Name of Report: Rhode Island Department of Corrections Mid-Year Report Calendar Year 2002
Organizational Affiliation: Rhode Island Department of Corrections Author: Ashbel T. Wall (The Planning & Research Unit Administrative Division of the RI Department of Corrections)
Contact Information: Bree Derrick, Principle Planner. Department of Corrections. The John O. Pastore Government Center . 40 Howard Ave. Cranston , RI 02920 . 401-462-2611
Date: June 2002
Pages: 34
Content Summary
This report primarily provides data on the prison population of the RI Department of Corrections during midyear 2002. While some of the data displays the incarceration population rates from the fiscal year 1993 until 2002, most of the data pertains to the population as of June 30, 2002. The report is composed primarily of charts, tables, and graphs that break down the various factors that contributed to the characteristics of the prison makeup. The majority of data is broken down primarily by sex, while some of the information is categorized by race and age. Located at the bottom of each page of the report is a succinct summary of all the chief findings. Basic information one can expect to find in the report includes the different reasons for incarceration, the population of people awaiting trial, the number and length of sentences for inmates. Moreover, one can expect to find the amount of prisoners kept in the different levels of security as well as the percentage of individuals on home confinement, probation, or parole. The report concludes with a page of tables that illustrate the race and gender dynamics of the RIDOC workforce.
Major Findings
In the span of just nine years, the prison population has had a net increase of 22%. Moreover during the same period of time, the amount of females sentenced for crimes nearly doubled. The findings also demonstrate that female offenders were mostly charged with committing nonviolent crimes such as prostitution and shoplifting whereas male offenders were responsible for committing more violent crimes. As a result, males were often given much longer sentences than females. The most common of these crimes were robbery, murder, and child molestation. These particular findings seem to remain constant over time. While the majority of all sentenced inmates were white, blacks came in second place at almost 30%, followed by Hispanics with 17%, Asians at 0.9%, and American Indians at 0.3%. The proportion of male persons of color in maximum security is greater than the population of white persons by 15%. The general proportion of white and black males in maximum security was very close with a difference of only 4.2%. This is a quite significant finding, considering that the white population in Rhode Island far exceeds the black population. Nationally, it is evident that blacks constitute a large percentage of those arrested for violent crimes, therefore as a direct result are often disproportionately affected by the longer sentences.
Unaddressed issues or concerns
While the report offers many important characteristics of the prison makeup during the midyear point of the year 2002, it would have been more beneficial had more of the data been broken down in terms of race. For example, it would greatly informative there was included a graph that made a direct correlation between the race of an offender and the type of crime one is charged with. It would also be appropriate to see how Rhode Island prisons compare to other prisons across the nation in terms of racial and ethnic characteristics of prisoners. Nationally, minority people account for 65 percent of the inmate population although they compose less than 25 percent of the population at large (Vogel 2003). Because the data offers so much insight into the various characteristics of the prison population it would have also been useful if an analysis and conclusion of all the data was incorporated. For example, the disparity between black and white males in maximum security is not warranted attention in the report although it is remains very clear. It is reminiscent of Richard D. Vogel's discussion on Supermax Prisons and how they were used during the 1960s and 1970s as a means of preventing individuals from uniting with each other. By keeping prisoners' in isolation, inmates were unable to work together to devise plans for fighting their injustices.
Reference List
Vogel, Richard D. "Capitalism and Incarceration Revisited" Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine, 55.4 (2003): 38-55
How to Access Report www.doc.state.ri.us/divisions/admin