Convict Society

1
Chapter 8

• Convict Society

The Informal Organization of Inmate Life in
American Prisons
2
Importation Theory

• The status roles and subcultures of the prison
  result from the identities established by inmates
  before imprisonment
• Prison as a school for crime
• Learning is direct (exchange of information) and
  indirect (modeling of violence)
• Inmates associate with those of similar race,
  age, background, and type of offense

3
Deprivation Theory

• Inmate societies as a response to the unique
  hardships that result from incarceration
• Loss of liberty
• Loss of access to goods and services
• Loss of heterosexual relationships
• Loss of autonomy
• Loss of security

4
The Convict Code c. 1960

1. Dont interfere with the interests of other
   inmates show loyalty to convicts, not to staff
2. Dont be nosy, do your own time and mind your own
   business
3. Be cool, dont lose control
4. Keep your dignity, never show weakness
5. Dont take advantage of other inmates

5
Recent Changes to Convict Code

• Toughness is essential to identity and survival
• Extreme violence is expected and accepted
• Loyalty is expected only to ones ownracial
  group
• Results mainly from situational factors, such as
  racial makeup of inmate population
• Harsh conditions lack of treatment and work

6
The Total Institution

• Bureaucratically administered
• All basic needs met within facility
• Administered for convenience of staff, not
  welfare of inmates
• Inmates spend relatively long periods within its
  control
• Inmates have similar statuses

7
Prisonization

• Desocialization followed by resocialization
• Old identity lost in favor of new one that is
  meaningful within institution
• Affects all inmates and staff to some extent
• Degradation ceremonies mark identity change, such
  as delousing, interactions with C.O.s
• Learning focuses on survival in new environment

8
Learned Helplessness

• Belief that one is powerless to affect his/her
  own life
• Being dependant on others for all needs
• Responsibility for actions attributed to others

9
Zimbardos Prison Experiment

• Inmates and staff affected quickly by
  prisonization
• Imprisonment makes even mentally healthy people
  behave pathologically
• Incarceration should be used only as a last
  resort for the most dangerous offenders

10
Wheelers U-Curve Thesis

• Inmate attitudes surveyed repeatedly over a
  4.33-year period
• Most pro-social attitudes noted in first six
  months and last six months of sentence
• Unrealistic expectations and hope for future
  explained pro-social attitudes
• Longer sentences may worsen attitudes, no
  recovery at end of sentence

11
Sources of Prisonization

1. Involuntary incarceration
2. Segregation from mainstream society, significant
   others, and the opposite sex
3. Complex and unique system of social roles in
   prison
4. Imported antisocial identities and behaviors
5. Degradation ceremonies

12
Universal Aspectsof Prisonization

1. Taking on the devalued identity of convict
2. Learning the customs, organization and general
   culture of the prison
3. Changing habits to deal with dangers of prison
   life
4. Developing new ways of dealing with, thinking
   about, people, such as increasing social distance
   and building an antisocial reputation

13
Factors thatMinimize Prisonization

1. Serving a short sentence
2. Having a pro-social cellmate
3. Having a stable personality
4. Contacts with noncriminals in the free world
5. Avoiding deviant activities within the prison
6. Rejecting the norms of the convict society
7. Small, treatment-oriented facilities
8. Low levels of security and/or high levels of
   exposure to the outside world

14
Types of Inmates

• Prosocial inmates no association with a criminal
  subcultures before imprisonment
• Prefer to associate with staff
• No threat to others orientation is clear
• Anti-social inmates active in criminal
  sub-culture prior to imprisonment
• Seek shortest, sentence, least deprivation
  possible
• Epitome of convict code

15
Types of Inmates (continued)

• Pseudo-social inmates many contacts within the
  prisoner, staff, and free-world cultures but are
  loyal to none
• The politicians and merchants of the prison
• Manipulate others for gain
• Asocial inmates emotionally damaged, few social
  skills
• Often state-raised youths
• Oriented to life within the institution

16
Prison Gangs

• Began in 1950s little concern until 1970s
• Organized along racial lines, also by region
  among Mexican groups
• Mexican Mafia (S. CA) , La Nuestra Familia (N.
  CA) Texas Syndicate, Black Guerilla Family,
  Aryan Brotherhood, Aryan Circle
• Allied with free world groups
• Responsible for much of the drug trade, violence
  in prisons

17
Prison Gangs (continued)

• Percentage of involved inmates varies with
  security level
• 30 in maximum security units
• 25 in medium security units
• 16 in minimum security units
• Power and size has grown immensely in last 15
  years

18
Prison Gang Violence

• A condition of gang membership
• Main method of gaining status
• Rolling your bones participating in a murder
  attempt to earn membership
• Common targets are members who are suspected of
  disloyalty or disobedience
• Hard to collect reliable data on gangs

19
The Prisons Informal Economy

• Inmates obtain desired items and services
• As gifts from people in free society
• From the prison canteen or commissary
• Cash is contraband
• Canteen purchases are made with creditson money
  placed in account
• Through smuggling by staff and visitors
• By stealing and making items
• Any item not explicitly permitted is contraband

20
Informal Economy (continued)

• Easily concealed items bartered in complex
  networks
• Cash required for drugs, alcohol
• All transactions violate rules
• Most ignored as nuisance violations
• Manipulation, deceit common source of violence
• Lockdowns, shakedowns attempt to eliminate
  dangerous contraband

21
Prison Riots

• Riots best explained by deprivation thesis
• Crowding
• Extremes of control
• Loss of status
• Vague release policies
• Some analysts fear U.S. prisons are increasingly
  dangerous, disturbance-prone
• African Americans disproportionately involved in
  violence importation factor?

22
American Correctional AssociationCauses of Riots

• Enforced idleness
• Lack of programs
• Poor parole policies
• Overcrowding
• Poor management
• Inhumane treatment
• Disruptions of status hierarchies

23
Sex in Prison

• Dispositional homosexuality individual prefers
  partners of the same sex
• Imported from free world
• At high risk of victimization in prison
• Situational homosexuality temporary adaptation
  to sexually segregated environment
• Strives to maintain heterosexual self-image
• Dominant role equated with masculinity

24
Sex in Prison

• Consensual and coerced sex morecommon than rape
• Up to 20 of inmates may suffer coercion
• Fear of gang rape (myth?) used to coerce
• Rape often interracial, gang related
• Punks treated harshly, sex lacks affection
• Amount of sex and drug use predicted by harshness
  of prison life (deprivation)

25
Legitimizing Sex for Inmates

• Conjugal visits Inmate can earn private,
  overnight visit from spouse
• Allowed in five states, Mexico, Europe
• Only benefits married inmates
• Home Furloughs visits home, usually for those
  nearing release date, often to seek job
• Substance use, diseases are problems