Physical Environment and Jail Social Climate

Abstract

Do positive alterations in the physical environment of correctional facilities result in improvements in the attitudes and feelings of correctional officers or prisoners? The demolition of a bastille-type county jail in Oregon and its replacement with an ultra-modern facility provided an opportunity to address this question. The Moos Correctional Institution Environment Scale (CIES) was administered to staff and prisoners in the old and new jail and also in two “control” jails where no physical alterations took place. The results showed no changes in inmate responses to the CIES in any of the jails, while some improvement in scores for correctional officers in the new jail were noted. The data seem to confirm the long-held suspicion that the physical attractiveness of institutional facilities has little to do with the attitudes of prisoners toward these places.