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4: The Inmate

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    70569

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    clipboard_e1b70cabd6a83576473119dfeefd231e7.png
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): GED graduation ceremony at Pleasant Valley State Prison, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA)

    In order to effectively manage a correctional facility, either a jail or prison, administrators or wardens have to be able to accommodate a highly diverse inmate population. A warden is typically a the highest ranked prison administrator who is responsible for the overall operation of the institution. There are people from all walks of life who engage in criminal behavior, from the affluent to the finically challenged to the impressionable lemming to the powerful leader. In fact, the amount of people who commit crime versus the amount of people who are actually arrested, tried in court and sentenced for their criminal behavior is over 10 times more. On average, if 100 people commit crimes, it’s believed that over half of those crimes go unreported and the other 80% of the 50 crimes (40 crimes) that are reported, go unsolved. That's right around 10% of the original 100 who were charged. And of that 10 people who are sentenced, less than a quarter are incarcerated. (M. Ybarra 2025)

    So, what type of person is actually being sentenced to either jail or prison? Well, there are two major types of people who engage in crime. They are the situational criminal and the career criminal. A situational criminal, also known as an occasional criminal only commits crime under specific circumstances but is not normally driven to commit crime and is unlikely to repeat the offense.17

    People who engage in crimes of passion or spontaneity fit the description of a situational criminal. A career criminal, also known as a repeat offender or habitual offender is a person who is convicted of a crime who was previously convicted of similarly situated crimes and usually makes a living through criminal enterprise.18

    These people view their periods of incarceration and contacts with law enforcement as hazards of the job and a normal part of the life they lead. When they are caught, many of them use inmate contacts within the institution to learn from and sharpen their criminal craft for the next time they are released. (M. Ybarra 2025)

    • 4.1: Institutional Demographics
      This page provides an overview of the U.S. incarceration landscape in 2023, noting that 59% of inmates are in state prisons, with significant racial disparities and an aging population. It highlights the prevalence of drug offenses and systemic issues within the criminal justice system.
    • 4.2: Terms and Critical Thinking Questions
      This page provides an overview of key terms in crime and prison administration, including definitions of warden, types of criminals, and specific offenses like drug and sex crimes. It discusses the Uniform Crime Report, crime issues such as rape and child molestation, prison gangs, inmate codes, and institutionalization. It also includes critical thinking questions about crime motivations, treatment program effectiveness, and challenges in managing gang members in California prisons.

    17Wikipedia, 2017

    18Wikipedia, 2024

    This page titled 4: The Inmate was last modified on Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:16:56 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Myron H. Ybarra.