Abstract
Correctional facilities have a discernible social climate, or collection of contextual properties that derive in part from the perceptions of inmates. These properties include the physical, organizational, social, and emotional characteristics of correctional institutions. Social climate directly influences the attitudes and behavior of inmates, their well-being, and prison management. The present study describes the results of an applied research project conducted in association with a government agency that audits Ohio’s prisons and youth facilities through site inspection visits and survey data. The agency’s questionnaires, as well as the procedures used to sample inmates and administer the instruments, were evaluated to determine the degree to which they accurately reflected the perceptions of inmates and the social climate of the correctional institutions. We identified several problems related to survey construction and administration. The results suggest that the surveys are at least to some degree not measuring several important dimensions of the correctional environment and the experiences of inmates as intended.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2003). The psychology of criminal behavior (3rd. ed.). Cincinnati: Anderson.
Bressington, D., Stewart, B., Beer, D., & MacInnes, D. (2011). Levels of service user satisfaction in secure settings: A survey of the association between perceived social climate, perceived therapeutic relationship and satisfaction with forensic services. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48(11), 1349–1356.
Camp, S. D. (1999). Do inmate survey data reflect prison conditions? Using surveys to assess prison conditions of confinement. The Prison Journal, 79(2), 250–268.
Camp, S. D., Gaes, G. G., & Saylor, W. G. (2002). Quality of prison operations in the US federal sector: A comparison with a private prison. Punishment & Society, 4(1), 27–53.
Day, A., S. Casey, J. Vess, & G. Huisy (2011). Assessing the social climate of prisons. Report to the Criminology Research Council (February).
Day, A., Casey, S., Vess, J., & Huisy, G. (2012). Assessing the therapeutic climate of prison. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(2), 156–168.
Flesch, R. (1948). A new readability yardstick. Journal of Applied Psychology, 32 (3), 221–233.
Flesch, R. (1950). Measuring the level of abstraction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 34(6), 384–390.
Garrido, V. & L.A. Morales (2007). Serious (violent or chronic) juvenile offenders: A systemic review of treatment effectiveness in secure corrections. Campbell Collaboration.
Gendreau, P. & D.A. Andrews (1994). The correctional program evaluation inventory. Unpublished manuscript. University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Liebling, A., Hulley, S., & Crewe, B. (2012). Conceptualizing and measuring the quality of prison life. In D. Gadd, S. Karstedt, & S. F. Messner (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Criminological Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
MacKenzie, D. L., Styve, G. J., & Gover, A. R. (1998). Performance-based standards for juvenile corrections. Corrections Management Quarterly, 2(2), 28–35.
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. (2001). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
McHugh, R. K., Sugarman, D. E., Kaufman, J. S., Park, S., Weiss, R. D., & Greenfield, S. F. (2014). Readability of self-report alcohol misuse measures. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(2), 328–334.
Moos, R. H. (1974). Evaluating treatment environments: A social ecological approach. New York: Wiley.
Moos, R. H. (1975). Evaluating correctional and community settings. New York: Wiley Inter-science.
Rogers, R., Harrison, K. S., Shuman, D. W., Sewell, K. W., & Hazelwood, L. L. (2007). An analysis of Miranda warnings and waivers: Comprehension and coverage. Law and Human Behavior, 31(2), 177–192.
Ross, M. W., Diamond, P. M., Liebling, A., & Saylor, W. G. (2008). Measurement of prison social climate: A comparison of an inmate measure in England and the US. Punishment & Society, 10(4), 447–474.
Ross, M. W., Liebling, A., & Tait, S. (2011). The relationships of prison climate to health service in correctional environments: Inmate healthcare measurement, satisfaction, and access in prison. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 50(3), 262–274.
Saylor, W. G. (1984). Surveying prison environments. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Saylor, W. G. (1996). Prison social climate survey: Reliability and validity analyses of the work environment constructs. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Schalast, N., Redies, M., Collins, M., Stacey, J., & Howells, K. (2008). EssenCES, a short questionnaire for assessing the social climate of forensic psychiatric wards. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 18(1), 49–58.
Schubert, C. A., Mulvey, E. P., Loughran, T. A., & Loyosa, S. H. (2012). Perceptions of institutional experience and community outcomes for serious adolescent offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(1), 71–93.
Singleton, R. A., & Straits, B. C. (2005). Approaches to social research (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith, C. E. (2007). Prisoner's rights in the Renquist court era. Prison Journal, 87(4), 457–476.
Sudman, S. (1976). Applied sampling. New York: Academic Press.
Toch, H. (1977). Living in prison: The ecology of survival. New York: Free Press.
Toch, H. (2008). Punitiveness as behavior management. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(3), 388–397.
Toch, H., & Kupers, T. A. (2007). Violence in prisons revisited. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 45(3/4), 1–28.
Tonkin, M. (2016). A review of questionnaire measures for assessing the social climate in prisons and forensic psychiatric hospitals. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 60(12), 1376–1405.
UCLA Institute for Digital Research and Education: Statistical Consulting (n.d.). How can I perform a factor analysis with categorical (or categorical and continuous) variables? Stata FAQ from https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stata/faq/how-can-i-perform-a-factor-analysis-with-categorical-or-categorical-and-continuous-variables/.
Van der Helm, P., Klapwijk, M., Stams, G., & van der Helm, P. (2009). What works for juvenile prisoners: The role of group climate in a youth prison. Journal of Children's Services, 4(2), 36–48.
Van der Helm, P., Stams, G. J., & van der Laan, P. (2011). Measuring group climate in prison. The Prison Journal, 91(2), 158–176.
Velez, P., & Ashworth, S. D. (2007). The impact of item readability on the endorsement of the midpoint response in surveys. Survey Research Methods, 1(2), 69–74.
Wright, K. N. (1985). Developing the prison environment inventory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 22(3), 257–277.
Wright, K. N. (1993). Prison environment and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 20, 93–113.
Funding
The authors received funding for the initial evaluation study from the Ohio Consortium of Crime Sciences (a project of the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services supported by Award No. 2013-dB-BX-0044, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Burek, M.W., Liederbach, J.C. Tell us how you Really Feel: Validating an Inmate Social Climate Survey. Am J Crim Just 46, 209–231 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09570-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09570-0