Chapter 14: Prison Life: Living in and Leaving Prison - Study Notes

Problems with Adult Incarceration

• Despite crime going down, incarceration has gone up − Only recently in decline
• More than half are max security institutions
• Many operate above capacity
• Facilitate a “school for crime”

Men Imprisoned (1 of 4)

• Total Institutions
  • Segregated from the outside world
  • Constant scrutiny and surveillance
  • Forced to obey strict official rules
  • Limited personal possessions
  • Human functions curtailed
  • “No-frills” policy vs. “rehabilitative” philosophy

Men Imprisoned (2 of 4)

• Living in Prison
  • Stripped, searched, assigned living quarters
  • Deprivation of liberty, goods and services, heterosexual relationships, autonomy, and security
  • Overcrowded prisons are filled with young, aggressive men who are responsible for majority of inmate-on-inmate assaults

Men Imprisoned (3 of 4)

• Adjusting to Prison
  • A variety of attitude and behavior changes as their sentence unfolds
  • Many inmates learn to adapt to the prison routine
  • Some inmates routinely violate institutional rules

Men Imprisoned (4 of 4)

• Inmate subculture is the loosely defined culture that pervades prisons and has its own norms, rules, and language.
• Elements of the inmate social code
  • Don’t interfere with inmates’ interests
  • Don’t lose your head
  • Don’t exploit inmates
  • Be tough, and don’t lose your dignity
  • Don’t be a sucker

Discussion Activity 1

• Men Imprisoned − How might the existence of an inmate social code impact one’s likelihood of successful reentry into the community after their release?
• Can we expect an individual to simply turn on and off these characteristics depending on their physical location (in or out of prison)?

Discussion Activity 1 Debrief

• What do you think could be done to help inmates transition into the community?
• Is it fair to keep restrictions on inmates after they are released and have paid their debt to society? For example, felons cannot vote. Convicted persons cannot hold certain jobs.

Women Imprisoned (1 of 4)

• Female Institutions
  • Smaller than male institutions
  • Nonsecure
  • Lack of adequate training for inmates
  • Counseling by laypeople
  • Lack of parenting programs
  • Lack of job training

Women Imprisoned (2 of 4)

• Demographics and background factors
  • Young
  • Minorities
  • Unmarried
  • Parents
  • Undereducated
  • Unemployed or underemployed
  • Troubled family lives
  • Physical/sexual abuse
  • Substance abuse
  • Health issues
  • Mental health issues
  • Suicide

Women Imprisoned (3 of 4)

• Adapting to the female Institution
  • Different from male institutions
  • Less danger to staff
  • Less violent behavior
  • Less aggressive sexual behavior
  • More social support, both internal and external

Women Imprisoned (4 of 4)

• Adapting to the female Institution (continued)
  • Anger is directed inward instead of outward
  • Depression
  • Make-believe family substitutes: family groups with a faux father, mother, and siblings

Prison Violence (1 of 3)

• Individual Violence
  • History of prior violence
  • Psychological malady
  • Prison conditions
  • Lack of dispute resolution mechanisms
  • Basic survival
• Collective Violence
  • Inmate-balance theory
  • Administrative-control theory
  • Prison overcrowding theory

Prison Violence (2 of 3)

• Sexual Violence
  • Young males may be raped and kept as sexual slaves by older, more aggressive inmates
  • Weaker inmates may agree to such arrangements for protection
  • Difficult to get an accurate reading of the true incidence of prison rape

Prison Violence (3 of 3)

• What factors lead to sexual victimization?
  • White inmates are attacked more than any other race
  • Victims are generally younger than their assailants
  • Mentally ill or intellectually impaired inmates are more likely to be victimized
  • Cell blocks with solid cell fronts may contribute to sexual assault
  • In women’s prisons, sexual assault may be at the hands of correctional officers

Discussion Activity 2

• Prison Violence − How does our understanding of sexual victimization in prison compare to our understanding of sexual victimization outside of prison?
• Do some of the same reasons exist for not reporting?
• Are some of the reasons different?
• How can these differences be explained?

Discussion Activity 2 Debrief

• What do you think about parolees not being allowed to associate with other parolees even though they are released from prison?
• List some reasons you think it might be hard for a convicted felon to fit into the community after release from prison.

Correctional Rehabilitation (1 of 3)

• Individual and Group Counseling
  • May involve anger management or cognitive behavior therapy
  • Faith-based programs
  • Drug treatment programs
  • Treating the AIDS-infected inmate

Correctional Rehabilitation (2 of 3)

• Educational and Vocational Programs
  • Work release − Allows inmates to be released during the day to work in the community, returning to prison at night
  • Furlough − Allows inmates to leave the institution for vocational or educational training, for employment, or to maintain family ties
  • Private prison enterprise
  • Post-release programs

Correctional Rehabilitation (3 of 3)

• Can Rehabilitation Work?
  • Rehabilitation does work
  • Elements of successful programs:
  • Teach interpersonal skills
  • Provide individual counseling
  • Make use of behavior modification techniques
  • Use cognitive-behavioral therapy
  • Stress-improving moral reasoning
  • Combine in-prison therapeutic communities with follow-up community treatment

Discussion Activity 3

• What are the strengths of faith-based programs? What are the weaknesses? Should they receive government financial support?

Discussion Activity 3 Debrief

• Correctional Rehabilitation − If you oversaw a prison, what type(s) of rehabilitation programs would you implement?
• Why and how do you think these programs would be useful?
• Do you think the general public believes such programs in prisons are a good use of taxpayers’ money? Why or why not?

Guarding the Institution (1 of 2)

• Guarding the institution is a complex task.
• Roles of correctional officers include:
  • Supervise inmates
  • Sit on disciplinary boards
  • Escort inmates to/from court
  • Greatest problem is the conflict between security and treatment

Guarding the Institution (2 of 2)

• Female Correctional Officers
  • Little difference in behavior or use of aggressive tactics
  • Discipline has not suffered
  • Beneficial effect
  • Assignment to male institutions may boost career

Prisoners’ Rights (1 of 2)

• The Hands-off Doctrine
  • The legal practice of allowing prison administrators a free hand in running the institution, even if correctional practices violate inmates’ constitutional rights
  • The hands-off doctrine ended with the onset of the prisoners’ rights movement in the 1960s

Prisoners’ Rights (2 of 2)

• Substantive Rights
  • Access to courts, legal services, and materials
  • Freedom of the press and of expression
  • Freedom of religion
  • Medical rights
  • Cruel and unusual punishment
  • Physical abuse
  • Racial segregation
  • Overall prison conditions

Knowledge Check Activity

• A legal doctrine that shields government officials from liability if their conduct did not violate clearly established civil rights that a reasonable person would have known about
• An inmate trained in law, or otherwise educated, who helps other inmates prepare legal papers and appeals
• Civil rights that include the right of inmates to receive mail and medical benefits and to practice their religion
• A correctional policy that allows inmates to leave the institution for vocational or educational training, for employment, or to maintain family ties
• A prison treatment program that allows inmates to be released during the day to work in the community, returning to prison at night
• Substantive rights
• Furlough
• Jailhouse lawyer
• Work release
• Qualified immunity

Knowledge Check Activity: Answer

• A legal doctrine that shields government officials from liability if their conduct did not violate clearly established civil rights that a reasonable person would have known about → e. Qualified immunity
• An inmate trained in law, or otherwise educated, who helps other inmates prepare legal papers and appeals → c. Jailhouse lawyer
• Civil rights that include the right of inmates to receive mail and medical benefits and to practice their religion → a. Substantive rights
• A correctional policy that allows inmates to leave the institution for vocational or educational training, for employment, or to maintain family ties → b. Furlough
• A prison treatment program that allows inmates to be released during the day to work in the community, returning to prison at night → d. Work release

Leaving Prison (1 of 5)

• Parole − The early release of a prisoner from imprisonment subject to conditions set by correctional authorities
• The parole board’s primary functions:
  • Select and place prisoners on parole
  • Aid, supervise, and provide continuing control of parolees in the community
  • Determine when the parole function is completed and to discharge parolees
  • Determine whether parole should be revoked if violations of conditions occur

Leaving Prison (2 of 5)

• Parole Hearings
  • Review of cases differs across jurisdictions
  • Factors that are considered are the inmate’s crime, their institutional record, and their willingness to accept responsibility
  • Inmate’s rights vary across jurisdictions
  • No federal right to legal representation
  • Exclusionary rule does not apply

Leaving Prison (3 of 5)

• Problems of Reentry
  • Prison experience
  • Supervision on the outside
  • Personal deficits
  • Economic deficits
  • Employment helps
  • Marriage and family deficits
  • Community deficits

Leaving Prison (4 of 5)

• Written Assignment Activity
  • What do you think are three of the most difficult problems for prisoners in reentry?
  • What are some ideas you think could help with these issues? What are some obstacles or opposition to your ideas?

Leaving Prison (5 of 5)

• Risks of Reentry
  • Inadequate treatment
  • Lack of savings
  • Lack of employment prospects
  • Women face special challenges
  • Effect on communities
• Improving chances on reentry
  • Offender notification forums
  • Reentry courts
  • Community-based interventions
  • Legal restrictions

Summary (1 of 2)

• Now that the lesson is completed, you should be able to:
  • Discuss the problems of the adult correctional system.
  • Explain the term total institution.
  • Explain the “prisonization” process and the development of the inmate social code.
  • Compare the lives and cultures of male and female inmates.
  • Discuss the causes of prison violence.

Summary (2 of 2)

• Now that the lesson is completed, you should be able to:
  • Discuss the different forms of correctional treatment.
  • Describe the world of correctional officers.
  • Explain what is meant by prisoners’ rights, and discuss some key privileges that have been granted to inmates.
  • Describe the problems of prisoner reentry.