The Structure and Culture of Prison - Term Paper Example

? The Structure and Culture of PrisonOutline Introduction An Overview: History of the Modern Prison Structure in United s The of Prison System at Present The Prison Culture Violence in Prison Sexuality, Sexual Violence and Sex Culture in Prison Conclusion Introduction The prison culture and structure of the American society includes, crime, which would basically yield a straightforward and literal implication that it is anything against the law, as an important component. A criminal act is a social disease in all its varied forms that sabotages the security of all individuals (The Lifers Public Safety Steering Committee of the State Correctional Institutions, 2004). Crime in any form is an aspect that drives disorder and disorganization in a particular society because of the challenges and dangers it present to people. In this manner, the society has formulated its own law which has its definite social basis on which behaviors must be considered criminal (Comack and Brickey, 1991). Such creation of laws against crime is a pre – requisite for conviction and subsequently housing of the convicted criminal (Viano). In the context of United States, the word ‘jail’ is not synonymous to the term ‘prison’ (Viano). A jail is described as a significant element of the correctional system which is used to capture and confine the sex industry workers, substance abuse offenders, juveniles who are treated as adults, and other persons who have failed to attend it court trials and others (Viano). On the one hand, a prison is defined as a place where to house in a long span of time those convicted of serious crimes (Viano). Meanwhile, the prison culture and structure of United States is an exceptional case for the reason that it imprisons more people compared to any country in the world as it has comprised a one – fourth of the world’s total count of prisoners. It is also the case that prisoners in America are sentenced for longer years than any other prisoners of the world (Adam, 2008). Indeed, such crime – fighting mechanisms by the U.S. Justice System shape the order and organization of American society. Imprisonment of convicted criminals helps to uphold stability in the society. What is known to us is how order is secured in our society once the criminals are imprisoned. Nonetheless, the prison that has been a place which holds most of the origins of disorganization is really not known to many of us. It is a place that has been people’s taken for granted reality. Given this overview, this paper aims to critically discuss and examine the prison culture and structure of the American society. An Overview: History of the Modern Prison Structure in United States According to Wines (1895), it was the case before that the prison was only referred to the detention of no more than religious as well political offenders though this structure of prison has been the mode of repressing and punishing the majority of the crimes today. To know when exactly imprisonment as a punishment of crime has started could not be stated. What is only known is that imprisonment except for the political and religious offenders and debtors was not usual until the middle of 19th century, imprisonment happened to be the standard mode of punishment of crimes in America and Europe as well. In 1921, Barnes discussed the historical background and origins of prison system of the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems of prison administration and how these influence the modern practice of society to repress the criminal behaviors in his “The Historical Origin of the Prison in America.” According to him, in the later 18th and 19th centuries, there were movement of the Europeans with respect to the control of criminal codes and imprisonment. The 18th century marked the period of conversion from corporal punishment to imprisonment. The prison reform has its European origins. However, the scheme of reforming the punishment system of America which had a portion of imitation of the European movement was initiated by the reformers of Philadelphia. In this regards, America has been permanently transformed into a humane criminal jurisprudence. From the barbarous methods having corporal punishment in the treatment of criminals, it has been converted into the typical imprisonment to punish criminal behaviors. This has changed the society’s means of repressing the criminal activities in the society. This has been the modern prison structure which exists today. On the one hand, Pennsylvania had been the model of New York in its reform. At present, New York has preserved its leading stand in progressive punishment in America through being first in the following ways such as the introduction of institution for juvenile delinquents, experiment with prison democracy, perfected reformatory as well as the exhaustive application of medical psychology in order to study the causes as well as the treatment of crimes. The State of Prison System at Present The United States is the world’s leading nation in the rate of imprisonment (The Sentencing Project, 2012). Over the past 30 years, this number is a 500 percent growth of the number of inmates in US (The Sentencing Project). Between 2000 and 2010, the rate of increase of inmates in prisons was 15 percent (The Sentencing Project, 2012). More than 1.5 million inmates are in prison while about 750 thousand inmates are in jails in 2010 (The Sentencing Project, 2012). The number of inmates in the American prisons and jails has reached nearly 2.3 million (The Sentencing Project, 2012). The incarceration rate of 2010 is 731 persons per 100,000 population (The Sentencing Project, 2012). It is the case that one out of every 137 Americans in prison or jail in 2010 (The Sentencing Project, 2012). In this regard, Russia has been outnumbered and happens now to be the former leader in having the most number of prisoners (The Sentencing Project). As of 2010, 9 out of 10 were males and only 1 in 10 was female inside a prison. Out of the total numbers of inmates in prison, only 112,797 were women. About 38 percent were Black, 32 percent were white, and the remaining 22 percent had Hispanic origins. Chance of serving time is biggest among Black males accumulating a percentage of 32, followed by Hispanic males at 17 percent chance while only 6 percent chance for the white males. Meanwhile, the rate of jail or prison incarceration was noted to be highest among Black women, followed by Hispanic women and lastly, by White women (The Sentencing Project, 2012). Given this, the consequence is overcrowding in prisons. The state government suffers the dilemma of funding of where to detain the rapid growth of numbers of inmates. Nonetheless, large – scale incarceration is not the really the most efficient means to obtain the public security (The Sentencing Project, 2012). The Prison Culture According to Shafritz and Ott (1992), a strong organizational behavior is a feature of a strong organizational culture. In this case, a prison is an organization which has a culture of its own. Though it is the case that how and why such prison culture is formed, Bedore (1994) suggested that it is based on the socialization aspect or roles inside the prison. On the one hand, Grunseit, Forrell, & McCarron (2008) stated that prison has its own particular dynamic and specific set of shared understandings that makes up the existing social relations inside a prison. They suggested that the prison culture or subculture, which is defined as the social relations that take place inside a prison, has an impact on the legal needs of prisons. For them, such prison culture or subculture affects inmates to access justice because of the stigma. It is also suggested that the existing culture or subculture in prison changes for it is not identical from each prison and also not same for a specific time frame. In their study, common themes of prison are related to the prisoner’s approach to justice. Moreover, social relations in prison do impact the approach to legal needs as well as the access to justice among the inmates. According to Grunseit et al. (2008), there seems to be a number of ways in which the feature of prison culture is related to the legal needs o f a prisoner. First is how they perceive and define themselves as inmates. For them, an inmate is the counterpart of the prison or correctional officers. They also tend to see themselves as opposition to the justice system. Second is the violence inside a prison. Prison violence committed against an inmate is regarded as just normal. Given that this is acceptable within the limits of prison environment, how inmates deals with the physical attacks of other inmates are also ordinary. Third is the idea of what makes a criminal. There are expectations about how others who provide assistance see what a criminal is. A perception of being an undeserving criminal impacts how the access legal needs. Fourth is related to a compliant inmate. Being an obedient inmate dismays such behaviors that may aid an inmate in meeting their needs in terms of legal aspects. Violence in Prison It is stated earlier by Grunseit et al. (2008) that violence in prison against an inmate is part of the prison culture. According to Homel and Thomson (2005),though there exist many schools of thought which influence how prison violence can be described, no over – arching approach that can explain how it exist. Meanwhile, there are two models which can help make clear why violence against an inmate exists inside a prison. First is the deprivation model. Wortley (1996) stated that the creation of a deviant prison subculture which stimulates violence is triggered by the prison environment itself as well as the inmates’ loss of freedom inside the said environment. This is such a trauma for the inmates. In order to respond to this psychological pain on them, they resort to violence. On the one hand, the second model, importation model, highlights that violence in the prison is brought by the prisoners’ histories, personal attributes and social networks (Cao, Zhao and Vandine, 1997). However, Bottoms (1999) claimed that the very particular aspects of the social and physical environments of prison are the cause of prison violence. According to Homel and Thomson (2005), there are different factors that are linked up with prison violence. These include the pre - existing characteristics of a prisoner such as gender and age, the practices of management like staffing models, skills and training, the situational or structural factors like level of security and architectural design of prison, and the other elements like racial tensions and political pressures on prison. However, it is the case that the poor prison management is really a big root of the social disorder inside the prison, thus, ending up in violence. In addition to that, Edgar and O’ Donnell (1998) suggested that the illegal drug use and trafficking inside the prison are associated with violence. Moreover, size of prison is not regarded as a causal factor even if there exists overcrowding of prisoners. According to Wortley (1996), the size of prison may just be only a contributing factor of prison violence. Moreover, Edgar and O’ Donnell (1998) proposed that factors like younger age, status of offense, race and sexuality are connected with the susceptibility to be victimized and experience prison violence. Sexuality, Sexual Violence and Sex Culture in Prison One among the other aspects that differentiate the prison culture is related to sexuality and sex. According to Lockwood’s (1980), sexual aggression is observed in the prison environment. He defined the concept as a behavior in which one sense himself to be the object of aggressive sexual intentions. Sexual aggression has various levels attempts of exploitations and reactions to it. It can range from aggressor’s approach on his target to gang rape. In further understanding the sex culture inside a prison, it is important to identify the features of targets and aggressors. Significantly, white more likely happened to be the targets whereas the black more likely happened to be the aggressors. The younger the inmate is the higher chance of him being the target of sexual aggression. Targets were also those with lower weight and smaller built than the aggressors. Aggressors chose targets that were just new and inexperienced in prison because of the reason that the newcomers were easy prey and heedless of the moves of aggressors. Nonetheless, no difference on history of imprisonment and length of sentence was observed between the targets and aggressors. In this regard, sexuality is questioned among the inmates who engage in sexual activities with the same gender. However, Lockwood (1980) stated that the aggressors do not see themselves as homosexuals. For them, the victims of their sexual violence are perceived as women inside the prison environment. Meanwhile, Hensley, Tewksbury and Wright (2001) conducted a study on masturbation and consensual sex in the men’s maximum – security Southern Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. Their research investigation figured out that about 8 in 10 males claimed they were heterosexual before their imprisonment; 7 out of 10 remained to be heterosexual after their incarceration; about 4 in 10 had oral sex from another male inmate; and approximately 3 in 10 had done an anal intercourse on another male prisoner. On the one hand, Lockwood (1994) stated that the events of homosexual rape happen very rarely. This is because the sexual offenders seek from the homosexual men for sexual favors. In this regard, it is now identified and understood the sexual violence and culture inside a prison. The sexuality among these males is subjected to be questioned. Nonetheless, this only evidences the fluidity of sexuality. Conclusion Indeed, it is the case that the prison is a place of taken for granted realities. People only think of the prison as a place where most of the origins of disorganizations and crimes in society are housed. However, aside from that notion, the structure and culture of prison as a distinct organization in our society is not known to most of us. In the critical examination of the structure and culture of prison, basically, imprisonment as means of punishment and repression of crime is just a modern practice. However, the case of American prison system is confronted with issues of having the largest number of inmates in the whole world for it has already exceeded 2 million inmates. The overcrowding of inmates in the prisons is now a dilemma that must be faced. On the one hand, the prison is a distinct institution that is characterized by different features of strong organizational culture. One among the features that characterizes the culture of prison is how an inmate is perceived as a counterpart of the prison officers. Prison culture is also characterized by the acknowledged violence against an inmate by an inmate inside the prison. Another is the expectations on the criminals as seeing them undeserving to the legal needs. Also, being an obedient inmate dismays such behaviors that may aid an inmate in meeting their needs in terms of legal aspects. However, the violence in prison is one among the very remarkable feature of its culture. Violence inside the prison is just normal as explained by different factors such as the prison environment and the prisoner’s histories, personal attributes and social networks. Furthermore, the sexual culture of prison is also a very noteworthy feature of prison culture. This is because sexual violence inside prison is very widespread. Even if they are same males, the inmates would engage in same sex intercourse. Different sorts of sex exist in prison. It can range from a sex by aggressor on its target, gang rape, consensual sex and others. Indeed, sexuality has been so fluid in the world of prisoners. Some of them claim that they are heterosexual males despite their engagement in same sex intercourse while a few of them see themselves as homosexual. Thus, these are only some of the distinct features that makes up the structure and culture of prisons. References: Adam Liptak, ‘U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations’, International Herald Tribune, April 23, 2008, Barnes, F.E. (1921). The historical origin of the prison system in America. Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology 12(1): 35-60. Bedore, J.M. (1994). Prisons as organizational cultures: a literature review of vastly unexplored organizational communication setting. Retrieved from Bottoms, Anthony E., William Hay, and J. Richard Sparks (1995). Situational and social approaches to the prevention of disorder in long-term prisons.” Long-Term Imprisonment: Policy, Science, and Correctional Practice. editor. Timothy J. Flanagan. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Cao, L. Q., J. H. Zhao, and S. Vandine. (1997). Prison disciplinary tickets: A test of the deprivation and importation models. Journal of Criminal Justice 25(2): 103-113. Comack, E., and S. Brickey. (1991). The Social basis of law: critical readings in the sociology of law. 2nd ed. Halifax: Garamond Press Grunseit, A., Forrell, S. & McCarron, E. (2008). Taking justice into custody: the legal needs of prisoners. Law and Justice Foundation of NSW: Sydney. Hensley, C., Tewksbury, R., & Wright, J. (2001). Exploring the dynamics of masturbation and consensual same-sex activity within a male maximum security prison. The Journal of Men's Studies, 10(1): 59-71. Homel, R. & Thomson, C. (2005). Causes and prevention of violence in prisons. In Sean O’Toole & Simon Eyland (Eds.), Corrections criminology. Sydney: Hawkins Press, pp. 101-108. Lockwood, D. (1980). Prison Sexual Violence. New York: Elsevier. Lockwood, D. (1994). Issues of prison sexual violence. In M.C. Braswell, H. Reid H.,Jr., & L.X. Lombardo, (Eds.), Prison violence in America (2nd Vol., pp. 97-102). Cincinnati, OH; Anderson. O'Donnell, Ian, and Kimmett Edgar. (1996). The extent and dynamics of victimisation in Prison. Oxford, U.K.: Centre for Criminological Research, Oxford University. The Lifers Public Safety Steering Committee of the State Correctional Institutions. (2004). Ending the culture of street crime. The Prison Journal 84 (4): 48S – 68S. The Sentencing Project (2012). Facts about prisons and prisoners. The Sentencing Project Research Advocacy and Reform. The Sentencing Project (no date). U.S. prison and population trends and implication. The Sentencing Project Research Advocacy and Reform. Viano, E. (no date). America’s prison system. Fondation Internationale Penale et Penitentiare 139-184. Wines, F.H. (1895). Punishment and reformation. New York: Crowell. Wortley, R. (1996). Guilt, shame and situational crime prevention. The Politics and Practice of Situational Crime Prevention, Crime Prevention Studies Vol. 5. editor. Ross Homel. Monsy, New York: Criminal Justice Press. Read More