07/23/2025
By Karen Mullins
The School of Criminology and Justice Studies is proud to announce a Dissertation Defense by Michael J. Mills on “To Empty my Breath from its Bad Prison” – Misconduct, Trauma, and Prison."
Date: Monday Aug. 4, 2025
Time: 2 - 3:30 p.m.
Location: Via Zoom
Committee:
- Josh Long, Ph.D., Committee Chair, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Neil Shortland, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Cathy Levey, Ph.D., Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Jason Rydberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Abstract:
The current study explores the intersection of mental health and trauma on institutional misconduct within a prison environment. Questions regarding what relationship exists between trauma, mental health, and misconduct are proposed alongside factors that could potentially mediate this relationship. Data for analysis comes from a state department of corrections in the northeastern region of the United States. This particular region’s emphasis on mental health treatment and wellness for incarcerated persons allows for special attention to be paid to the potential mitigating impacts these types of approaches could have on misconduct outcomes. Additional mediating impacts of socialization and program involvement are observed as well. All of this in service of a question of how correctional agencies and personnel can better serve an increasingly present population within their confines.