Prison Subculture - Conduct, Roles, Behavioral Expectations - Essay Example

CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 6 The Needs of Prisoners 9 Prison Subcultures 10 Conclusion 14 Abstract This work on prison subculture deals with the definition of a prison as a place for confining criminals in such a manner that they do not cause harm to society. After this methods of punishment employed down the ages is mentioned en passant. The drawbacks in the system of imprisonment are discussed in detail. After this a comprehensive literature review of prison subculture is presented in order to assess the present condition of the prison inmates. After this the problems of prison rape, homosexuality and gambling and drug abuse are discussed. The aspirations and the miserable existence of prisoners are then taken up for discussion. Prison subculture is a very important aspect of imprisonment. A totally different type of society is created in a prison. Ignoring this subculture can prove fatal to any prisoner. The psychological and physical problems faced by prisoners are then enumerated. Finally, the effects of physical and psychological victimization are discussed. In conclusion the importance of the code of conduct is discussed. Introduction The purpose of a prison is to accommodate and confine convicts and a 2005 report of the Bureau of Justice indicates that there are 2,135,901 such prisoners (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005). Its main function is to restrain and confine persons who have displayed deviant behaviour. However, it is not confined to bringing about mere incarceration but it is also aims at providing a method of restraining society and controlling it (Goldsmith, 1997) in order to “reform the criminal, to change him from a social danger and an economic liability into a peaceful and useful citizen.”(Norris, Rothman 1998) Nevertheless, seclusion, violence, deprivation of privacy and dissemination of the criminal trade are prevalent to a great degree (Goldsmith, 1997) in prisons. In the United States prison inmates have to envisage a situation, in which they are isolated, exposed to very high stress levels, offered almost no prospect to take decisions and are socially secluded. The rate of incarceration in the United States in the year 2001 was 686 to 100,000 of population (Pastore, Maguire). The national population in two decades has increased by 20%, whereas there has been a four fold increase in the number of people incarcerated in the corresponding period (Beiser, 2001) and this number is now 1,962,220. These numbers though excluding probationers and parolees, nevertheless, comprises a sizeable amount of the population. (Pendleton et al 1998). The classification of prisoners is fascinating and as per the statistics on prisons that have been made available, in 1997 male federal prisoners comprised 92.8%; 29.9% were white, non-Hispanic; 37.8% black and 27.3% Hispanic. The data for state prisons was 93.7% male; 33.3% white, non-Hispanic; 46.5% black and 17% Hispanic. The statistical median of the age in federal prisons was 36 years and in state prisons it was 32 years (Pastore, Maguire). Initially, imprisonment was a means by which society took revenge against those who committed crimes and involved the infliction of corporal punishment, banishment, transporting to penal colonies where the prisoners were subjected to forced labour and they were also made galley slaves. Over time this concept changed and imprisonment was employed to reform criminals rather than exact revenge for the harm or injury caused by them to society. It employs methods physical as well as psychological methods like punishment, prevention, and rehabilitation. In combination these methods enable society to segregate criminals so as to prevent them from indulging in criminal behaviour, gratifies the victims’ desire for retribution and serves to convince potential criminals about the futility of crime. Moreover, over a period of time it is hoped that these prisoners will be transformed into industrious and law abiding citizens who will be fit to rejoin the mainstream of society. Despite, the avowed intent of prisons to reform criminals, the results in this regard have not been very positive and the general belief is that they make the situation worse. Incarceration is accompanied by several shortcomings, which affect prisoners in different ways. The first change that prisoners have to adapt to is that brought about by entry shock. This is usually overcome by conforming to prison life as expeditiously as is possible. Prisoners are sparingly permitted to maintain contacts with the outside world and their attempts to maintain contact with family and friends usually end in failure. Another major problem is posed by what is to be done with the long hours of inactivity that a prisoner perforce has to put up with (Tosh, 1982). The psychological effects created due to incarceration are quite important and some of these effects are the loss of liberty, which makes prisoners experience limitation in movement. Further, confinement connoted moral rejection and implies that society is unable to repose sufficient trust in them to allow them to reside freely in their midst (Johnson, 1996). Moreover, prisoners have to follow a strict regimen of rules and this involves a number of restrictions on their possessions, while in prison. Sexually deviant behaviour results from deprivation of normal sexual needs. Prisoners are placed under strict control under the ruthless control of prison officials and in combination all these psychological factors result in the demolition of the human personality (Johnson, 1996). In order to bring about disciplinary segregation, administrative segregation or protective custody, prisoners are isolated from their fellow convicts. This is known as solitary confinement and the severity of the psychological effect due to such confinement is to a great extent dependent on the duration of such isolation (Bartol and Bartol, 1984). Literature Review   In respect of homosexuality in American prisons a vast body of literature exists, which has moreover been thoroughly recorded (Hensley et al, 2003). New prison inmates have to imbibe its values, attitudes and behavioral expectations in order to make a smooth transition to the life of a prisoner. Einat and Einat are of the opinion that, “The norms and values of the inmate code form the core of an inmate subculture, providing its members with informal means to gain power and status and, thereby, a way to mitigate their sense of social rejection and compensate for their loss of autonomy and security.” (Einat and Einat, 2000). Once this new lifestyle has been adopted and the new criminal values have been imbibed, the new prisoners are deemed to have been prisonized. A code exists in prison amongst prisoners, which is termed as the inmate code. It is essential for every prisoner to follow it as this indicates willingness to be bound by the values of the prison system. Prison argot performs six functions as propounded by Einat and Einat, first the need to be different and unique; second, mitigation of feelings of rejection; third, simplification of social dealings; fourth, assertion of being part of a subculture; fifth, it acts as a means to establish social identification resulting in the sense of belonging to a group and lastly, it helps to maintain secrecy (Einat and Einat, 2000). The victim is exposed to drastic consequences if he is unable to comprehend the reasons for being raped in prison and the situation is aggravated by inept mental health practitioners whose assessment of the victim’s position is totally wrong. For instance, a male inmate in a state prison, told the Human Rights Watch that, I was put in a cell with a gang member who made me give him oral sex…I went to see a psychologist who told me that I’d caused that inmate to sexually abuse me…I can see that I was going through a brake down [sic] mentally.  Anyway, I’d made up my mind that I was taking my life….it is truly impossible to put into words what goes through one’s mind when becoming a victim of rape.  Being made into a person of no self worth, being remade into what ever the person or gang doing the raping wants you to be (Human Rights Watch (2001)). Prison rape is very common and in addition to causing physical and psychological damage, it is also presents a fearsome challenge for authorities aiming to provide basic human rights within correctional institutions. In a study of four Midwestern states it was found that twenty percent of the inmates were raped while in prison (Struckman-Johnson & Struckman-Johnson, 2000). The Courts in recognition of the fact that homosexual rape is commonplace in prison have frequently departed from sentencing guidelines if the convicted felon is especially vulnerable to rape, and has the prisoner rape victim profile (Man and Cronan 2001). The rapist assumes the place of the most important person in the life of a prisoner who is a victim and as depicted by Mariner (2001), such persons have to become long term sexual slaves just to survive. Another major problem in prisons is pathological gambling by inmates. In a study Walters and Contri (1998) found the prevalence of problem gambling to be 33% and 19% in respect of probable pathological gambling. In a 1998 study 1,673 inmates in 18 correctional facilities were surveyed for lifetime gambling behavior, tobacco usage, and alcohol and drug disorders (Westphal, Rush, & Stevens, 1998). Of these forty percent were identified as lifetime problem gamblers and nineteen percent as probable pathological gamblers. Moreover, gambling and drug and alcohol abuse were found to be strongly related. By means of the South Oaks Gambling Scale-Revised for Adolescents (Winters, Stinchfield, & Fulkerson, 1993), it was found that 29% were problem gamblers and 39% were pathological gamblers. It is recommended that there should be gambling courts as there are drug courts to provide authorized treatment as opposed to detention for first-time nonviolent offenders, as these are less costly and “more effective in reducing recidivism than they are for drug-abusing offenders” (Belenko, 2002; Gottfredson, Najaka, & Kearley, 2003; Spohn, Piper, Martin,& Frenzel, 2001). Accordingly, certain jurisdictions like Louisiana and New York have “introduced gambling courts for problem-gambling offenders” (Hsieh, 2003; Lesieur, 2002). The Needs of Prisoners For prisoners to be able to survive it is essential that some requirements are met. Some of these are that personal fulfillment aspirations are allowed to be satisfied by means of relevant activities. This is very important as it permits the prisoners not only to while away the time but also serves as a means of diverting the attention from what is veritably a miserable state of existence. Moreover, privacy is of great importance as it circumvents environmental pollutants, noise and crowding. This permits prisoners to harbour the feeling that their surroundings are uncomplicated. A very important requirement is that the safety levels should be such as will reduce chances of attacks to a minimum. Further, the prison staff should be persons who genuinely aspire to help the prisoners in their endeavour to improve their future prospects. In this regard provision of services that permit the prisoners to improve their lot should be given prominence. Finally, the freedom granted to prison inmates can be increased by reducing the controls placed on them; however, such freedom is to be combined with proper control of these convicts (Johnson, 1996). In order to understand the power play in prisons the psychology department of the Stanford University conducted an experiment. In this experiment the power and lack of it in the different groups comprising a prison were studied. Some of the factors examined were the rules prevailing in the prison system, symbols of power, group identity and the situational validation of behaviour. The selection of about twenty four of its students was solicited and these were students known to be the most normal, average and healthy. Of these a few assumed the role of prisoners and others that of the guards. These student guards were provided uniforms and the student prisoners were allowed to wear clothes but no underwear in order to emasculate them psychologically. In addition each prisoner had one of his feet chained so as to serve as a constant reminder of the fact that he was a prisoner. The duration of this experiment was initially fixed for a period of two weeks but had to be discontinued in half that time, because several student prisoners fell victim to emotional breakdown and resorted to hysterical weeping. Some developed disorganized thinking resulting in their resorting to causing themselves physical damage and in their refusal to partake of food. Moreover, the guards exhibited a callous indifference towards the prisoners and considered them to be shirkers. The result of this experiment was that people tended to acquire great power over prisoners on being made guards. Further, prisoners showed a tendency to suffer breakdowns if they were made prisoners. The lesson to be learnt is that power corrupts people and that in a prison environment prisoners are bereft of power whilst their guards are all powerful. Prison Subcultures In order to survive in this extremely hostile environment while maintaining a semblance of dignity, prisoners have taken recourse to techniques that draw upon community development in an intuitive manner and thereby have managed to form a subculture that concentrates on vital issues like inter prisoner relations and their dealings with prison officials. This sub culture constitutes an unofficial system that flouts administrative rules, does not stipulate that all the prisoners behave in the same manner and gives credence to other functions that prisoners can discharge. In the male populated prisons, this subculture constitutes a major cause for disagreements between prisoners and the fight to establish domination between convicts and prison guards. Moreover, in prisons housing women this subculture, additionally makes available emotional support by means of the extended play families. The major portion of this subculture is transferred from the outside life of the convict and is them mixed with the prevalent opinions and conduct created by the prison environment. The main purpose of this subculture is to avert community rejection from transforming itself into self-rejection. Additionally, the convict is enabled by it to ignore the critics instead of indulging in self rejection. In 1960, Sykes and Sheldon made the proposition that inmates resorted to solidarity in order to counteract the effects of incarceration and that such a move was helpful in reducing the severity of the suffering engendered by imprisonment. Due to the adoption, in the main against their will, of identity as prisoners, traditions of prisoners, and the prevalent mores of the penitentiary prisoners bring about a transformation in themselves and this process is known as prisonization. It has been proved in Clinical studies that the process of prisonization has a demoralizing effect, which could result in the ‘psycho-syndrome’ that entails impairment of memory, reduced understanding, ennui, despondency and the development of several psychotic symptoms like mania and severe depression. This is all the more so in respect of prisoners undergoing very long sentences, possessing unbalanced traits, not having the ability to maintain customary relations with non - prisoners, exhibition of keenness to become a part of the subculture and maintaining propinquity to individuals who are already a part of the subculture. This subculture at times consists of further sub division into competitive sects that are founded on race and ethnicity. Instances of such sects are the Muslims, The Panthers and Young Lords. It is very important to bear in mind that most if not all prison events are centered around the incessant struggle for power and domination. The prisoners consider power and its acquisition as being of paramount value. This is because they have experienced the use or abuse of power by the judicial system and its regimen of imprisonment. This makes them realize that possession of power accords them with a great deal of esteem amongst their fellow prisoners and also at the same time it permits them to improve their self esteem. This type of subculture has greater authority over individual inmates than that possessed by the prison staff, due to the fact that these sects can inflict punishment that is much more severe than what the prison staff can do. The type of the crime committed by a prisoner has the power to either aggravate or mitigate the relevant psychological state. This is due to the existence of a social hierarchy, determined by the nature of crime committed, in prisons. For instance, robbers and burglars occupy the summit of this hierarchy, while paedophiles are located at the bottom and are moreover, viewed with contempt and are tormented by the other prisoners due to the heinousness of their crime (Bartol and Bartol, 1994). In other words incarceration would pose greater mental stress and adverse effects amongst pedophiles. Physical victimization in prisons takes the form of assaults, murder and sodomy. This sort of victimization is prevalent due to insufficient supervision by prison staff and the comparative ease with which lethal weapons are available. Moreover, this situation is exacerbated due to the callous practice of placing violent prisoners in the same cell as comparatively non – violent and relatively defenseless prisoners. Further, this situation is aggravated by the high levels of tension generated between the individuals (Tosh, 1982). Similarly, psychological victimization is also prevalent; in fact it is more frequent than its physical counterpart. Psychological victimization comprises of manipulations of the verbal and other forms by means of altering the social structure or physical environment. For instance a male psychotic prisoner was shifted to an unprotected environment to subject him to victimization and one day he found a nut outside his cell and immediately felt that he was being harassed by his fellow prisoners, since a nut in colloquial speech denotes a lunatic (Tosh, 1982). The effects of victimization are many and some of them are a sensation of despondency, melancholia, damage to the body, impairment of social relations, diseases caused by a mental condition and enhancement of the difficulty experienced while adjusting to life outside prison after discharge from prison. It has been recommended that such victimization can be reduced by increasing the prison staff, the level of security and most importantly by bringing about a reduction in the number of people undergoing prison sentences (Tosh, 1982). A telling example of power dynamics is provided by incidents of sexual assaults in prisons. The male procreative organ is transformed into a weapon that enables prisoners to affirm their power and demonstrate their unassailability and such assaults, for which the U.S. prisons are notorious, provides prisoners with a very powerful method to demonstrate their manhood and brutal desire for power. The motive in such behaviour is not gratification. It is power and its demonstration. Another cause for problems arising in prisons is due to crowding, which is attributable to the number of prisoners being more than the available place in prisons. It has a tremendous psychological effect and Paulas in 1988, completed a study that had lasted for fifteen years, wherein the consequences of prison crowding were correlated to the escalating negative psychological effects like stress, depression, despondency, etc (Bartol and Bartol, 1994). Conclusion It is very clear that the inmates of correctional institutions perforce develop an institutional subculture. This subculture has its own code of conduct, roles, behavioral expectations and argot or institution-specific language of its own. This code of conduct comprises of customs and values that organize the manner in which these people live in these institutions. Moreover, such a code has a major bearing on interaction with other inmates and adaptation to prison life. Stated succinctly, this code consists of ubiquitous components that are to be found in all correctional facilities due to the fact that the standardized society and its characteristics are inimical to prisoners. Survival in prison is dependant on rejection of the standards of free society and adoption of the rules of prison. It is essential for correctional administrators and prison staff to understand this prison subculture in all its aspects as this enables the maximizing prison efficaciousness while ensuring the safety of prison staff and prisoners. As such prison subculture makes the inmates different from persons living in the free society. Due to this they live in a world away from the world, which has its own norms, mores and values. The surprising fact is that the offended felons do not seek the help of the correctional officers but obtain protection from the dominant felon. References. 1. Bartol, C.R. & Bartol, A.M. (1994). Psychology and Law: Research and Application, 2nd ed., Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. 2. Belenko, S. (2002). Drug courts. In C. G. Leukefeld, F. Times, & D. Farabee (Eds.), Treatment of drug offenders: Policies and issues (pp. 301-318). New York: Springer 3. Beiser, Vince. (2001). How we got to two million. MotherJones.com Special Report, retrieved October 08, 2006 from http://www.motherjones.com/prisons/print_overview.html. 4. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2005). Prison statistics. Retrieved October 08, 2006 from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm 5. Cindy Struckman-Johnson & David Struckman-Johnson, Sexual Coercion Rates in Seven Midwestern Prisons for Men, 80 The Prison Journal 379 (2000), available at http://www.spr.org/pdf/struckman.pdf. 6. Christopher D Man; John P Cronan. (2001). "Forecasting sexual abuse in prison: The prison subculture of masculinity as a backdrop for "deliberate indifference"." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 7. Einat, T., & Einat, H. (2000). Inmate argot as an expression of prison subculture: The Israeli case. The Prison Journal, 80(3), p 309 8. Einat, T., & Einat, H. (2000). Inmate argot as an expression of prison subculture: The Israeli case. The Prison Journal, 80(3), pp 310-311 9. Goldsmith, L. (1997), History from the inside out: Prison life in nineteenth-century, Massachusetts. Journal of Social History. 10. Goldsmith, L. (1997), History from the inside out: Prison life in nineteenth-century, Massachusetts. Journal of Social History. P.110 11. Gottfredson, D. C., Najaka, S. S., & Kearley, B. (2003). Effectiveness of drug treatment courts: Evidence from a randomized trial. Criminology & Public Policy, 2, 171-196. 12. Hensley, Christopher et al. “The Evolving Nature of Prison Argot and Sexual Hierarchies.” The Prison Journal 83.3 (Sept 2003): 289-300 13. Human Rights Watch (2001). No escape:  Male rape in U.S. prisons. Retrieved October 08, 2006, from http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/report.html. 14. Hsieh, S. (2003, October 30). Gambling courts: The next trend in specialized courts? Lawyers Weekly USA. Retrieved October 11, 2006, from http://www.lawyersweeklyusa.com/resources/gtw_lawstudent.cfm?page=usa/03/8040356.htm&category=TRENDS 15. Johnson, R. (1996). Hard time: understanding and reforming the prison, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company. 16. Lesieur, H. R. (2002, March). Solutions to the problem gambling and crime connection. Paper presented at the conference of Gambling, Law Enforcement and Justice System Issues, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 17. Mariner, J. (2001). No escape: Male rape in U.S. prisons. New York: Human Rights Watch. 18. Norris, M., & Rothman, D. J. (Eds.). (1998). The Oxford history of the prison: The Practice of punishment in Western society. New York: Oxford University Press. 19. Pastore, Ann L. and Kathleen Maguire, eds. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, retrieved October 08, 2006 from http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/ 20. Pendleton, Victoria, Chatman, Elfreda A. (1998) Small World Lives: Implications for the Public Library. Library trends. 46, 4. 21. Pastore, Ann L. and Kathleen Maguire, eds. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, retrieved October 08, 2006 from http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/ 22. Spohn, C., Piper, R. K., Martin, T., & Frenzel, E. D. (2001). Drug courts and recidivism: The results of an evaluation using two comparison groups and multiple indicators of recidivism. Journal of Drug Issues, 31, 149-176. 23. Sykes, G., & Messinger, Sheldon. L. (1960). The inmate social system. In Grosser, G (Ed.), Theoretical studies in social organization of the prison (pp. 5-19). New York: Social Science Research Council. 24. Tosh, J. (1982). The pains of imprisonment. California: Sage Publications. 25. Walters, G.D. & Contri, D. (1998). Outcome expectancies for gambling: Empirical modeling of memory network in federal prison inmates. Journal of Gambling Studies, 14, 173-191. 26. Westphal, J.R., Rush, J.A., & Stevens, L. (1998). Problem and pathological gambling behaviors within specific populations in the State of Indiana. Indianapolis: Indiana Family & Social Services Administration. 27. Winters, K.C., Stinchfield, R.D., & Fulkerson, J. (1993). Toward the development of an adolescent gambling problem severity scale. Journal of Gambling Studies, 9, 63-84. Read More