THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRISONIZATION AND SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG PRISON INMATES.
This study examined the process of organizational assimilation and how it was affected by social skills, within the context of a midwestern correctional facility. Participants were inmates housed in a maximum-, medium-, or minimum-security prison. A survey was distributed that measured frequency of inmates' external communication, sources of internal communication, prisonization, powerlessness, and social skills. Results supported links between prisonization and amount of internal and external communication and powerlessness. However, inmates' prisonization was not related to their social skills. Results indicated that inmates' assimilation into prison culture is influenced by intra- and extraprison variables. .
Socialization has a long history in organizational research, providing a unique view of one of the processes through which people organize. A number of researchers have studied socialization in relation to several organizational communication variables such as identification (e.g., Bullis & Bach, 1989; Cheney, 1983) and structure and content of messages (e.g., Stohl, 1986). Closely tied to socialization (or assimilation) are social skills, which act as facilitators in the socialization process, at least in reference to peers. .
This study examined this communication perspective within a unique context, the prison. Within this organization, the inmates are in an uncommon position as organizational members. They not only depend on the organization for their livelihood but for their daily existence, nutrition, housing, health, and relational needs. As these members enter the organization, they go through their own form of organizational assimilation. This study focused on the inmates' process of socialization, their feelings of powerlessness, and the social skills they used within their environment. .
PRISONIZATION AND COMMUNICATION .
