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32 J. Quantitative Criminology 1 (2016)

handle is hein.journals/jquantc32 and id is 1 raw text is: J Quant Criminol (2016) 32:1-22 DOI 10.1007/s10940-015-9250- CrossMark Exploring the Effect of Exposure to Short-Term Solitary Confinement Among Violent Prison Inmates Robert G. Morris Published online: 24 January 2015 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract Objectives This study tracked the behavior of male inmates housed in the general inmate populations of 70 different prison units from a large southern state. Each of the inmates studied engaged in violent misconduct at least once during the first 2 years of incarceration (n = 3,808). The goal of the study was to isolate the effect of exposure to short-term solitary confinement (SC) as a punishment for their initial act of violent behavior on the occurrence and timing of subsequent misconduct. Methods This study relied upon archival longitudinal data and employed a multilevel counterfactual research design (propensity score matching) that involved tests for group differences, event history analyses, and trajectory analyses. Results The results suggest that exposure to short-term solitary confinement as a pun- ishment for an initial violence does not appear to play a role in increasing or decreasing the probability, timing, or development future misconduct for this particular group on inmates. Conclusions Upon validation, these findings call for continued research and perhaps a dialog regarding the utility of solitary confinement policies under certain contexts. This unique study sets the stage for further research to more fully understand how solitary impacts post-exposure behavior. Keywords Solitary confinement - Punitive segregation - Corrections - Inmate misconduct Introduction In recent decades, prison scholars have investigated the impact of solitary confinement (SC) on the psychological and physical health of prison inmates. Unfortunately, however, R. G. Morris (E) Criminology Program, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, GR 31, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA e-mail: morris@utdallas.edu Springer