1. Chapter 11
The Prison Experience

2. 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

3. “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

4. “prisonization” (Donald Clemmer)
the process by which a new inmate absorbs the customs of prison society and learns to adapt to the prison environment

5. “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.

6. adjusting to prison society
values
inmate “subculture”
roles
customs
language

7. Gresham Sykes’ inmate code
don’t interfere with inmate interests
inmate code
don’t trust the guards
don’t quarrel with inmates
don’t weaken; be tough
don’t exploit inmates

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

9. 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.

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

11. major prison gangs

12. prison subculture: where does it come from?

13. Bases of inmate violence
AGE
youth, machismo, identity
key factors
ATTITUDE
subculture of violence
RACE
convict code, gangs

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

15. 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

16. “unit management”
organizational tactic for reducing prison violence by dividing facilities into a number of small, self-contained, semi-autonomous ‘institutions’