An Empirical Examination of the In-Prison Behaviors of Foreign-Born Individuals: Does Nationality Predict Misconduct?

Abstract

The current study investigates how immigrants cope and adapt to the “pains of imprisonment” by examining a specific maladjustment outcome—disciplinary infractions. Like other groups (e.g., females, LGBTQ, elderly), immigrants are regarded as a special population in prison considering that they encounter a unique set of challenges that the typical incarcerated person does not. At the same time, immigrants are not a monolithic group, and there are reasons why misconduct may differ when we separate them by country of birth. To this end, we explore whether the frequency and probability for institutional misconduct varies across Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, Jamaicans, Mexicans, as well as immigrants from other countries. We also consider whether any nationality group exhibits a higher (or lower or similar) propensity for in-prison offending than the native-born. Our results reveal there are greater differences in disciplinary infractions among our foreign-born groups than between them and natives, a finding that is obscured when immigrants are lumped into a single measure (i.e., all foreign-born).