Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th Chapter 11 The Prison Experience

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th The Prison Experience  Prison Society Norms and Values Prison Subculture: Deprivation or Importation? Adaptive Roles  The Prison Economy  Violence in Prison Violence and Inmate Characteristics Prisoner-Prisoner Violence Prisoner-Officer Violence Officer-Prisoner Violence Decreasing Prison Violence

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th “Inmate code”  a set of rules of conduct that reflect the values and norms of the prison social system and help to define (for inmates) the image of the “model” prisoner

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th “prisonization” (Donald Clemmer)  the process by which a new inmate absorbs the customs of prison society and learns to adapt to the prison environment

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th “degradation ceremony”  a conspicuous ritual that is played out in various stages of the criminal justice process that is designed to degrade, dehumanize, & humiliate an individual. By design or effect, it informs an inmate/criminal that s/he is “outside” of & beneath society, that s/he is no longer regarded as honest, honorable, trustworthy, upright, & good.

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th adjusting to prison society customsroles values language inmate “subculture”

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th Gresham Sykes’ inmate code don’t trust the guards don’t weaken; be tough don’t quarrel with inmates don’t interfere with inmate interests don’t exploit inmates inmate code

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th inmate social system: prison roles ‘right guy’ upholder of inmate values ‘square John’ non-criminal self concept ‘punk’ passive homosexual ‘rat’ squeals or sells out to authorities ‘hustler’ entrepreneur, supplies goods & services basic inmate roles

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th Sexual Violence  The Myth: Because state prisons are filled with predatory, violent offenders who are deprived of heterosexual relationships, sexual violence happens with great regularity.  The Reality: In 2005, there were 1,865 allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence in state prisons holding nearly 1.26 million inmates. Put differently, the rate of prisoner-prisoner sexual assault is approximately 1.5 attacks per 1,000 inmates.

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th how inmates “adapt” to prison adaptive roles doing time” prison = brief interruption in criminal career; stay comfortable “jailing” cut selves off from outside; develop a life, power, influence in prison; “disorganized criminal” can’t develop any of the other three roles; often disabled; cannot adjust to prison life; develops emotional disorders “gleaning” exploit prison programs & opportunities; try to succeed

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th major prison gangs

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th prison subculture: where does it come from?

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th Bases of inmate violence AGE youth, machismo, identity key factors ATTITUDE subculture of violence RACE convict code, gangs

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th causes of prison violence inadequate supervision by staff & inmate- staff relations high level of tension caused by close quarters architectural design, including size & condition housing dangerous & nondangerous inmates together easy availability of deadly weapons main causes

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th strategies for reducing violence in prison  improve classification separate violence-prone inmates from others  create opportunities for fearful inmates to seek staff assistance  increase custody staff size, diversity, training  redesign facilities improve surveillance; eliminate ‘blind spots’ use smaller institutions  install grievance mechanisms or ombudsman  augment rewards system to reduce pains of imprisonment

Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8 th “unit management”  organizational tactic for reducing prison violence by dividing facilities into a number of small, self- contained, semi-autonomous ‘institutions’