Inmate violence is a correctional facility's biggest problem.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) published a report in December 2014 that looked at the number of inmates who were victims of inmate-on-inmate violent victimization. According to the report, there were an estimated 748,000 inmate-on-inmate violent victimizations in 2012. That's 1,360 per day or 37 per hour. This is the first time that BJS has published data on this type of victimization since 2004. The report also included data on staff-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff violent victimization as well, though those numbers are not as high as they are for inmate-on-inmate violence. The rate of violent victimization for inmates has declined from around 4% in 2004 to around 3% in 2012. This is consistent with overall violent crime rates in the U.S., which have been declining since 1994 and reached a record low in 2013. The decline in prison violence is also consistent with the decline in overall prison populations over the same period. While the rate may be declining, it remains a serious problem for correctional facilities and their staffs. In 2012, there were about 1,000 fewer victims of inmate on inmate violence than there were inmates who were victims of staff on inmate violence (around 860,000).
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Inmate violence is caused by a lack of respect for authority and the administration's failure to control inmates.
Prison is a microcosm of society. Inmates are people who have been convicted of crimes and incarcerated. The prison system is a reflection of our society, and as such, it has the same problems that plague our society. Respect, authority, and control are issues that plague the prison system because they are issues that plague our society. Respect is an issue in prison because it is an issue in society at large. The respect issue in the prison system is complicated by the fact that inmates do not have a lot of respect for authority figures or the administration. It's hard to get respect when you don't give it first. If you want inmates to respect you, you need to show them that you respect them first. As for authority figures, guards are not respected by inmates because they don't earn their respect; they're just there because of what they can do for them (provide food, work programs, recreation time, etc.). If guards were more respected by inmates, violence would decrease because there would be less incentive for inmates to be violent; i.e., if prisoners don't feel like violence is necessary to get what they want from staff members, then they won't be violent toward staff members. The last piece of the puzzle is control. Inmates don't feel like they're being controlled in prison; thus, violence becomes a way for them to feel like they're in control again.
Inmate violence can decrease with proper supervision
Corrections officers are definitely key when it comes to preventing inmate violence. They need to be constantly on alert and watchful of what's going on around them so they can react quickly if something happens. They need to keep an eye on the inmates' activities at all times and pay close attention to any signs of possible trouble, such as someone trying to sneak out of their cell or someone else who looks like they're about to attack someone else. If they see something going wrong they need to step in quickly and stop it.
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