Prison Life Final Study Guide PDF

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Prison Life Final Study Guide 1. Compare and contrast the incarceration offenses of female versus male inmates a. 1/3 of women on property crimes i. Relative to men, women are most likely to be in prison for fraud (10% versus 1.9% men ii. Among men, the highest property crime is burglary b. Roughly 36% of women on violent crime i. Highest violent crime = murder ii. Men most likely to go for robbery as their violent crime c. Roughly 25% of women on drug charges d. Men in State Prisons i. 55.2% Violence ii. 14.8% Drug iii. 17.5% Property e. Men in Federal Prisons i. 7.9% Violent ii. 47.3% Drug iii. 5.9% Property 2. Identify the special issues impacting females in prison a. More likely than male prisoners to have histories of physical or sexual abuse b. Women are significantly more likely to have been under the influence at the time of their offense c. More first time offenders d. More women have symptoms or a diagnosis of mental illness e. More women receiving public assistance before arrest than men f. Cost of motherhood g. More classification by security level within facilities h. Women have greater identity issues in prison than men i. Being cut off from important roles in life (i.e. mother) i. Less of a spousal following j. Low number of women in prison: i. (1) Limited Visitation 1. Centralized and more rural locations ii. (2) Low Number of Rehab Programs 1. Less training options than male facilities 2. The rehab programs that are offered at female facilities focus overwhelmingly on domestic related tasks 3. Describe the general nature and characteristics of the female inmate subculture a. Kinship network b. Development of entire families c. Crossing of racial lines d. “Gay for the stay” e. Networks can control inmate behavior and also undermine prison authority f. Shortage of “males”  source of prison violence

4. Previously discussed issues involving women in prison: motherhood, overclassification a. Female inmates tend to be over-classified when using the same classification practices for male inmates b. Primary reason is that there are fewer female correctional facilities in each state i. No luxury of putting people in a place structured to the amount of time they’re serving c. Women have lower spousal followings d. Cost of motherhood i. Fathers most likely weren’t in children’s lives beforehand ii. Parenting programs iii. Girl Scouts Behind Bars 5. Understand the impact that the Barefield v. Leach and Pargo v. Elliott court cases had on programming for female inmates a. Barefield v. Leach i. A 1974 federal court decision that a disparity of programs for female inmates could not be justified because the smaller number of female inmates made it more costly to provide program parity b. Pargo v. Elliott i. The 1985 Eighth Circuit Court case that allowed that differences in programs between male and female prisons does not necessarily violate the 8th protection clause of the Constitution 6. Define the concept of prisonization a. Originates from Donald Clemmer – The Prison Community (1940) i. One of the first studies of a major American prison and its inmates b. : the taking on in greater or lesser degree of the folkways, mores, customs, and general culture of the penitentiary” 7. Understand the universal elements of prisonization and the factors that increase and decrease the process a. Universal elements of prisonization: i. (1) Knowledge of the informal structure of the prison ii. (2) The acceptance of an inferior role iii. (3) The development of new social habits iv. (4) Adoption of various survival techniques v. (5) Adoption of a new language b. Factors that Minimize Prisonization: i. Serving a short sentence ii. Having a pro-social cellmate iii. Having a stable personality iv. Maintaining contacts with non-criminals in the free world v. Avoiding deviant activities with the prison vi. Rejecting the norms of the convict society vii. Serving time in a small, treatment-oriented facility viii. Low levels of security and/or high levels of exposure to the outside world 8. Know the key researchers involved in studying the male inmate subculture a. Donald Clemmer

i. Coined term “prisonization” ii. Focused on the inmate’s assimilation of an inmate code during their sentence, a code that was already present in the prison iii. The Prison Community (1940) iv. Five Universal Aspects v. Argued that the longer the prisoner stayed, the greater his or her emersion in the existing anti-staff and pro-crime subculture b. Clarence Schrag i. 1944 posited the 4 kinds of inmate roles ii. University of Washington c. Stanton Wheeler i. 1961: conducted a study in which he divided the inmate population into three groups based on their sentence ii. Wheeler’s Inverted U d. Peter Garabedian i. 1963: conducted a study to assess prisonization curves while controlling for inmate roles ii. Expanded on the typologies of Schrag by adding the “Ding” to the list of inmate role e. Gresham Sykes i. Identified the five categories of deprivation that inmates face in his 1958 book, “The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison” f. Irwin and Cressey i. Developed the importation model in 1962 ii. Argued that lower class offenders bring to the prison a set of sub-cultural attitudes and meanings, including those related to the use of violence, that shape the inmate culture 9. Understand the inmate roles and the differences in prisonization paths based on these roles a. Square Johns and Right Guys i. Right Guys: anti-staff and pro-inmate code ii. Square John: pro-staff and anti-inmate code. These individuals were widely disliked iii. Adaptive- meaning that their behavior followed the predicted pattern of Wheeler (inverted U) b. Outlaws i. This inmate was isolated from both staff and inmates. They were antisocial and very violent, and all preferred the “loner” response to the pains of imprisonment ii. Increasingly identified with the prison structure as they passed through their prison career-followed the pattern predicted by Clemmer c. Con Politicians i. The most respected inmate role. These inmates played both sides of the street; supported staff values sufficiently to be trusted by staff and yet also professed allegiance to the inmate code ii. Tended to conform to staff norms throughout their prison careers

d. Dings i. Inmates whose responses to imprisonment were inconsistent and unreliable ii. Followed a pattern of delayed rehabilitation and progressively agree with staff norms 10. Detail the common deprivations experienced by inmates a. Sykes’ Inmate Deprivations i. (1) Deprivation of Liberty 1. The prisoner must learn to live in a shrunken world where their movements are even further restricted ii. (2) Deprivation of Goods & Services 1. Inmates are provided with material possessions and services to meet their basic needs but nothing beyond that. a. Ex. Cannot have many of the material possessions that we use to define who we are iii. (3) Deprivation of Heterosexual Relationships 1. Can cause inmates to lose their sense of self, in particular if your ability to define your “manhood” or “womanhood” has relied on the opposite genders presence for comparison iv. (4) Deprivation of Autonomy 1. Inmate behavior is controlled down to the finest detail. Inmates are totally dependent on the institution, which often breeds hostility towards it a. Largely because of the perception of bureaucratic indifference. Loss of autonomy reduces inmates to a weak, helpless, and dependent status v. (5) Deprivation of Security 1. Inmates are thrown into an environment with other inmates who in many cases have long histories of violent and aggressive behavior. b. Absolute deprivation i. Involves the structural aspects of the prison system that directly make prison life harsh. Measures of absolute deprivation include: 1. Crowding levels 2. Restriction of contact 3. Lack of rehab programs 4. Stringency of rule enforcement 5. Loss of privacy c. Relative deprivation i. Involves the discrepancy between what inmates achieve versus what they expect as a major factor in prison violence 1. Reason for riots a. Ex. Every Monday we get to have ice cream but this Monday we don’t because something happened 11. Different types of victimization in prison and types of prison violence a. Types of Victimization i. (1) Physical Violence

ii. (2) Economic Victimization iii. (3) Psychological Victimization iv. (4) Victimization by Staff – can be any of the above b. Types of Prison Violence i. (1) Expressive vs. Instrumental ii. (2) Interpersonal vs. Collective iii. (3) Staff vs. Inmate iv. (4) Types of Violent Offense 1. Assault – the most common type of prison violence would be classified as an aggravated assault. These incidents can escalate from simple assault to murder 2. Rape/Sexual Assault 3. Murder 12. Nature of death in prison a. Illness 89% i. Cancer 27% ii. Heart Disease 26% iii. Liver Disease 10% b. Suicide 6% c. Homicide 2% d. Drug/Alcohol Intoxication 1% 13. Masculinity Test & Flight versus Fight Option a. Prison provides a continuous “test of one’s manhood.” All male prisoners are exposed to the unavoidable reinforcement of a machismo complex, which includes i. Male honor ii. The sacredness of one’s reputation as a man iii. One’s personal responsibility for vindication slurs upon that reputation b. The prison environment lacks legitimate avenues to seek justice, and thus inmates learn to prefer a private, vengeful justice, whether carried out alone or in more collective settings such as gangs c. One’s fighting ability, backed by superior strength, comes to be an automatic response to Insults and threats d. Fight versus Flight i. Refers to the fact that there are only two options for dealing with inmate challenges 1. Flight involves admitting a defeat and asking for help or retreating to a protective setting 2. Fight entails publicly attacking one’s aggressor ii. The flight option carries with it several negative consequences, including the loss of reputation and diminished self-esteem iii. Also choosing this option leaves one vulnerable to future assaults iv. The fight option has the positive benefit of bringing one a violent reputation that serves to deter future assault attempts 14. Key Factors that influence prison violence: money, race, and gangs a. Money

i. Sub-rosa economy really flourished in 1970 when the federal courts essentially opened up the facilities ii. Court rulings securing inmate rights meant that it was not much easier for drugs to be smuggled in by mail or visitations iii. Rule changes also allowed inmates to have more money sent into prison. More money in circulation increased the likelihood of extortion, theft, and robbery iv. Drugs are the most profitable items in the rackets, and given the strong demand, prices are high and a great deal of money is involved. Drugs are transported into the facility through visitors and officers v. Staff Involvement 1. Participate in smuggling due to: a. Financial greed (low salary) b. Fear c. Emotional involvement 2. Given that staff are often involved on some level in smuggling of drugs, this results in their involvement in staff/inmate violence. For example: a. Inmates may try to control guards by threatening to tip off prison administrators about staff involvement with smuggling b. Conversely, staff may beat drug-dealing inmates or set them up so that other prisoners impose the beating. This is done by giving the impression that they are a snitch b. Race and Displaced Aggression i. White inmates are also more often the victims of interracial assaults given the displacement of aggression by minority inmates as a result of subordinate positions held in free society ii. More so than white officers, white inmates are particularly vulnerable to violent outbreaks in their interactions with Black inmates iii. White inmates are forced to interact with Black prisoners who not only feel that the larger white “system” is responsible for their failure, but who also experience discriminatory treatment daily from white correctional officers 1. One consequence is that white and black prisoners remain extremely segregated in all prison activities 2. A second consequence is that there is extreme hatred between these two groups c. Gangs i. First identified in Califoria in the 1960s ii. Gange members in prison usually have more extensive criminal histories iii. Exploit the weak, motivated to make money, and be at top of inmate power structure iv. Gangs are major contributors to violence in prison. Gang affiliations can be imported from the streets or developed within the facility (typically as a means of protection)

v. Debrief 1. Inmates who debrief become an enemy of the gang vi. The gangs in prison tend to be heavily divided among racial lines, which can often be seen in the names vii. Types of Prison Gangs 1. Aryan Brotherhood 2. Mexican Mafia 3. Black Guerilla Family 4. La Nuestra Familia 5. Mexikanemi 6. Texas Syndicate viii. Prison Gang Control Strategies 1. Early detection of gang activities 2. Identification of Leaders and Members 3. Surveillance 4. Denial of gang turf or wearing colors 5. Transferring members to maximum security prisons (cutting off the head of the snake) 15. Understand the dynamics of rape in prison, theory of prison rape, methods of control (PREA) a. Prison rape is the ultimate demonstration of supremacy within the inmate subculture. Prior to the passage of PREA, research on prison rape focuses on two areas: i. Demographic studies measuring the background characteristics of aggressors and victims in prison sexual assaults ii. Theoretical studies explaining sexual assaults in male correctional facilities b. Demographic studies, both quantitative and qualitative, consistently show Black inmates over-represented among the aggressors and white over-represented among the victims of prison sexual assaults c. Two Theoretical Models to Explain the Observed Interracial Pattern of Prison Sexual Assaults: i. Masculinity Identification Hypothesis 1. Homosexual rape in prison results from the restriction of social outlets for playing masculine roles 2. Therefore, one manner in which individuals maintain their manhood is by forcing sex on weaker more feminine males, which creates a class of inmates against which the aggressor can compare their masculinity 3. Noble says if this was the case there would be no racial patterns because everyone is cut off in the same way ii. Power/Domination Explanation 1. Suggests that the desire for power and domination over others are the motivation factors behind sexual assaults 2. As in free society, prison rape is as much an expression of power and domination as it is sexual

3. Given the deprivation characteristic of prison life, “manhood” is the most valuable possession an inmate owns. Therefore, to lose one’s manhood through homosexual rape attributes a great deal of power to the aggressor 4. The more power and status possessed by the victim, the more power and status awarded to the aggressor following a successful assault 5. In prison, sexually assaulting an inmate who appears feminine in their physical build and demeanor brings very little power and likely raises questions about one’s own sexuality d. Methods of Control (PREA) i. The magnitude of the consequences of rape in prison led to federal government’s passage of PREA in 2003 ii. Congress enacted PREA to address the problem of sexual abuse of persons in the custody of the U.S. correctional agencies. PREA calls for Federal, State, and local corrections systems to have a zero-tolerance policy regarding prison rape (as defined by PREA) in prisons, jails, police lockups, and other confinement facilities iii. Highlights of PREA include: 1. Requires development of standards for detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape 2. Standardizes collection and dissemination of information on the incidence of prison rape 3. Awards grants to help state and local governments implement the Act’s provisions iv. PREA applies to all pubic and private institutions that house adult or juvenile offenders v. Three primary goals of PREA: 1. Prevention 2. Detection 3. Reduction 16. Staff involvement in prison violence a. CERT team: another contributing factor to prison violence b. Goon squads are groups of physically powerful correctional officers who are called upon to rush to any area of the prison where it is felt that muscle power will restore the status quo c. Situations in which goon squads may be called include: i. Prisoners destroying property in his cell or refuses to be quiet ii. If there is a fight between two prisoners iii. If an inmate refuses to report to the hospital or some other mandatory aspect of treatment d. Goon squads have a reputation of “enjoying a good fight.” Usually when they encounter a situation, they severely outnumber the inmate, and may have weapons such as a shield, and clubs e. Their assignment in most cases is to restore order as quickly as possible, using whatever force necessary

f. How is staff violence justified? i. Correctional officer violence is routinely justified by the same formulas used to justify police brutality ii. This subculture practices a code of silence similar to the police, which make it almost impossible to convince a correctional officer to testify against one of his fellow employees iii. Thus, many of the complaints lodged against officers are invariably dismissed by the warden who will likely not take the word of an inmate over an officer, or who will rule that the violence was appropriately applied within institutional regulations 17. Controls against inmate violence a. 1. Physical Controls i. Architectural features and equipment of the facility designed to control prison violence b. Antiviolence Norms, Values, and Beliefs i. Inmates have norms and rules about when violence is acceptable and when it is not. People who do not follow these rules may be labeled as an outlaw among outlaws and dealt with accordingly in efforts to maintain the status quo c. Fear of Reprisal i. People avoid violence because they feel they may be unable to protect themselves from retaliation from other inmates or guards d. Legal and Administrative Sanctions i. Violent inmates may lose good time credits, pick up a new legal charge, or be reclassified to a different facility with fewer privileges and tighter security e. The Profit Motif i. Prison entrepreneurs will go to great lengths to avoid confrontations and discourage them in efforts to not disrupt the flow of business profits. Violent outburst may bring in tighter restrictions that can cripple underground markets f. Social Acceptance i. Inmates are like regular people in that they need to engage in meaningful relationships with others and feel good about themselves g. House Keeping Considerations i. Inmates desire to do time as easy as possible. If they have to be there for a long period of time, they want to keep it livable...