The Jail and the Community: Comparing Jails in Rural and Urban Contexts

In: The prison journal: the official publication of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Band 88, Heft 2, S. 252-269

Abstract

Most of the available research on jails focuses on large institutions, located in urban areas. In this study we empirically consider whether this emphasis shortchanges our understanding of jails by comparing 2,638 rural and urban jails on four dimensions: jail size and use, inmate characteristics, staff characteristics, and inmate services. Our results reveal several important cleavages between rural and urban jails. Based on our findings and a conception of jails as influenced in meaningful ways by their social, political, and organizational contexts, we suggest avenues for future research on local incarceration.