Prison characteristics as predictors of violent and drug misconduct An explorative study

Violence and drug use in prison pose a considerable risk to the safety and health of inmates and prison staff and might also impact inmates' rehabilitation. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine which variables predict inmate misconduct. Most of this research has focused on inmate characteristics only. However, an increasing number of studies investigate the prison facilities' characteristics and their impact on inmate misconduct. Adding to this research, we examined which characteristics of prisons and their inmate populations are related to drug use and violent misconduct among male inmates of 18 prisons in Germany. The results indicate that some prison-level variables are associated with inmate misconduct. Specifically, violent misconduct was significantly related to the overall inmate-staff-relationship in the prison, and the proportion of inmates having a migration background. Drug use, on the other hand, was significantly associated with the prison's size, and the proportion of inmates having a migration background.