Scrutinizing the Supermax

SCRUTINIZING THE SUPERMAX

Life in a supermaximum security prison is one of extreme isolation, monotony—and lots of concrete.

Inmates are confined to their cells 23 hours a day, released only to walk, usually handcuffed and shackled, in an exercise yard. They have little contact with staff and almost none with other inmates, and virtually no programs, such as educational services, are available to them.

Chad Briggs The chief justification for supermax prisons is that by identifying the most violent inmates in a prison system and housing them at one highly restrictive facility, violence will decrease across the entire system.

Some 34 states have gone with the supermax corrections model over the past two decades, at great cost and despite periodic lawsuits alleging that treatment at these prisons constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. By 1999, some 57 supermax prisons in the United States were housing some 20,000 prisoners.

Do these prisons deliver what they promise? No one had looked closely—until now.

Chad Briggs chose this research question for his master’s thesis in psychology. Only gradually did he realize that his study would break new ground.

"I knew there wasn’t anything out there," he explains, "because I wasn’t finding anything to read (in the way of previous studies)."

His finished product, "Supermaximum Security Prisons and Institutional Violence: An Impact Assessment," won the SIU Alumni Association's annual Outstanding Thesis award for 2002, then went on to win the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools' Distinguished Master's Thesis Award as well.

Briggs focused on the prison systems of three states: Arizona, which has two supermax prisons; Minnesota, which has one; and Illinois, which also has one (Tamms Correctional Center, opened in Southern Illinois in 1998). He analyzed reams of data from these states’ correctional departments to try to determine if the presence of a supermax really did reduce violence against staff or among inmates in the prison system.

On almost every measure, he found, prison system violence either stayed the same or actually went up following the opening of a supermax.

The only exception was in Illinois, which saw fewer assaults on prison staff after Tamms opened, but no reduction in inmate-on-inmate violence.

"The preliminary evidence suggests that [supermax prisons] are not having the effect that corrections departments are claiming," says Briggs.

Unless follow-up research finds a clearcut benefit, supermax prisons should be reconsidered, he adds.

"They cost more than a general-population prison, and they take a heavy toll on the prisoner. People who go in without psychological problems can develop problems from the conditions of confinement, and people who go in with problems tend to get worse while they’re there."

Briggs’s study took into consideration the fact that supermax prisons could have an effect in various ways: immediate but temporary; immediate and sustained; gradual and sustained—even no effect at all.

To get the truest picture, he used a specialized statistical method (called Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average modeling) that he taught himself, with the guidance of administration of justice professors Jody Sundt and Tom Castellano and psychology professors Jack McKillip and Alan Vaux. A highly sophisticated way to analyze data over long time periods, it helped ensure that seasonal effects or other cyclical patterns unrelated to the supermax itself wouldn’t skew the results.

Briggs had planned an even bigger and more geographically diverse study. But of the two dozen states he contacted, only three responded with enough relevant data for him to draw sound conclusions.

That underscores one difficulty with this type of research. States differ in how they collect data, how consistently they collect those data over the years, and even how they define violent episodes. The less uniformity there is, the more challenging it becomes to do meaningful statistical analysis.

Prison populations can differ a lot from state to state, too. For example, compared to Arizona and Minnesota, Illinois’ prison system has a higher percentage of offenders under 30, inmates with longer average sentences, and a higher percentage of gang members—all factors usually associated with greater violence. Plus, Illinois has a smaller percentage of its inmates in supermax custody.

Yet only Illinois saw a decrease in any measure of institutional violence following the opening of its supermax. Is this unexpected finding a fluke, or a blow to conventional wisdom?

It’s too soon to say. Briggs cautions that his work is a first step, not the last word.

Briggs, who originally wanted to become a police officer, got interested in supermax prisons after assisting Sundt and Castellano with a research grant on prison personnel. He received his master's degree in August 2001 and is now a student in SIUC's applied psychology doctoral program, specializing in health psychology and criminology.

He has presented some of his thesis findings at two national criminal justice conferences and is working on several articles for publication in academic journals.

"Serious policy analysis in the area of supermax prisons will have to consult and incorporate the results of Chad’s thesis," said McKillip in supporting Briggs’s work for the Outstanding Thesis award.

"This is a work of intellectual importance with national policy implications."

—Marilyn Davis

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