Document Type
Article
Abstract
This study explores the behavioral dynamics of collective violence in prisons, focusing on the largest prison riot in the United States in twenty-five years at Lee Correctional Institution, using an ethnographic approach and Crime Script Analysis (CSA). The sample consisted of twenty-five incarcerated men, predominantly African American, aged 25 to 61, with extensive incarceration histories, experiences of violence, and influencer status within the prison community. It identifies key factors such as situational awareness, gang affiliations, and chronic understaffing that escalate violence. Themes include the "pressure cooker" environment, elevated tensions, and stages of confrontation, escalation, and de-escalation. A key finding is that collective violence in prison is predictable and follows a routine, making it amenable to policy interventions. Policy implications, grounded in Routine Activities Theory, recommend increasing capable guardians, enhancing surveillance, and involving incarcerated individuals in violence-prevention initiatives to reduce the frequency and severity of institutional violence.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2026.
Rights
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
APA Citation
Smith, H. (2026a). Meet Me at the Rock: The Behavioral Patterns of Collective Violence in Prison. American Journal of Criminal Justice.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-025-09881-0