C H A P T E R T E N

THE INMATE WORLD: Living Behind Bars Photo © Corbis, used with permission.

Inmate society compensates for the losses caused by imprisonment, and offers varying degrees of comfort to those who successfully adjust to it. Inmates who lived violent lives outside tend to associate with other violent inmates and often engage in similar behavior in prison.

D E F I N T O S INMATE SUBCULTURE: The habits, customs, mores, values, beliefs, or superstitions of the body of inmates incarcerated in correctional institutions; also, the inmate social world. TOTAL INSTITUTION: A place where the same people work, play, eat, sleep, and recreate together on a continuous basis. The term was developed by the sociologist Erving Goffman to describe prisons and other similar facilities.

D E F I N T O S PRISONIZATION: The process by which inmates adapt to prison society; the taking on of the ways, mores, customs, and general culture of the penitentiary. PRISON CODE: A set of norms and values among prison inmates. It is generally antagonistic to the official administration and rehabilitation programs of the prison.

PRISON CODE Don’t interfere with the interests of other inmates. Never rat on a con. Don’t have loose lips. • Don’t lose your head. Don’t quarrel with other inmates. Play it cool. Do your own time. • Don’t exploit other inmates. Don’t steal. Don’t break your word. Pay your debts. • Don’t whine. Be tough. Be a man. • Don’t be a sucker. Don’t trust the guards or staff. Remember that prison officials are wrong and inmates are right.

D E F I N T O S PAINS OF IMPRISONMENT: Major problems that inmates face, such as loss of liberty and personal autonomy, lack of material possessions, loss of heterosexual relationships, and reduced personal security. DEPRIVATION THEORY: The belief that inmate subcultures develop in response to the deprivations in prison life.

D E F I N T O S IMPORTATION THEORY: The belief that inmate subcultures are brought into prisons from the outside world. INTEGRATION MODEL: A combination of the importation and deprivation theories. The belief that, in childhood, some inmates acquired, usually from peers, values that support law-violating behavior but that the norms and standards in prison also affect inmates.

LANGUAGE in PRISON The special language of the inmate subculture is called prison argot. Table 10-1 on text page 365 lists sample prison argot words and definitions. The following paragraph demonstrates prison argot: “The new con, considered fresh meat by the screws and other cons, was sent to the cross-bar hotel to do his bit. He picked up a canary-bird rep through the yard vine, so the big house goon squad put him in the freezer for cover. Once out of the ice-box, he made little ones out of big ones until he went to the World. Just took his $100 gate and dee-dee’d.”

INMATE ROLES Inmate roles are prison lifestyles, or forms of ongoing social accommodation to prison life. They include:  The Real Man: Does his own time, and does not complain or cause problems for other inmates.  The Mean Dude: Known for being quick to resort to physical power.  The Bully: Uses intimidation to get his way.  The Agitator: Constantly tries to stir things up.

INMATE ROLES  The Hedonist: Adapts to prison by exploiting the minimal pleasure it offers.  The Opportunist: Sees prison as an opportunity for personal advancement.  The Retreatist: Unable to cope with the realities of prison life, he withdraws psychologically.  The Legalist: Fights confinement through the system of laws, rules, and court precedent. The Radical: Sees himself as the political prisoner of an unfair society.

INMATE ROLES  The Colonist: Also referred to as a “convict,” he turns prison into a home by learning the prison ropes and cultivating many friendships inside. He feels more comfortable in prison than out.  The Religious Inmate: Professes strong religious faith. May attempt to convert inmates and staff, and may seek special diets or meeting facilities.  The Punk: A young, often small inmate who has been forced into a sexual relationship with an aggressive, well-respected prisoner.

SEXUALITY in MEN’S PRISONS • Violence and victimization occur in men’s prisons, and a good deal of prison violence has sexual overtones. • Punks are “owned” by powerful inmates, who protect them from sexual violence. • Many punks fill the role of a wife and can often be found doing their Man’s laundry, ironing, and housekeeping. • Affectionate relationships often develop between Men and their punks. Some even “marry” in imitation ceremonies. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

WOMEN in PRISON • In the U.S., there are far fewer women’s prisons than men’s prisons. • Incarcerated males outnumber incarcerated females 12 to 1. • Prisoner programs in women’s prisons are often criticized as being inferior to the same types of programs in men’s prisons. • Security in women’s prisons is generally more relaxed than in men’s prisons. • Many women’s prisons consist of cottages arranged in groupings called pods.

REASONS FOR INCARCERATION

FEMALE INMATE ROLES  The Cool Inmate: Cools usually have previous criminal records; are in the know; and do not cause trouble for other inmates while in prison.  The Square Inmate: Squares are not familiar with criminal lifestyles; have few, if any, criminal experiences other than the one for which they were imprisoned; and tend to hold the values and roles of conventional society.  The Life Inmate: Lifers are habitual or career offenders generally well socialized into lives of crime who support inmate values and subculture.

PSEUDOFAMILIES Unique familylike structures, common in women’s prisons, in which inmates assume roles similar to those of family members in free society. • Inmates derive emotional and social support from their membership in a pseudofamily.

PSEUDOFAMILIES Some authors suggest pseudofamilies are to women’s prisons what gangs are to men’s prisons. Men relate largely through power, which gang structure effectively expresses. For women, the familylike structure of pseudofamilies effectively reflects the expressive and emotional manner in which they relate.

MOTHERS in PRISON An estimated 4,000 women prisoners give birth each year. • Few institutions allow women prisoners to keep newborns with them in the prison. • More than 75 percent of all women prisoners have children under the age of 18. • Although 78 percent of women inmates report having monthly contact with their children, that contact takes the form of personal visits for only 24 percent of reporting inmates.

COCORRECTIONAL FACILITIES Cocorrections is the incarceration and interaction of female and male offenders under a single institutional administration. Coed Prisons house both male and female offenders. They have been touted as potential solutions to a wide variety of corrections problems. An estimated 52 adult correctional institutions in the U.S. are coed, and currently confine almost 23,000 men and 7,000 women.