ABSTRACT

This chapter covers the prevalence of various types of prison violence including riots, gang violence, and violence perpetrated by individual prisoners and staff members. The reasons underlying the varying types of violence are explored, including the characteristics of violent prisoners and officers, and the structural and situational factors that promote violence at the individual and group level. Violence is considered by many to be an unavoidable element of prison life but it comes at a high cost, undermining the legitimacy of the prison as a component of our criminal justice system. It is our hope that understanding the contours and dynamics of prison violence, as reviewed in this chapter, will give rise to reforms that make prisons safer, more humane, and more just.