The Effect of Legal Status on Prison Misconduct

Abstract

The present study examines the relationship between legal status and prisoner misconduct by comparing official disciplinary infraction reports between documented, undocumented, and native-born inmates. We also examine the extent to which such effects vary across different types (i.e., criminal and non-criminal) of reported infractions. Using data from the Florida Department of Corrections, the results reveal that undocumented foreigners have a higher likelihood and a higher frequency of any misconduct and criminal misconduct as well as a higher frequency of non-criminal misconduct than the other two groups, while no such differences are found between documented and native-born prisoners. Our research underscores the salient role of legal status in predicting the in-prison behaviors of foreign-born inmates.