Chapter 12 Prison Life: Living In and Leaving Prison

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Chapter 12Prison Life Living In and Leaving
Prison
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Learning Objectives

• Discuss the problems of the adult correctional
  system
• Know what is meant by the term of total
  institution
• Be familiar with the problem of sexual coercion
  in prison and what is being done to help
• Chart the prisonization process and the
  development of the inmate social code
• Compare the lives and cultures of male and female
  inmates

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Learning Objectives

• Be familiar with the different forms of
  correctional treatment
• Discuss the world of correctional officers
• Understand the causes of prison violence
• Know what is meant by prisoners rights, and
  discuss some key privileges that have been
  granted to inmates
• Be knowledgeable about the parole process and the
  problems of prisoner reentry

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Men Imprisoned

• Total institutions
• Segregated
• Under constant surveillance
• Forced to obey strict official rules
• Evaluated and assigned a classification
• Isolated from friends and family
• Coping in Prison
• Inmates learn to adapt
• Survival in prison may depend on ones ability to
  identify troubled inmates and avoid contact

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Men Imprisoned

• Sexual Coercion
• A common belief of prison life is the threat of
  sexual coercion, long considered routine in penal
  institutions
• Difficult to measure incidents of rape as most go
  unreported
• Congress enacted the Prison Rape Reduction Act of
  2003 establishing programs in the Department of
  Justice with the intention of controlling sexual
  violence in prisons

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Men Imprisoned

• Inmate Social Code
• Experts believe that inmates have formed their
  own set of norms and rules known as the inmate
  subculture
• A significant aspect of the inmate subculture is
  the inmate social code
• Inmate social code includes unwritten guidelines
  that express values and attitudes
• Represents the values of interpersonal relations
  in the prison

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Men Imprisoned

• Study of Inmate Life in Maximum-Security from
  Donald Clemmers classic book The Prison
  Community
• Identification of the prisonization process
• Prison argot (language)
• Inmate assimilation
• Destructive effects

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Men Imprisoned

• The New Inmate Culture
• The importation of outside values into inmate
  culture has had a dramatic effect on prison life
• Prison assimilation began to chance in the 1960s
• Black power movement
• Racial, religious and political groups now more
  cohesive
• Powerful, racially homogeneous gangs enforce a
  code of their own

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Women Imprisoned

• Female Institutions
• The majority are smaller, non-secure institutions
  similar to college dormitories and groups homes
• Like male prisons, womens prisons suffer from
  lack of educational and vocational training, and
  inadequate medical and social program treatment

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Women Imprisoned

• Female Inmates
• Young (under 30), minority group members,
  unmarried and undereducated (1/2 are dropouts),
  and either underemployed or unemployed
• 75 of inmates have substance abuse problems
• Most are mothers
• Broken homes
• Physical and sexual abuse violence

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Women Imprisoned

• Adapting to the Female Institution
• Differ from male institutions
• Less violent
• The social code of male institutions does not
  exist in female institutions
• Women form make-believe (or pseudo) families 

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Correctional Treatment
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Correctional Treatment
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Correctional Treatment

• Educational Programs
• The first prison treatment programs were
  educational
• A prison school at the Walnut Street jail was
  opened in 1784
• Today, most institutions provide some type of
  educational program
• Most research indicates that participation in
  correctional education is related to lower
  recidivism rates, and higher post-release earning
  and employment rates.

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Correctional Treatment

• Vocational Programs
• Vocational Training
• Work Release
• Private Prison Enterprise
• Post Release Programs
• Can Rehabilitation Work?
• Although promising, some of the most carefully
  crafted treatment efforts have failed to show a
  positive impact on inmates returning to the
  community

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Guarding the Institution

• Roles
• Supervise the interior and exterior of the prison
  
• Monitor inmate behavior
• Prevent escape
• Maintain order within the population
• Enforce institutional rules and policies
• Conduct searches for contraband
• Settle disputes between inmates
• Correctional officers must manage the stress of
  working in a dangerous environment

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Guarding the Institution

• Roles
• Controlling a prison is a complex task of
  balancing the conservative goals of punishment
  against the liberal goals of rehabilitation and
  treatment
• Maintain order and security
• Advocate humane treatment and rehabilitation

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Correctional Treatment

• Female Correctional Officers
• Perform the same duties and tasks as male
  correctional officers
• Discipline has not suffered because of the
  inclusion of women as C.O.s
• Research has indicated that the presence of
  female officers can have an important beneficial
  effect on the guard-inmate working relationship

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Prison Violence

• Conflict, violence, and brutality are part of
  institutional life
• Violence can involve individual or group conflict
  amongst inmates and between inmates and staff
• Sexual assault is a common threat
• Politically driven prison riots
• More than 300 prison riots since 1774
• 90 of them since

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Prison Violence

• What Causes Violence?
• Factors related to prison administration, inmate
  population characteristics, and the racial makeup
  of inmates and staff can influence violence
  levels
• Individual Violence
• Collective Violence

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Individual Violence
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Collective Violence
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Prisoners Rights

• Before the early 1960s, on conviction all rights
  were forfeited and inmates were considered
  civilly dead
• Hands-off doctrine
• Access to courts, legal services, and materials
• Freedom of the press and of expression
• Freedom of religion
• Medical rights
• Cruel and unusual punishment
• Racial segregation
• Overall prison conditions

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Prisoners Rights

• Hands-Off Doctrine
• A judicial policy that the courts would only
  intervene in correctional matters if there was a
  serious breach of the Eighth Amendment
• After the 1960s, the Civil rights Act, 42 U.S.C.
  1983 had federal courts hearing and considering
  inmate complaints about prison conditions the
  hands-off doctrine eroded

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Prisoners Rights

• Substantive Rights rights granted to inmates
• Access to Courts, Legal Services, and Materials
• Freedom of the Press and of Expression
• Freedom of Religion
• Medical Rights
• Cruel and Unusual Punishment
• Overall Prison Conditions

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Leaving Prison

• Parole Defined
• The planned community release and supervision of
  incarcerated offenders before the expiration of
  their full prison sentences
• Decision to parole is determined by statutory
  requirement
• Discretionary parole (parole boards)
• Mandatory parole (release upon completion of a
  predetermined percentage of term)

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Leaving Prison

• Parole
• Functions of the parole board
• Select and place prisoners on parole
• Aid, supervise, and provide control of parolees
  in the community
• Determine when parole has been completed and the
  parolee may be discharged
• Whether parole should be revoked if violations
  occur

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Leaving Prison

• Parole Effectiveness
• Despite all of the efforts to treat released
  offenders, most parolees fail
• Rearrested within the first six months after
  release
• 45 re-incarcerated within 3 years of release
• States differ in success/failure rates depending
  upon correctional strategies

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Leaving Prison

• The Problem of Re-entry
• The psychological and economic problems that lead
  offenders to recidivism are rarely addressed in
  prison
• The habitual personal deficits like drug abuse,
  criminal behavior, antisocial personality, and
  family dysfunction
• Inmates leave prison without savings and few
  employment prospects
• Why Do People Fail on Parole?
• Economic problems
• Family problems
• Community problems
• Legal problems

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Leaving Prison

• Improving Chances of re-entry
• On April 9, 2008 Second Chance Act signed into
  law
• Authorized various grants to government agencies
  and nonprofit groups to provide a variety of
  services including
• Employment assistance
• Substance abuse treatment
• Family programming
• State correctional agencies have made an effort
  to help inmates take advantage of these services