American Corrections 10th Edition Clear

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CHAPTER 11
The Prison Experience

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Discuss the “inmate code” and talk about where the values of the prison subculture come
from.
2. Be familiar with the prison economy.
3. Explain the different types of prison violence.
4. Discuss what can be done about prison violence.

KEY TERMS
Inmate code
A set of rules of conduct that reflect the values and norms of the prison social system and help
define for inmates the image of the model prisoner.

Prisonization
The process by which a new inmate absorbs the customs of prison society and learns to adapt to
the environment.

Unit management
Tactic for reducing prison violence by dividing facilities into small, self-contained,
semiautonomous “institutions.”

CHAPTER OUTLINE

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I. Prison Society
A. Publication of Fishman’s Sex in Prison in 1934 marked the beginning of the
scientific study of inmate subcultures.
1. Social scientists find them to be functioning communities.
2. They possess values, roles, language, and customs.
3. They have norms, traditions, and leadership structure.
4. Some inmates stay by themselves, others form cliques, while others
become politicians of convict society.
5. Group membership provides protection and identity.
B. Norms and Values.
1. The inmate code: norms and values developed within the prison social
system help to define the convict’s image of the model prisoner; prison is
an ultra-masculine world.
2. Primary rules are “do your own time” and “don’t inform on another
convict.”
a. Don’t interfere with inmate interests
b. Don’t quarrel with fellow inmates’
c. Don’t exploit inmates
d. Maintain yourself
e. Don’t trust the guards or the things they stand for
3. Prisonization: how the “fish,” the newcomer, learns the norms and values
of prison society.
4. Prison subculture roles most frequently described: “right guy”/ “real man”
upholds prisoner values and interest; “square john” has a noncriminal
self-image; “punk” is a passive homosexual; “rat” is an inmate who squeals
to the authorities.
5. Convict society has divided along racial and ethnic lines and is more a
reflection of American society; many prisons are marked by racially-
motivated violence, organizations based on race and voluntary
segregation by inmates by race whenever possible.
6. No single overriding inmate code exists.
7. A majority of inmates hold views on law and justice similar to those held
by the general public.
C. Prison Subculture: Deprivation or Imported?
1. Sykes argues that the subculture arises within the prison in response to
the pains and deprivations of incarceration. These include deprivation of:
a. Liberty.
b. Autonomy.
c. Security.
d. Goods and services.
e. Heterosexual relationships.
2. An alternative theory holds that the values of the inmate community are
brought in from outside the walls.
a. Irwin and Cressey argue there are three subcultures: convict, thief, and
straight. Convergence of convict and thief subcultures produces prison
culture.
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b. Zamble and Propino hold that inmate behavior results from how
inmates cope with and adapt to the prison environment.
D. Adaptive Roles: Most male inmates use one of four basic role orientations to
adapt to prison.
1. Doing Time: men “doing time” view their prison term as a brief inevitable
break in the criminal career, a cost of doing business.
2. Gleaning: these inmates take advantage of prison programs to better
themselves and improve their minds and prospects for success after
release.
3. Jailing: the choice of those who cut themselves off from the outside and try
to construct a life within the prison.
4. Disorganized Criminal: this describes inmates who are unable to develop
any of the other three role orientations; these inmates are often of low
intelligence or afflicted with disabilities; have difficulty functioning within
prison society; are human putty to be manipulated by others.

II. The Prison Economy

A. In prison, as in the outside world, individuals desire goods and services but in
prison they are deprived of virtually everything.
B. The number of items an inmate can have varies from state to state.
C. The prison “store” vs. the informal underground economy.
1. Inmates can purchase limited numbers of things from the store.
2. Money deposited by family members or earned by prison jobs is kept and
used at the store.
3. Fleisher found an inmate running a “store” in most every cell block in the
U.S. penitentiary at Lompoc.
4. Kalinich found the prison economy works on supply and demand just as it
does outside.
5. Because money is prohibited, it is a barter economy.
6. The most important commodity is cigarettes. It is the medium of exchange
or the currency.
7. In prisons that have become non-smoking, cans of tuna have emerged as a
replacement.
8. Economic transactions may lead to violence.

III. Violence in Prison

A. Prisons offer the perfect recipe for violence.
B. Each year 34,000 inmates are attacked, 4 per 100,000 reported in 2007.
C. Violence and Inmate Characteristics.
1. Age: young males between 16 and 24, both inside and outside prison, are
more prone to violence than their elders.
a. The young not only have greater physical strength but also lack the
commitments to career and family that tend to restrict antisocial
behavior.
b. Machismo, male honor, also forces those who are insulted to retaliate.

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2. Attitudes: one sociological theory advanced to explain crime is that there

is a subculture of violence among certain socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic
groups.
3. Race: has become a major divisive factor in today’s prisons, reflecting
tensions in the larger society.
4. A perfect recipe for violence: a thousand young men, some with histories
of violent behavior, confined in cramped quarters.
D. Prisoner-to-Prisoner Violence: Most violence in prison is inmate to inmate.
1. Prison Gangs: “security threat groups” now linked to acts of violence in
most prisons; gangs make it difficult for wardens to control their prisons;
they make certain prisons more dangerous than any American
neighborhoods; they are organized primarily to control an institution’s
drug, gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, extortion, and debt collection
rackets; they also protect their members and instill a sense of macho
camaraderie.
2. Protective Custody: for many victims of prison violence this is the only
way to escape further abuse; they are let out of the cell only briefly and
their reputations follow them through the grapevine.
a. Called “special management inmates.”
b. Have no chance of going back to the general population.
c. Will be viewed as a snitch or a “punk” to be preyed upon.
3. Sexual victimization
a. Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003
b. Victims are 25-39, white, first-time offenders, convicted with a crime
against a minor, weak, viewed as effeminate, not affiliated with a gang,
believed to have snitched.
c. Perpetrators are black or white, imprisonment for a lengthy period of
time and have been arrested for threatening, assaults or sexual crimes.
E. Prisoner–Officer Violence.
1. Violence against officers typically occurs in specific situations and against
certain individuals, for instance, breaking up a fight or moving a prisoner
to segregation, situations they know are dangerous.
2. Approximately 18,000 assaults per year.
3. Their greatest fear is unexpected attacks.
4. Authority of an officer may be greatly reduced after a prisoner assault,
especially if the response was less than forceful.
5. Officers need to be constantly watchful against attacks and this adds
stress.
F. Officer-Prisoner Violence: unauthorized physical violence by officers against
inmates is a fact of life in many institutions.
1. How do we tell when force is legitimate? Definitions are vague.
a. Some institutions use “goon squads” to maintain order.
b. The worst case in recent memory is that at the California State Prison
at Corcoran where between 1989 and 1995, 43 inmates were wounded
and 7 killed by guards using assault rifles.
c. Guards at Corcoran even instigated fights between rival gangs.
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d. Supervisors rarely view officer-inmate confrontations.

e. Americans were shocked by the April 2004 disclosure of Abu Ghraib in
Iraq.
2. Wardens feel they must support their officers.
G. Decreasing Prison Violence – five factors contribute to prison violence:
1. Inadequate supervision by staff.
2. Architectural design that promotes victimization.
3. Easy availability of deadly weapons.
4. Housing of violence-prone prisoners near defenseless people.
5. A high level of tension produced by close quarters.
H. The Effect of Architecture and Size: this is thought to influence the amount of
violence in an institution; the “new generation” prison is designed to limit
these opportunities and prevent violence.
1. Many prisons have places where inmates can avoid supervision.
2. The “new jail” design is intended to alleviate this problem.
3. Size of prisons permit inmates to hide weapons and some inmates may fall
through the cracks.
4. Relationship between overcrowding and prison violence is unclear.
I. The Role of Management: when administrators run a tight ship, security
measures prevent sexual attacks in dark corners, the making of “shivs” and
“shanks” in the metal shop and open conflict among inmate groups. Measures
suggested:
1. Improve classification.
2. Create opportunities for fearful inmates to seek assistance.
3. Increase size of custody force.
4. Redesign facilities.
5. Install grievance mechanisms or ombudsperson.
6. Augment a reward system to reduce pains of incarceration.
7. Employ unit management.

SUMMARY
The inmate code is a set of rules that reflects the values and norms of the prison social
system. Some criminologists argue that the values of the prison society reflect the ways in which
the prisoners adapt to the pains of imprisonment; others say that values are brought into the
institution from the outside. John Irwin identified four role orientations that reflect the different
ways that inmates adapt to prison: “doing time” (cost of doing business), gleaning (take
advantage of prison programs), jailing (institutionalized prisoners), and disorganized criminals
(low intelligence or mentally disabled). One way in which prisoners adapt to their environment is
by creating a barter economy of desired goods and services. Age, attitude, and race are inmate
characteristics that help explain why some inmates are violent during their incarceration. Many
victims of prison violence escape further abuse by entering protective custody, but this is a
drastic step because they can never return to the general prison population. Correctional officers
do not carry weapons within the institution. They must be constantly watchful against personal
attacks from prisoners. The unlawful use of force by correctional officers can result in costly

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lawsuits filed by inmates. Architectural design and effective prison management are two factors
believed to contribute to reduced rates of inmate violence.

MEDIA LINKS
A link to a website devoted to communications by and with prisoners is found at
http://www.prisonerlife.com.

A link for a website designed to help parole officers identify and interpret prison gang tattoos
can be found at: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/gangs/prison.html.

For more information on gang identification both in and outside of the prison visit
http://www.gangsorus.com/.

For more information regarding the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 visit
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/programs/prisonrapeelimination.htm.

The Just Detention International is an organization that is working to end sexual violence in
prison; see the link at http://www.justdetention.org/.

For more on the Zimbardo experiment, which simulated guard-prisoner violence, as well as
connections between Zimbardo’s research and Abu Ghraib, go to the two corresponding
websites at Zimbardo experiment http://www.prisonexp.org, and at Zimbardo’s research and
Abu Ghraib http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/dec/zimbardo120705.html.

CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS

1. Invite corrections officers to class. Have them discuss their use of force and other conflict
resolution tactics they employ in their job. Ask the officers to discuss the ways in which
their job comes home with them and informs their personal relationships.

2. Have students visit http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/programs/prisonrapeelimination.htm to learn

more regarding the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003. Ask them to further research to see
how your state implements this program and the enforcement process. Discuss this in class.

3. Obtain a copy of National Geographic’s “Hard Times” video series to view prison life. These
videos show all elements regarding the prison culture including entrance in to the prison,
visitation, the subrosa economy, prison rape, homosexuality and more. Allow students to
discuss each video (total of 6, either the GA edition or OH edition).

4. Find a Youtube video or the actual video footage of the California State Prison at Corcoran
takeover. Show this video to your students and allow them to decide what could have been
different if the system was managed differently. Discuss this in class.

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5. Ask students to research prison gangs over a period of the last 20 years. What changes have
been made or are there not any? Allow them to write a research paper on the topic of prison
gangs and the affects they pose to the system.

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