1. CHAPTER 14
Prison Life
Revised (SY 10-11) Additions made for test preparation
CRIMINAL JUSTICE TODAY, 9e PRENTICE HALL
By Frank Schmalleger ©2007 Pearson Education, Inc.

2. Examples of total institutions:
… places where people work, play, eat, sleep, and recreate together on a daily basis (coined by Erving Goffman, 1961).
Examples of total institutions:
Prisons
Concentration camps
Summer camps
Mental hospitals
Seminaries
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3. Inmate Society **
Today’s inmate society is socially fragmented, disorganized, and unstable, because of:
Increasing racial heterogeneity
The racial polarization of modern prisoners
Court litigation **
The rise and fall of rehabilitation
The increased politicalization of inmates
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4. The Male Inmate’s World

5. Prison Subculture **
There is a high level of depersonalization in prison; inmates are assigned numbers and self-expression is restricted.
New inmates undergo a process of prisonization, through which they learn convict values, attitudes, roles, and language (argot) that make up the prison subculture.
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By Frank Schmalleger ©2007 Pearson Education, Inc.

6. Prison Subcultures Sykes and Messinger:
The Inmate Social System (1960)
Five elements of the prison code:
Don’t interfere with interests of other inmates—don’t rat on others
Play it cool—do your own time
Don’t whine—be a man
Don’t exploit inmates—don’t break your word
Don’t be a sucker—don’t trust guards or staff
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By Frank Schmalleger ©2007 Pearson Education, Inc.

7. Prison Subcultures
Four types of subcultures were identified by Stastny and Tyrnauer:
official – created a hierarchy based on sentence length, prison jobs and perks. **
traditional – complaints about decline of the convict code
reform – inmates participated in civic-style clubs**
revolutionary – built on radical political rhetoric
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By Frank Schmalleger ©2007 Pearson Education, Inc.

8. Prison Argot
Language/terms used in one institution are generally understood in another.
Examples:
ace duce—best friend
banger—a knife
billy—white man
boneyard—conjugal visit
chester—child molester
dog—homeboy or friend
ink—tattoos
man walking—signal guard coming
tree jumper—rapist
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9. Prison Argot (cont’d) More examples** rat – informant
wolf – masculine role in homosexual relationships
vulnerable prison inmates
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By Frank Schmalleger ©2007 Pearson Education, Inc.

10. Prison Subcultures
Two Models of Prison Society:
Deprivation model—Prison subculture is an adaptation to the situation. (also called the indigenous origins model) **
Importation model—Inmates bring values, roles, and behaviors with them from the outside world when they enter prison.
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11. Prison Lifestyles and Inmate Types
Some of the types of inmates that researchers have described are:
Mean dude
Hedonist
Opportunist
Retreatist
Legalist
Radical
Colonist
Religious
Realist
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12. Inmate Types Mean Dude: Quick to fight Dangerous: best left alone
Receives frequent write-ups for violations
Spends a lot of time in solitary
Prison subculture supports role of mean dude by:
Expecting prisoners to be tough
Values that say “only the strong survive”
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13. Inmate Types Hedonist: Opportunist:
… builds life around limited pleasures in prison (smuggling, gambling, drug running, homosexuality, etc.).
Opportunist:
… takes advantage of positive experiences prison has to offer, such as schooling, trade programs, counseling, etc.
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14. Inmate Types Retreatist: Legalist:
… attempts some form of psychological retreat from realities of prison, often becoming heavily involved in drug and alcohol use leading to depression and mental illness.
Legalist:
… the “jail house” lawyer—fights confinement through the law.
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15. … has strong religious ties and may be “born again.”
Inmate Types
Radical:
… views himself as a political prisoner, society = the oppressor.
Religious:
… has strong religious ties and may be “born again.”
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16. … views prison as “home” Has many friends inside
Inmate Types
Colonist:
… views prison as “home”
Has many friends inside
Often holds position of power and/or
respect
Does not look forward to leaving
prison
Has been known to commit new
crimes to return to prison
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17. Inmate Types
Realist:
… sees incarceration as a natural consequence of criminal activity— just an unfortunate part of “doing criminal business”—follows inmate code and does not get in trouble.
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18. Violence and Victimization
A good deal of prison violence—but not all—has sexual overtones. In addition,
not all instances of sex in prison are violent.
not all instances of sex in prison are homosexual.
sexual encounters can involve both inmates and staff.
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19. Violence and Victimization
Instances of prison sex can be further divided into three basic categories:
Consensual sex for gratification
Prostitution **
Sexual assault
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20. Violence and Victimization
Physical victimization is not the only or even the most frequent kind of victimization in prison. Other kinds include:
Economic
Psychological
Social
These may be perpetrated by inmates or staff.
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21. Violence and Victimization
Cigarettes often serve as the medium because currency is typically contraband.
Cigarettes serve as a symbolic value of money. **
The sub-rosa economy sets the stage for various kinds of economic victimization, including theft, robbery, fraud, extortion, and loan-sharking.
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22. Women’s Prisons

23. Female Inmates ** There are more than 97,000 women in
state and federal facilities.
6.8% of the total prison population
Increasing at a faster rate than male
inmates
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24. Histories/pathways to crime include:
Personal Histories and Pathways to Crime The National Institute of Corrections (2003)
Histories/pathways to crime include:
Survival strategies resulting from poverty and/or physical, sexual, or substance abuse
Substance abuse
Physical health
Mental health
Children and marital status
Education and employment
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25. Social Structure in Women’s Prisons
Some researchers have discovered a
social structure in which women form
relationships with each other that are
similar to those experienced outside of
prison life.
Courtship, marriage
Kinship systems – pseudofamilies**
Additionally, lesbianism and staff-
inmate sexual misconduct exists.
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26. Types of Female Inmates**
Esther Hoffman (1972) found three types
of female adaptation styles to prison life:
The square – noncriminals before prison; conformed to conventional behavior in prison
The cool - supportive of inmate values; try to do easy time by manipulating inmates and staff.
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27. Types of Female Inmates**
The life – habitual offenders
Recently, another female inmate
style has appeared – “the crack kid”
- “street wise” young women with
little respect for traditional prison
values.
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28. Violence in Women’s Prison**
Violence is less frequent than in
men’s facilities.
Violence sometimes comes from staff.
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29. Prison Staff

30. The Staff World About 350,000 people are employed in
corrections. Staff roles can include:
Warden
Psychologist
Counselor
Area supervisor
Program director
Instructor
Correctional officers
Physician
Therapist
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31. Correctional Officers
Like inmates, correctional officers undergo a socialization process that helps them function by the official and unofficial rules of staff society.
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32. Custody + Control
Prison staffers are most concerned with custody and control.
Has led to institutionalized procedures
for ensuring safety.
Most prison staff are classified as custodial – maintain custody. **
Unfortunately, most correctional officers see their work as boring and thus, the turnover rate is quite high. **
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33. Professionalism of Correctional Officers
Corrections personnel are becoming better trained and more proficient, leading to greater professionalism.
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34. Professionalism of Correctional Officers **
Even though professionalism enhances performance, “rookie” correctional officers learn through socialization that the ideals of professionalism stressed in training are rarely translated into reality.
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35. Prison Staff: Staff Roles – Correctional Officers
Types of correctional officers:
Dictator
Friend
Merchant
Turnkey
Climber
Reformer
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36. Prison Staff: Dictator
May have sadistic personalities
This type of correctional officer is the one most likely to be targeted for vengeance
Uses prison rules to enforce their own brand of discipline
Some use false bravado to hide their fear of prisoners
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37. Prison Staff: Friend
Tries to fraternize with the prisoners by trying to be “one-of-the-guys”
Usually these are the young and inexperienced officers
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38. Prison Staff: Merchant
Participates in the prison economy
Supplying drugs, pornography, alcohol, and sometimes even weapons to prisoners
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39. Prison Staff: Turnkey
Cares little about what goes on in the prison
May be close to retirement or may have become alienated from job
“turnkey” – comes from prison language – someone who is just there to open and shut doors and cares nothing more than just getting through the day
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40. Pursues additional schooling and training programs
Prison Staff: Climber
Typically a young officer who is interested in advancement
More interested in their own careers than the problems of prisoners
Pursues additional schooling and training programs
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41. Prison Staff: Reformer
Tends to lend a sympathetic ear to personal needs of prisoners
Motivated by personal ideals
Some of these officers are very religious
Prisoners perceive these officers to be naïve, but harmless
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42. Prison Riots

43. Prison Riots
The ten years of prison riots between 1970 and 1980 have been referred to as the
“explosive decade”.
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44. Causes of Prison Riots**
Insensitive prison administration and neglected inmate demands
Carry-over of violent criminal lifestyles
Dehumanizing prison conditions, including: —overcrowding —lack of personal expression
Regulate inmate society and redistribute power among inmates
Power vacuums are created among prison administration
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45. Stages of Prison Riots **
Explosion which involves binges (alcohol and drugs), burned buildings, hostage taking, settling of old grudges
Organization into inmate led groups
Confrontation with authorities**
Termination through negotiation or physical confrontation
Reaction and explanation usually by investigative commission **
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46. Prisoner Rights

47. Hands Off Doctrine Prior to the 1960s, American courts had taken
a neutral approach—commonly called the
hands-off doctrine—toward the running of
prisons.
Rested on the belief that inmates experienced civil death.
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48. Legal Basis of Prisoner Rights
In Pell v. Procunier (1974) the U.S.
Supreme Court established the
“balancing test.”
Balancing test—attempts to weigh the rights of
individuals against the state’s authority to
make laws or otherwise restrict a person’s
freedom in order to protect its interests and its
citizens.
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49. Fourteenth Amendment Rights
The 14th Amendment guarantees due process of law and equal protection under law. **
The equal-protection clause protects against racial discrimination and gender discrimination. **
However, the rights of female inmates remain underdeveloped.
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50. Precedents in Prisoner Rights

51. Total Prison Conditions
Totality-of-conditions cases involve claims that some combination of prison practices and conditions makes the prison, as a whole, unconstitutional.
In the case of Holt v. Sarver, the entire Arkansas prison system was declared unconstitutional on grounds of totality of conditions and was ordered to implement a variety of changes.
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52. Total Prison Conditions
Prisons have long had the right to provide only the minimal conditions necessary for human survival:
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Medical care to sustain life
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53. Totality of Conditions
Totality of conditions rulings have been handed down against prison systems in Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. **
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54. Communications and Visitation
First Amendment guarantees of
freedom of speech apply to inmates’
rights in three areas:
Receipt of mail
Communications with others (especially those on the outside)
Visitation
The Procunier v. Martinez case gave prison authority the right to censor mail for security purposes. **
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55. Free Speech **
The Supreme Court ruled that censorship (such as of a prisoner’s outgoing mail) is legal only if it furthers one or more of the following substantial government interests:
Security
Order **
Rehabilitation
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56. Communications and Visitation **
Receipt of Mail
The courts generally have not allowed restrictions on receipt of published mail.
Magazines that depict deviant sexual behavior can be banned, (poses a threat to prison security). **
A prisoner’s mail can be censored if necessary for security reasons.
Magazines, newspapers, and the like must be mailed from the publisher.
Prisons cannot ban nude pictures of inmates’ wives or girlfriends.
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57. Communications and Visitation
Communications with Others
In McNamara v. Moody (1979) a federal court upheld an inmate’s right to write vulgar letters to his girlfriend.
Prisoners have no inherent right to publish material for use by other prisoners.
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58. Communications and Visitation
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a policy that prohibited all inmate visits in Block v. Rutherford (1984).
In Overton v. Bazzetta (2003), the Court upheld a state’s visitation plan that limited visitation for certain substance abusing inmates.
Media members get no special privileges for interviews, but cannot be denied correspondence.
Policies for media access must be administered fairly and without bias.
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59. The First and Fourteenth Amendments provide the basis for
Religious Freedom
The First and Fourteenth
Amendments provide the basis for
inmates’ rights claim in the area of
religious freedom.
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60. Religious Freedom Cruz v. Beto (1972)
Established that prisoners must be given a “reasonable opportunity” to pursue their faith, even if it differs from traditional forms of worship.
Meeting facilities must be provided for religious purposes when those same facilities are made available to other groups of prisoners for other purposes.
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61. Religious Freedom Prisoners in segregation do not have
to be permitted the opportunity to
attend religious services.
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62. Religious Freedom Possessing Items of Worship
In Dettmer v. Landon a federal court held that a prisoner who claimed to practice witchcraft must be provided with the artifacts needed for worship.
Drugs, dangerous substances, and dangerous items of worship may be banned.
It is acceptable to ban wearing beards, even those grown for religious reasons (Hill v. Blackwell [1985]).
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63. Religious Freedom The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000.
“No government shall impose a substantial burden
on the religious exercise of a person residing in or
confined to an institution even if the burden results
from a rule of general applicability, unless the
government demonstrates that imposition of the
burden on that person 1) is in furtherance of
compelling governmental interest; and 2) is the least
restrictive means of furthering that compelling
governmental interest.”
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64. Access to the Courts and Legal Assistance
The Court in Lewis v. Casey (1996)
overturned part of Bounds.
Prisoners are not guaranteed the “wherewithal to file any and every type of legal claim.”
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65. Access to the Courts and Legal Assistance
The Court in Johnson v. Avery (1968)
held that prisoners under correctional
supervision have a right to consult
“jailhouse lawyers” for advice when
assistance from trained professional is
not available.
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66. Access to the Courts and Legal Assistance
Indigent inmates:
Do not have the right to an appointed lawyer if no judicial proceedings have been initiated against them.
Must be provided with stamps for purposes of legal correspondence.
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67. Medical Care ** In Estelle v. Gamble (1976) the U.S.
Supreme Court concerned itself with “deliberate indifference” on part of staff
toward prisoner’s need for medical attention,
Court held prison officials responsible for providing adequate medical care.
Deliberate indifference requires both actual knowledge and disregard of risk of harm (per Hudson v. McMillan [1992]).
Courts attempt to identify deliberate indifference when examining the quality of medical care provided to inmates.
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68. Medical Care The issue of medical care includes
whether inmates can be forced to take
medication.
In Washington v. Harper (1990), the U.S. Supreme Court held that prisoners can refuse the involuntary administration of antipsychotic drugs unless government officials can demonstrate an “overriding justification” as to why the drugs may be necessary.
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69. Medical Care In Pennsylvania Department of
Corrections v. Yeskey (1998), the U.S.
Supreme Court held that the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990
applies to prisons and to prison inmates.
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70. Protection from Harm
Based on the Eighth Amendment, inmates have the right to:
Food, water, and shelter
Protection from foreseeable attack
Protection from predictable sexual attack
Protection against suicide
Ironically, the Eighth Amendment has done little to protect inmates from staff brutality because brutality is normally construed as a tort rather than a constitutional issue. **
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71. Privacy Most major Supreme Court cases have held
that prisoners do not have a reasonable
expectation to privacy when incarcerated.
Examples:
Katz v. U.S. (1967)
U.S. v. Ready (1978)
Hudson v. Palmer (1984)
Block v. Rutherford (1984)
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72. Grievances Prisons must provide formal opportunities to
hear inmate grievances.
Grievances handled internally.
All sizable prisons have established procedures
whereby an inmate files a complaint and
receives a mandated responses.
Procedures may include a hearing board made of both inmates and staff, or a single staff member may be responsible.
Dissatisfied inmates may appeal to an external source.
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73. Disciplinary actions by prison authorities
may also require a formalized hearing
process.
Sanctions cannot be levied against inmates without appropriate due process (Wolff v. McDonnell [1974]).
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74. Disciplinary Actions Courts generally have held that inmates
going before disciplinary hearing boards
are entitled to:
Notice of the charges brought against them
The chance to organize a defense
An impartial hearing
The opportunity to present witnesses and evidence in their behalf
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75. A Return to the Hands-Off Doctrine
Many recent Supreme Court decisions
have signaled what seems like a partial
return to “hands off doctrine.” For
example, consider:
Wilson v. Seiter et. al (1991)
Sandin v. Conner (1995)
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76. Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) of 1996
The Prison Litigation Reform Act includes a
number of provisions that are designed to reduce
the number of frivolous lawsuits alleging
unconstitutional prison conditions and reduce the
number of state inmates filing lawsuits in federal
courts.
Research suggest that the PLRA has cut down on
the number of lawsuits and changed the types of
suits filed, though some opponents argue that it
could stifle inmates facing real deprivations.
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77. Access to Courts and Legal Assistance
Although inmates are allowed to file complaints, a high percentage of lawsuits filed by inmates are judged frivolous and are therefore dismissed.
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78. Current Issues Today, prisons face special problems,
particularly with:
AIDS
Geriatric offenders
Mentally ill and mentally deficient inmates
Terrorism
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79. AIDS According to a 2004 Justice Department report,
AIDS incidents increased 12-fold since 1987
Some inmates come to prison infected;
others contract the HIV virus while
incarcerated.
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80. AIDS **
The most viable strategy available to correctional institutions to reduce the spread of AIDS is prevention through education.
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81. Geriatric Inmates ** The number of prisoners aged 55 and
over increased 300% between 1990 and
2005.
New prison sentencing policies such as truth in sentencing and mandatory minimum have caused an increase in the number of geriatric offenders.**
Geriatric inmates have special needs.
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82. Mentally Ill Inmates Some inmates are neurotic, have personality
problems, or have serious psychological
disorders.
Mentally ill and mentally deficient inmates increase tension.
Few state-run correctional facilities have any substantial capacity for in-depth psychiatric treatment of inmates who are seriously mentally disturbed.
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83. Mentally Deficient Inmates
Some studies estimate that about 10% of the
inmate population are mentally deficient.
Inmates with low IQs have special problems adjusting or completing programs.
Most states “mainstream” these inmates.
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84. Special Issues **
Even with violence and medical issues, the vast majority of prison inmates who are not eventually released from prison die from natural causes.
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