The Social World of Prisoners

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The Social World of Prisoners
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Do you know?

• What is an inmate subculture?
• How does it develop?
• Does it differ from one prison to another?

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Do you know?

• What is the inmate code?
• What are the key tenets of the
• inmate code?
• What is prison argot?

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Key Concepts

• What are the characteristics of a total
  institution?

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Total Institutions

• Prisons and other total institutions are small,
  self-contained societies with their own social
  structures, norms, and rules.
• Inmates must adapt to prison life to survive
  within the institution.
• All aspects of life are under the control of a
  single authority.
• How is being in the military like being part of a
  total institution experience? What do people in
  the military most miss, what do they dislike
  about the base living experience?

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Key Concepts

• What is prisonization?

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Prisonization

• The process by which inmates adapt to prison
  society, taking on the values and beliefs of the
  prison culture.

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Do you know?

• What are some key roles that inmates assume?

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Key Roles

• o The real man.
• o The mean dude.
• o The bully.
• o The agitator.
• o The hedonist.
• o The opportunist.
• o The retreatist.
• o The legalist.
• o The radical.
• o The colonist.
• o The religious inmate.
• o The punk.

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Getting a Handle on the Inmate Population

• The Masses
• The Predators
• The Convicts
• The Victims

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Inmate Classification

• The Heavies
• The Predators The Convicts
• The Lights
• The Scapegoats Punks

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The Pains of ImprisonmentGresham Sykes

• Deprivation of Liberty
• Deprivation of Goods Services
• Deprivation of Heterosexual Relationships
• Deprivation of Personal Autonomy
• Deprivation of Safety Security

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How Does a Subculture Form?

• Importation Theory
• Deprivation Theory

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Importation Theory

• Inmate subcultures are brought into prisons from
  the outside world
• Pre-prison life experiences
• Socialization patterns

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Deprivation Theory

• Inmate subculture develops in response to the
  deprivations in prison life
• In prison, those things withheld from and denied
  to the prisoner become precisely what he wants
  most of all.
• Eldridge Cleaver, African American author,
  activist, and former prisoner

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Integration Model

• A combination of Importation Theory and
  Deprivation Theory.

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Key Tenets of the Prison Code

• Dont interfere with the interests of
  other inmates.
• Dont lose your head.
• Dont exploit other inmates.
• Dont be a sucker.
• Dont snitch.
• Dont whine.

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The Inmate Code

• Be tough.
• Be a man.
• Dont trust the guards or staff.
• Prison officials are wrong and inmates are right.
• Do your own time.

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Sexuality in Mens Prisons

• Violence and victimization occur in mens prisons
  and a good deal of prison violence has sexual
  overtones.
• Real Men are heterosexual inmates who feel
  compelled to engage in homosexual behavior by the
  conditions of confinement.
• Punks are owned by powerful inmates.
• The most powerful men in prison society will own
  the most desirable punks.
• Targets tend to be physically slight, young,
  white, nonviolent offenders from non-urban areas.
• The typical incident of sexual aggression is
  carried out by a group.

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Prison Argot

• The language of confinement
• Prison slang