Chapter 12 Prison Life: Living In and Leaving Prison

1. Chapter 12Prison Life: Living In and Leaving Prison

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 one’s ability to identify troubled inmates and avoid contact

5. 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

6. 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

7. Men Imprisoned • Study of Inmate Life in Maximum-Security from Donald Clemmer’s classic book The Prison Community: • Identification of the prisonization process • Prison argot (language) • Inmate assimilation • Destructive effects

8. 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

9. Women Imprisoned • Female Institutions: • The majority are smaller, non-secure institutions similar to college dormitories and groups homes • Like male prisons, women’s prisons suffer from lack of educational and vocational training, and inadequate medical and social program treatment

10. 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

11. 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 

12. Correctional Treatment

13. Correctional Treatment

14. 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.

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Individual Violence

22. Collective Violence

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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)

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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