Building Criminal Networks in Prison - Evidence from French cellmates

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of prison connections on re-incarceration, using comprehensive data on prisoners' cell assignments in France from 2016 to 2022. It documents that having one additional cellmate with a drug-related conviction increases re-incarceration for drug crimes (+7.2% in the year after release) while encountering an extra cellmate with property crime convictions raises the probability of property crimes (+5.6%). The number of other cellmates has no effect, and other types of recidivism remain unaffected. Peers encountered in prison also affect where infractions eventually occur. Lastly, the influence of cellmates is more pronounced when they share similar characteristics.