Adjustment to Prison of Women Convicted of Possession, Trafficking, and Nondrug Offenses

The present study investigates how female drug offenders adjust to their incarceration and whether there are detectable differences in the patterns of adjustment between women incarcerated for possession offenses, drug trafficking offenses, and nondrug offenses. Participants were 630 women incarcera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of drug issues 2002-10, Vol.32 (4), p.1033-1050
Main Author: Loper, Ann Booker
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Adjustment
Criminal offences
Drug Abuse
Drug Offenders
Drug Trafficking
Drugs
Female Offenders
Imprisonment
Mental Illness
Offenses
Predictors
Prisoners
Psychological Distress
USA
Women
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Summary:The present study investigates how female drug offenders adjust to their incarceration and whether there are detectable differences in the patterns of adjustment between women incarcerated for possession offenses, drug trafficking offenses, and nondrug offenses. Participants were 630 women incarcerated at a maximum security state prison who completed self-report adjustment measures. Results indicated that possession offenders reported less internal distress, lower levels of conflict, greater satisfaction with institutional conditions, and less of a tendency to view life in prison as worse than life outside than did women convicted of nondrug offenses. Possession offenders reported less internal distress and less conflict than did drug offenders incarcerated for trafficking offenses. Women convicted of possession offenses reported fewer mental illness symptoms than either the trafficking offenders or the nondrug offenders. Present results also confirmed that women of color are disproportionately represented within both drug offense groups.
ISSN:0022-0426
1945-1369
DOI:10.1177/002204260203200402