250 <) (Corrections and Prison Practices—Adult: Forensics
institutional size as reported in 1990. McCorkle et ai, (1995) found that several
management variables were significant causes of individual-level violence. For ex-
ample, higher White-to-Black guard ratios were identified with higher rates ot
both inmate and staff assaults. Prisons in which a major percentage of the inmate
population involved itself in educational, vocational, and prison industry programs
had a lower incidence of violence against staff and inmates. Therefore, a conclusion
can be drawn that prisons depriving inmates of program involvement have a higher
incidence of violence than prisons that encourage program involvement.
Both individual and collective violence were more common in medium- and
maximum-security institutions than in minimum-security iacilities. Large prisons
reported slightly lower rates of inmate-on-inmate assaults. This study (McCorkle
et a!., 1995) found that external conditions play a role in influencing prison violence.
For example, prisons in states with high unemployment experienced lower rates of
inmate assaults than prisons in states with lower unemployment. One explanation
is that when there is high unemployment, parole boards may be more restrained
and less likely to grant early release. Under such conditions, there is less turnover
in prison populations, a factor proposed by some to be a major cause of prison
violence.
The results of the McCorkle et ai. (1995) study strongly suggest that poor correc-
tional management, such as lack of programs available to inmates, has a significant
effect on prison violence. The institutions with inadequate management were found
to have high levels of violence and the institutions with relatively good prison ad-
ministration had low levels of prison violence. Dilulio (1987) suggests that prison
violence, both individual and collective, is the result of failed prison management,
including security lapses, high staff turnover, a lack of discipline among guards, un-
searched inmates, and lack of prison programs. Useem and Kimball (1989) found
that organizational and management factors were the most important determinants
of prison violence.
The increase in the prisoner population, which now numbers more than 1
million, has been relentless since the 1980s and shows no signs of diminishing. The
consistent increase of the prison population since the late 1980s has been staggering.
For example, the number of prisoners in America increased by 115% (from 329,000
to 710,000) between 1980 and 1989 (Marquart et ai, 1994). Prison statistics such
as these raise the psychological issue: How can prison programs be effective to
inmates in an overcrowded facility? In response to this question, some researchers
engaged in a study focusing on the effects of prison overcrowding on correctional
educational programs.
Marquart and his coresearchers (1994) found that prison overcrowding de-
creases the opportunity for inmates to participate and complete prison education
programs. This study examined the Windham School System in Texas. Wind-
ham's mission is to raise inmate literacy levels as well as to provide prisoners with
vocational skills in order to enable them to join the workforce on release from
prison. Windham's academic programs are geared toward raising the functional