12 Prison Life

Research on Prison Life: Total Institutions An enclosed facility separated from society, both socially and physically, where the inhabitants share all aspects of their daily lives continued on next slide

Research on Prison Life: Total Institutions Total institutions include prisons, concentration camps, mental hospitals, seminaries, and other facilities in which residents are cut off from the larger society, either forcibly or willingly. They develop their own distinctive values and styles of life and pressure residents to fulfill rigidly prescribed behavioral roles.

The Male Inmate's World Prison Subculture The values and behavioral patterns characteristic of prison inmates continued on next slide

The Male Inmate's World Two social realities coexist in prison settings. The official structure of rules and procedures put in place by the wider society and enforced by the prison staff The more informal (but decidedly more powerful) inmate world continued on next slide

The Male Inmate's World Prisonization The process whereby newly institutionalized offenders come to accept prison lifestyles and criminal values

The Functions of Prison Subcultures According to some, prison subcultures are fundamentally an adaptation to deprivation and confinement. Prisoners are deprived of: Liberty Goods and services Heterosexual relationships Autonomy Personal security continued on next slide

The Functions of Prison Subcultures Importation model Inmates bring with them values, roles, and behavior patterns from the outside world. The social structure of the prison is another element that shapes prison subculture.

Homosexuality and Sexual Victimization in Prison Most sexual aggressors do not consider themselves homosexuals. Sexual release is not the primary motivation for sexual attack. continued on next slide

Homosexuality and Sexual Victimization in Prison Many aggressors must continue to participate in gang rapes to avoid becoming victims themselves. The aggressors have themselves suffered damage to their masculinity in the past.

The Female Inmate's World Women account for 7% of all prison inmates. More than half of the children of female prisoners never visit their mothers in prison, primarily due to remote locations. continued on next slide

The Female Inmate's World Profile based on national data for female offenders: Disproportionately women of color In their early to middle 30s Most likely to have been convicted of a drug-related offense Survivors of physical and/or sexual abuse as children and adults continued on next slide

The Female Inmate's World Women's most common pathways to crime involve survival strategies that result from physical and sexual abuse, poverty, and substance abuse. 80% of women entering prison are mothers. continued on next slide

The Female Inmate's World 85% of those women had custody of their children. 2/3 of incarcerated women had minor children.

Gender Responsiveness NIC report recommendations The creation of an effective system for female offenders that is structured differently from a system for male offenders The development of gender-responsive policies and practices continued on next slide

Gender Responsiveness NIC report recommendations The modification of the criminal justice sanctions to recognize the low risk to public safety represented by the typical female offender

Social Structure in Women's Prisons Female prisoners are likely to be black or Hispanic, poor, uneducated, abuse survivors, single parents, and in poor health. Female inmates construct organized pseudofamilies. continued on next slide

Social Structure in Women's Prisons Suffer intensely from the loss of affectional relationships Sexual misconduct between staff and inmates continued on next slide

Social Structure in Women's Prisons Recently, the social structure has been altered by "crack kids". Streetwise young women with little respect for traditional prison values, for their elders, or even their own children

Types of Female Inmates Square Had few early experiences with criminal lifestyles Tended to sympathize with the values and attitudes of conventional society continued on next slide

Types of Female Inmates Cool More likely to be career offenders Tended to keep to themselves and supported inmate values Life Familiar with lives of crime

Violence in Women's Prisons Task Force on the Female Offender recommendations Substance abuse programs Need to acquire greater literacy skills Develop programs for keeping children in the facility

The Staff World Approximately 748,000 people are employed in corrections. Women account for 20% of all corrections officers. Corrections officers undergo a socialization process. Formative influence on staff culture is the potential threat that inmates pose.

Prison Riots Causes of riots Insensitive prison administration and neglect of inmates' demands Dehumanizing prison conditions Regulation of inmate society and redistribution of power balances among inmate groups continued on next slide

Prison Riots Security Threat Groups (STG) An inmate group, gang, or organization whose members act together to pose a threat to the safety of corrections staff or the public, who prey on other inmates, or who threaten the secure and orderly operation of a correctional institution continued on next slide

Prison Riots Real reasons for riots are probably specific to the institution. May not allow for generalizations The growth of a revolutionary prisoner subculture

Prisoners' Rights Hands-off Doctrine Civil Death A policy of nonintervention with regard to prison management that U. S. courts tended to follow until the late 1960s Civil Death The legal status of prisoners in some jurisdictions who are denied the opportunity to vote, hold public office, marry, or enter into contracts

The Legal Basis of Prisoners' Rights Balancing Test A principle that attempts to weigh the rights of an individual against the authority of states to make laws or to otherwise restrict a person's freedom in order to protect the state's interest and its citizens Conditional rights rather than absolute rights

Grievance Procedures Grievance Procedure A formalized arrangement, usually involving a neutral hearing board, whereby institutionalized individuals have the opportunity to register complaints about the conditions of their confinement

A Return to the Hands-Off Doctrine? Deliberate Indifference A wanton disregard by corrections personnel for the well-being of inmates

Issues Facing Prisons Today Geriatric Offenders Crimes that are committed by the elderly, especially violent crimes, are on the decline continued on next slide

Issues Facing Prisons Today Inmates with Mental Illness and Intellectual Disabilities Another group with special needs Some are neurotic of have personality problems, which causes tension in prison. continued on next slide

Issues Facing Prisons Today Terrorism Antiterrorism efforts play an important role in corrections, so personnel can prevent future attacks on American society and any crises in any correctional institution.