(Abstract Only)

For an increasingly large segment of ethnic minority and low-income populations, relationships with representatives of government are more likely to be forged within criminal justice institutions --via the police, courts and prisons-- than with elected officials. Living inside a prison setting may inculcate people with certain values, identities, attitudes towards authority, as well as coping mechanisms. Some of these socialized responses may be incompatible with the schemas, skills and resources necessary for active participation in the civic life of a functional democratic community. Using data from the state of California, as well as original data collected through a large-scale survey of California Correctional Officers, this study seeks to understand the effects of prison culture on the political attitudes and behaviors of incarcerated people once they leave prison. The central arguments discussed are that (1) the experience of incarceration affects the future civic lives of inmates, (2) different characteristics of the prison environment have different types and degrees of effect, and (3) the attitudes and behaviors of Correctional Officers shape these prison environments in critical ways.