and that licence conditions now apply for the entirety of the sentence. The number of prisoners recalled to prison during this period of supervision has soared. The construction of prison accommodation is unable to keep pace with the demand for prison spaces. The result is severely overcrowded prisons. As the new Prime Minister has made clear, we are close to breaking point. By the Ministry of Justice’s own measure, there are nearly 8,000 more people in prison than can be held in safety and decency. Reports of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), including a recent spate of Urgent Notifications of unacceptable prisons, evidence the scope and severity of the challenge. HMIP reports, along with those of the statutory Independent Monitoring Boards report poor physical conditions in many jails, the absence of meaningful activity for prisoners and diminishing safety across the estate. Population and staffing pressures mean that access to a useful daily regime, one which gives any opportunity for rehabilitation, is severely curtailed for most people in prison. Last year, HMIP found that 42% of those surveyed spent more than 22 hours a day in their cell, and that access to purposeful activity in the library, gym, employment and education was limited. Lack of purposeful activity has been repeatedly highlighted as HMIP’s biggest area of concern. To address the current crisis, the last government pursued a series of emergency measures that included reversing an increase in the sentencing powers of magistrates, releasing prisoners days early and delaying court processes likely to result in imprisonment. The new government has reduced the proportion of a sentence that many prisoners must serve before release on licence. Recent Court of Appeal rulings and statements from the Sentencing Council indicate that judges may have regard to the effect of prison overcrowding when passing sentence. From the outset we should be clear in our understanding that prisons hold many people who have committed very serious offences and who present a real danger to the public. In these cases, a substantial custodial sentence will be necessary and inevitable. However, in England and Wales, sentences for such offending have grown significantly over our time as judges. And this growth has resulted in the inflation of sentences across the board 

London: Howard League for Penal Reform, 2024. 14p.

By Ariel White and Avery Nguyen 

Recent debates about enfranchising incarcerated people raise the question of how many additional votes such policies would generate. Existing research finds very low voter participation among people previously convicted of felonies, but it remains unclear how often people might vote from prison if given the opportunity. We use data from states that allow people to vote while incarcerated for felony crimes to address this question. We merge prison records with the voter file to estimate how many currently incarcerated people are registered and voted in recent elections. Estimates suggest very few (under one in ten) eligible incarcerated voters in Vermont and Maine voted in the most recent congressional election. Given the winning margins in other states’ recent elections, these estimates suggest that enfranchising currently-incarcerated people would likely not have changed these election outcomes. We conclude that debates about enfranchisement should focus on normative issues and not anticipated electoral effects.

Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020.

By Maxim Ananyev, Mikhail Poyker:

Inmates' informal code regulates their behavior and attitudes. We investigate whether prisons contribute to the spread of these norms to the general population using an exogenous shock of the Soviet amnesty of 1953, which released 1.2 million prisoners. We document the spread of prison norms in localities exposed to the released ex-prisoners. As inmates' code also ascribes low status to persons perceived as passive homosexuals, in the long run, we find effects on anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, homophobic slurs on social media, and discriminatory attitudes.

ZA DP No. 17138\ Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics, 2024. 

By Maxim Ananyev, Mikhail Poyker:

Inmates' informal code regulates their behavior and attitudes. We investigate whether prisons contribute to the spread of these norms to the general population using an exogenous shock of the Soviet amnesty of 1953, which released 1.2 million prisoners. We document the spread of prison norms in localities exposed to the released ex-prisoners. As inmates' code also ascribes low status to persons perceived as passive homosexuals, in the long run, we find effects on anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, homophobic slurs on social media, and discriminatory attitudes.

IZA DP No. 17138\ Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics, 2024. 

By Maxim Ananyev, Mikhail Poyker:

Inmates' informal code often ascribes low status to persons perceived as passive homosexuals. We use longitudinal data to investigate whether prison experience contributes to anti-gay beliefs. We find that prison experience prompts a higher level of anti-gay sentiments among males and their families, while no discernible difference exists before incarceration. We find no effect for female ex-prisoners. We confirm that the results are not driven by pre-incarceration trends, changes in trust and social capital, socioeconomic status, mental health, masculinity norms, and other potential alternative explanations. Our study sheds light on the overlooked role of prisons as a significant contributor to the propagation of anti-gay attitudes.

IZA DP No. 17137 Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics, 2024. 

By Julian V. Johnsen, Laura Khoury:

Peer actions play a key role in the criminal sector due to its secrecy and lack of formal institutions. A significant part of criminal peer exposure that happens in prison, is directly influenced by policymakers. This paper provides a broader understanding of how peer effects shape criminal behavior among prison inmates, focusing on co-inmate impacts on recidivism and criminal network formation. Using Norwegian register data on over 140,000 prison spells, we causally identify peer effects through within-prison variation in peers over time. Our analysis reveals several new insights. First, exposure to more experienced co-inmates increases recidivism. Second, exposure to "top criminals" (i.e. those with extreme levels of criminal experience) plays a distinctive role in shaping these recidivism patterns. Third, inmates form lasting criminal networks, as proxied by post-incarceration co-offending. Fourth, homophily intensifies these peer effects. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of peer influences in criminal activities and offer practical insights for reducing recidivism through strategic inmate grouping and prison management policies.

Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics - IZA, 2024.