chapter 7 prisons

prison

are used for long-term and convicted offenders who are to be simultaneously punished deterred, and rehabilitated while being isolated incapacitated from the community and reintegrated back into that community.

imprisonment rate

• 2023 - us was down to 1.25 mil prisoners 

• 460 sentenced prisoners for every 100,000 US adults 

debate over mass incarceration

does not rehabilitate/cater towards specific needs

• toilet paper and showering are rationed

• prisoners are frustrated by crowded conditions

argument for building more prisons

overcrowding of current prisons

criticism of mass incarceration

it disproportionately incarcerates people of color

it does not deter or fix problems

braman - effects on families

punishes entire family

• financial stress

• emotional stress

• change in responsibility

mass incarceration - crime

makes people violent and frustrated - take anger out on guards

Supermax prison

• Highest level of security 

• Inmates are confined to their cells 23 hours a day 

• Long term solitary confinement 

• Terrorists, escapists, murders in prison

• keep violent away- deterrence

• costly, torture, mental issues

maximum security prison

violent, most serious offenders - escape risk

• walls instead of a fence, yard time, chapel

• work opportunities are limited

• 25-30% of inmates

• 1/5 of prisons

medium security prison

More serious property and drug offenders 

• Large bulk of prison inmates

• Razor wire, fences 

• Inmates have more freedoms inside, church, college campus 

• 40-50% of prisoners 

minimum security prison

• relaxed, no fences, locking exterior door and surveillance devices

• Low level non-violent offenders  - low level felonies, not escape risks 

• Liberalized visitation, reentry 

• 20% of inmates are contained here, but they are about half of prisons 

total institutions

All aspects of life are conducted in same places under same single authority 

• activities serve an ultimate goal

• social mobility between groups is restricted

mortification

The loss of many roles the inmate occupied in the outside world 

• The only role is the role of the inmate - dependence 

• total institutions render their inmates dependent, powerless, and infantilized

importation

• Each person entering a prison will import aspects of their own culture

institutionalization

Very quickly adopt the inmate subculture/institutional subculture 

• “Dependent on the walls”

• Totally institutions strip inmates of agency 

• Take away the idea that you are an adult with autonomy 

• Impedes reintegration

goffman

Chicago school, center of sociological thought

symbolic interactionism

• society is constructed through interactions with others

dramaturgy

• actors on a stage - when in public, we are acting “conning” others 

  • Manipulate the way others see us 

importation model

suggests inmate subculture comes from outside - prior experiences before prison - inmates bring it with them 

deprivation model

sykes - 5 pains, society of captives

how do inmates cope with deprivations

• subculture of prisons originates inside the walls of the prison 

neutralizing pains

• Escape physically - suicide 

• Cope by being an aggressor - being in prison is “abusive” people turn to bullying to gain sense of self

• Psychologically withdraw - drug use 

• Riot

inmate subculture

• Subset of culture that develops its own norms and values 

• Even its own language 

• Solidify when those are isolated from the rest 

• the longer the inmates are locked up, that more total institutions are

who is in prison

people of color

black men are 5.5x more likely to be incarcerated

less educated, older people, poorer people, those with family history of incarceration

drug dependency and mental illness

inmate life

• No snitching 

• Ultra masculinity 

• Solidarity among inmates against staff 

• Don't interfere with inmate interests - don't be nosy/talk about things 

• Do your own time idea 

• Maintain yourself 

• Don't trust the guards 

contract labor and peace price system

• Inmate labor was sold to private employers 

• Products were sold on open market 

• Inmates make goods - contractor arranged price 

• Criticised - competing with free laborers for jobs 

• Outlawed by congress

public account system

• Prison would buy raw materials and use inmate labor 

• Competing with private market 

• Undercutting wages for labor - underselling big businesses that had to pay laborers 

  • System collapsed 

state use system

• Employed producing goods and services 

• Maintain operation of prison 

• Library, cooking

public works and ways

• Inmate labor on construction 

• Outside prison maintenance for trusted inmates 

criticism of work

highest they can be paid is .92 - fed system

lowest .23 - 6 states don’t pay at all

compensation is not the same

drug addiction

addict goes to prison - addiction does not go away

• drugs are readily available in prison - gang affiliation, violence

• drug treatment is expensive

• program participants are less likely to relapse

Estelle v gamble 1976

SC ruled that prison admin must provide prisoners with adequate medical care under the 8th amendment 

• deliberate indifference to serious medical needs - recklessly disregard

mental illness

• Treat them - not adequate - expensive 

• Security issues - more likely to cause issues

• Punishments may make them worse

• They are more likely to reoffend- get punished for symptoms 

• deinstitutionalization movement - closing of state hospitals

elderly

Sentencing policies sent a greater amount of people to prison

• need more medical care, different rec needs, can’t protect themselves

• make cost go up

AIDS

• Medical advances have made this much less of a prevalent issue 

• Number of AIDS related deaths in custody have almost disappeared

• Many inmates still fear becoming infected

  • Drug use

  • Unwanted sexual contact 

• Debate over providing clean needles and condoms to prisoners

  • Sex and drug use in prison are illegal  

LGBT inmates

• Vulnerable to attack and rape, other forms of violence 

• Special security problems 

• trans people - where to house them, medical care - people who are different genders are higher risk

• people are placed based off birth certificate

gangs

15% of prisoners are in gangs

• they are responsible for violence

• protection, social ties, privilege

violence

confined nature of prison - more violent people are housed there

• 64% of males are in for violent offenses

• brutality and sexual assault assert dominance

nature of being in prison

Degrading, dehumanizing, deprivations are stressful 

• Denied amenities that people on the outside have 

• Living in a stressful environment already 

• Expectations - we are going to be violent to assert ourselves 

• General strain theory - don't have coping skill so they turn to violence to cope 

sexual violence

around 4% of adults

• 100x reported rate of rape in the free population 

• Underreported 

  • Might be performed by guards - guards might not care 

  • Humiliation 

  • Prison culture, don’t tell