Abstract
Prison is a community and like any other community, it also has its own culture. However, unlike a normal community, the prison’s communal setting is largely separated from the wider society and hence a number of subcultures alien to the wider society may start to develop. It hence follows that those who find themselves locked up in prisons find themselves exposed to cultures that they are not accustomed to in the normal societal setting. With that in mind, a study on prison culture in America is not only appropriate but timely.
Prison Culture in America
According to Hansley (2002), culture is a term that has a wide range of assigned meanings. However, for the sake of analysis in this research paper, I shall limit myself to a single definition of culture. Culture according to Michael (2010) can be defined as (in this context) a Patten of human behavior, belief as well as knowledge that is largely integrated and is largely acquired or influenced by social learning as well as symbolic thought.
Culture in this context can also be taken to be a set or collection of practices, values as well as goals that are largely shared within a group. A group in this case can be said to be the prison community. To understand the prison culture in America, it is important to first have a brief look into the American prison system; its history, procedures as well as internal systems and operations.
The American prison system: a brief overview
In the American justice system, an individual who commits a crime, felony breaks the law in any way faces the possibility of being incarcerated at any of the countries detention facilities. Hence incarceration can be taken to be a punishment form which is provided for in the Constitution of the United States for all those who are found guilty of committing felony offenses. It hence follows that the various operations of prisons fall under state as well as federal government authority. According to Siegel (2009), elaborate prison systems have always existed since time immemorial.
Historically, the need for prisons was realized as a way to enhance sanctions for those whose continued stay in the societies jeopardized the comfortable living of other reasonable members of the society. Prisons were also taken as a way of punishing those who were guilty of offenses against fellow members of the society or the society as a whole. It therefore follows that the existence of prisons has always been necessary as a way of availing to the courts sanctions so as to effectively maintain law and order at the societal level.It is important to note that as per the provisions of the America justice system; there exists guidelines for handling those whose offenses are considered to be less serious.
For such individuals, who may include misdemeanor offenders, other sanctions forms may be invoked including but not in any way limited to house arrest, community corrections as well as serving short terms in county jails.It is important to note that prisons ca be categorized in a number of ways. However, there exists two main categorization criteria more so for as far as the U.S. prison system is concerned. The first categorization is on the basis of jurisdiction i.e. State and Federal government while the other categorization is on the basis of security level i.e. either Supermax facilities (maximum security prisons) or minimum security prisons.
It may be noted that while minimum security prisons handle offenders considered to be least violent, maximum security facilities are charged with housing hardened as well as dangerous criminals.According to Michael (2010), the incarceration rate in the United States of America is one of the highest in the world. Indeed, as at 30th June 2009, for every one hundred United States residents, there was an equivalent of 700 prison inmates. This maps out to approximately 0.75% which is quite high by any decent standards. The U.S. Bureau of Justice and Statistics paints a glimmer picture.
For instance, as of 2009, the number of those on paroles, prison or on probation were estimated to number over 7 million. This is approximately 3% of the total population in the U.S. During the same period, the number of prisoners in the U.S. serving sentences of varying lengths was estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Justice and Statistics to stand at just over 2 million.In general, as per the counties, states as well as federal government provisions, the term prison is taken to represent a detention facility for those individuals who have already been convicted. This includes convicted felons whose crimes fetch a sentence of more then 1 year.
It hence follows that all those people who are convicted of crimes with a term of less than an year as well as those awaiting trial are held at jails at the county level. It is also important to note that in a number of states, we have smaller jail facilities which are mainly utilized for locking us those whose incarceration is expected to be short term i.e. a few hours or even a few number of days.Though classification of prisoners is done in the bigger prisons, the jails at the local level i.e. county jails do not largely categories inmates.
It is hence commonplace to find prisoners lumped together in the same cell in total disregard to the criminal offenses committed by each prisoner and according to Hansley (2002) this is one of the main contributions to prison violence and intimidation. It therefore follows that in the current ay and age, prisons in the United States have largely deviated from their key mandate as correction centers to solitary units.
Norms and values of the prison society in America
According to Michael (2010), the prison society’s culture can be referred to as the prison sub culture and it is brought about by amongst other things, the difficulties which imprisonment brings along. Individuals therefore have to come up with subcultures that fit the environment they find themselves in. However, other analysts are of the opinion that prison subcultures are imported into the prison by inmates. No matter which way an individual looks at it, prison subcultures are made up of clusters of individuals who share beliefs, norms as well as values which are similar in one way or the other.
This is why in some quarters, prison subcultures are also known as inmate code.The United States prisons have well entrenched subcultures that seem to be motivated or at the very least, condoned by the prison authorities. Some of the subcultures evident in American systems and which I shall concern myself with at length in this text include but are not limited to; comradeship, lack of trust for prison staff and sharing with other inmates.
Comradeship
Like any other prison, American prisons are characterized by a high level of comradeship. It is important to note that when it comes to comradeship, the term must not be taken to denote a common approach to issues. Comradeship is in this case commonplace among cliques and according to Siegel (2009), it is usually a mental attitude of ‘them against us’. ‘Them’ in this case are the prison authorities while ‘us’ represents the inmates themselves.
While he acquisition of a common purpose as well as unified approach to issues is not a bad thing per se and can indeed benefit the prisoners in the long term, it has been cited as one of the greatest contributors to violence not only towards fellow inmates but against guards as well. Indeed, some cases of attack on guards by prisoners have been well documented. For instance, there is the Cheshire attack on a prison guard by a group of inmates that left many begging for answers.
Lack of trust for prison staff
According to Michael (2010) in a 2001 survey that was carried out in three American prisons including ADX Florence, United states Penitentiary, Marion and United States Penitentiary, Lompoc; 89% of prisoners expressed their distrust towards prison officials. Though in most instances the reasons of this mistrust are largely psychological, situational and misinformed; there are a number of real life factors that have been cited as contributors to the increasing lack of trust for prison staff from prisoners. To begin with, Joseph (2009) is of the opinion that sexual relationships as well as extortion are some of the factors to blame for the high level of mistrust.
For instance, there are situations where guards seek sexual favors from inmates and in such instances, the level of confidence for such officers who are taken to be a representative of the rest is badly eroded. It is important to note hat in American prisons, there have been reported sexual encounters not only between female inmates and unscrupulous male guards but sexual incidences have also been reported between female guards and male prisoners.
Writing in his blog, http://prisonnewsblog.com, Michael Santos notes that most female guards who peruse sexual relationships with male inmates are driven to do so by a number of things including but not in any way limited to frustration at home to natural feelings of love towards a particular inmate. Siegel (2009) notes that the nature of American prisons makes it possible to manipulate inmates in such a way that their submission to inappropriate approaches from guards facilitates the accrual of a number of benefits.
For instance, a male guard may coerce a female prisoner towards sexual relations with him where if she accepts, she could easily access benefits not available to other inmates including but not limited to more food rations, longer visitor time allocation as well as security from aggression from other inmates as well as guards. Though these are some of the factors that fuel most of the distrust against prison officials, other things like failure to act on reports of harassment from fellow inmates contribute towards this unfortunate trend.
Sharing with other inmates
According to Smykla & Schmalleger (2001) the very nature of American prisons contributes towards the enhancement of strong bonds amongst inmates and it is this that makes them develop a virtue of sharing. Sharing as a term in this sense can be taken to man the exchange of ideas, thoughts as well as items amongst prisoners. It is however important to note that sharing may not necessarily be positive. In some instances, some prisoners who find their way into prison as a result of ‘lesser crimes’ may come out of prison worse that they went in thanks to the culture of sharing amongst prisoners where they have their minds poisoned with ideas from more hardened criminals.
There is less the authorities can however do to distinguish between beneficial and counterproductive bonding between inmates. On the other hand, sharing can be positive if it is deemed to lend a helping hand to another inmate.It may be noted that the various subcultures noted herein in regard to the prison setting are in no ay conclusive and hence there may exist other subcultures within the prison as a system. It therefore follows that this is a fertile field for future research and studies.
Social structure in American prisons
According to Allen & Simonsen (2001), social structure can be taken to represent the various social relationships that exist within a given society. In that regard, the way members of a society interact is largely determined by the social structure in place. In the American prison setting, social structure can be talent to be the social relationship patterns that exist amongst inmates. Such a structure hence goes a long way towards governing interactions amongst prisoners.
It is however important to note that the social structure in American prisons largely conflicts with the societal values and norms of the larger American society. Hansley (2002) is of the opinion that individuals who find themselves in prison for one way or the other must find a way of embracing the social structure in the prison setting as it largely conflicts with the societal values and norms they are used to in the normal world. Just as a glimpse of the patterns of social relationships in American prisons, it hereby I concern myself with a number of issues including sexual relationships, power and authority as well as interpersonal relationships.
Sexual relationships
According to Roberts (2003), there is possibly no prison in the United States that does not have blossoming sexual relationships no matter their nature and orientation. Over time, American jails have been dogged with controversies of inmates having same sex relations with each other and this has been confirmed accounts from former as well as current prisoners who have told of their experiences at the hands of their colleagues in jail.Bosworth (2002) notes that what motivates sexual relations between inmates is three thronged. First, it has something to do with power and domination.
Secondly, it has something to do with sexual satisfaction and lastly, it could be founded on honest feelings of love towards either party. When it comes to power and domination, prisoners who want to feel more powerful may subject their weaker colleagues to sexual harassment with delegation of a number of chores to them. In most cases, these chores are considered the preserve of the members of the opposite sex and in male cells, prisoners who are weaker ma be assigned such roles which include but are not in any way limited to making the bed, cleaning the cell as well as acting as a sexual object for the male prisoner who in one way or the other is seeking domination.
Indeed, Fleisher (2009) is of the opinion that male prisoners who are seen to have ‘wives’ in most American prisons are considered powerful and though this is not a commonly accepted behavior even amongst the prisoners those who still facilitate these acts still get away with it. Further, those who comply to these unnatural advances do not have many options as they still need protection whilst in prison as well as other benefits which their tormentors can provide or facilitate.
When it comes to sexual satisfaction as the other basis for sexual relations in American prisons between prisoners, Abbott (1991) notes that the lengthy periods of confinement prisoners are subjected to sometimes seems to corrupt their minds where they tent to turn on each other to vent out their sexual frustrations. Lastly, the other point noted above as a contributing factor as far as sexual relationships between prisoners are concerned is actual feelings of love and affection between prisoners.
The assumption here is that by the virtue of being confined in a similar environment, share a lot of things in common and they also tend to navigate the hills and valleys of prison life together. By the inherent nature of a human being to build relations with another human being, prisoners may slowly start building relations that may end up motivating tendencies of love and affection.
Power and authority
This is yet another issue that largely informs patterns of social relationships in American prisons. Though prison is significantly different from any other society, it still has some significant semblances to a normal community. Like a community, the prison setting tends to develop some leadership structures that are give birth to some defacto leaders. However, it is important to note that in most American prisons, some gang groupings exercise most of the power as well as authority over the other inmates through he execution of some strategies.
These strategies include the ability to met out punishment to all who disobey them as well as the power to deliver favors to all those who comply to the whims of the groping. As of 2006, prison gangs were said to have authority over inmates in such a way that such authority seemed to rival that of prison officials within the confines of prison walls.
Interpersonal relationships
A look at interpersonal relationships as a pattern of social relationships in American prisons can only be understood by having a look at the relationships between the prisoners themselves as well as the relationships between the prisoners and the guards as well as other prison staff. These two kinds of interpersonal relationships are well discussed elsewhere in this research paper where the interpersonal relations between prisoners and guards and other prison staff is largely informed by mistrust.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to note that just like any other society, prisons in the U.S also have their cultures as well as subcultures and in such a way they can be in one way or the other be defined in terms of cultural values. Further, it is this set of shared values that goes a long way o inform the formation of a social structure within the confinement of prison walls.
References
Abbott J.H. (1991). In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Fleisher, M.S. (2009). The myth of prison rape: sexual culture in American prisons. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Bosworth, M. (2002). The U.S. federal prison system. SAGE
Roberts, A.R. (2003). Critical issues in crime and justice. SAGE
Hansley, C. (2002). Prison sex: practice and policy. Lynne Rienner Publishers
Allen H.E., & Simonsen, C.E. (2001). Corrections in America: an introduction. Prentice Hall
Smykla, J.O., & Schmalleger, F. (2001). Corrections in the 21st century: instructor’s annotated edition. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2001
Siegel, L.J. (2009). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Cengage Learning
Joseph, J. (2009). Our prisons today. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 120 (2), 123-132
Michael, K. (2010). The culture of impunity in American prisons. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 102-224
