Drug History and Prisonization: Toward Understanding Variations in Inmate Institutional Adaptations

The study links the prior drug-use history with adjustment to prison life for a group of 72 medium-security inmates in a Southwestern prison. An overarching concept in our analysis is prisonization, especially as adoption of the inmate code affects staff rejection. Inmates with histories of drug use, particularly major illicit drug groups such as cocaine and opiates, may be viewed as "life's losers," a condition that seems associated with deeper penetration into the prison subculture and higher levels of institutional maladjustment.