Intense scene at a prison riot with heavily armored police officers and sheriffs in tactical gear subduing inmates in orange jumpsuits, illustrating law enforcement's response during a security breach.

Causes of Prison Riots: Understanding the “Explosive Decade” of 1970-1980

American prisons are relatively calm, but the ten years between 1970 and 1980 have been called the “explosive decade” of prison riots. Researchers have suggested a variety of causes for prison riots. Among them are these:

  • An insensitive prison administration that neglects inmates’ demands.
    • Calls for “fairness” in disciplinary hearings, better food, more recreational opportunities, and the lack may lead to riots when ignored.
  • The lifestyles most inmates are familiar with on the streets.
    • It should be no surprise that prisoners use organized violence when many of them are violent people.
  • Dehumanizing prison conditions.
    • Overcrowded facilities, the lack of opportunity for individual expression, and other aspects of total institutions culminate in explosive situations, including riots.
  • A desire to regulate inmate society and redistribute power balance among inmate groups.
    • Riots provide the opportunity to cleanse the prison population of informers and rats and resolve struggles among power brokers and ethnic groups.
  • “Power vacuums” are created by changes in prison administration, the transfer of influential inmates, or court-ordered injunctions that significantly alter the institution’s informal social control mechanisms.

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