Race and Economic Marginality in Explaining Prison Adjustment

Abstract

A common theme found in the prison literature suggests that blacks, because of their experience in the modern urban ghetto, are more resilient to the pains of incarceration. Ghetto life supposedly socializes the individual to engage in self-protection against the hostile social environment of the slum and the cold and unpredictable prison setting. Two images of the male black inmate are found in the literature: Carroll describes the black prisoner as tough, domineering, and aggressive, while Johnson suggests that he is strong, stoic, and unmoved by pressure. A review of the empirical research about race and adjustment reveals that support for either of these images is mixed. Using multiple indicators of distress and aggressive behavior, this study finds that, with the exception of self-inflicted injury, blacks and whites experience incarceration similarly. Outcome results were corroborated by findings that blacks and whites have similar environmental needs and rate their prison settings similarly. Some support for the claim that a more economically marginal life-style before incarceration is related to successful adjustment was found, yet this was true independent of race. These findings lead to the conclusion that racial distinctions are not universal, and the practice of suggesting that blacks adapt one way and whites another leads to inappropriate conclusions about patterns of prison adjustment.