Prison Life: Living In and Leaving Prison

1. Prison Life: Living In and Leaving Prison

2. Prison More than 1,600 adult correctional facilities in US Many facilities are old and decrepit Institutions holding a thousand or more inmates still predominate the system

3. Entering Prisons After sentencing • Classification: deciding what type of prison to be sent to • Based on assessment of risk, seriousness of offense, rehabilitation potential • Types of prisons • Supermax, maximum, medium, minimum (“country clubs”)

4. Entry Procedures • Entry procedures • Depends on type of prisons • E.g., Maximum security prison: strip search, health checks, issuing of materials, personal belongings saved in property room, lecture on procedures to be followed (do what the guards tell you) • Symbolic and real humiliation during entry – body cavity searches; strip of conventional identity (clothing, haircuts) • Basic message: “you are ours,” “you are powerless,” “you ain’t nobody now” • Assignment to job • Regimes (how to behave) • If behave, no problems, earning good time; privileges (e.g., conjugal visits)

5. Men Imprisoned Prisons in the U.S. are “total institutions” –the lives of prisoners are totally controlled Living in prison Personal losses include deprivation of liberty, goods and services, heterosexual relationships, autonomy, and security. Inmates must learn to cope with loneliness and dangers of prison life

6. Men Imprisoned (cont.) Inmate’s methods of coping Inmate Subculture: loosely defined culture that pervades prisons and has its own norms, rules, and language Inmate Social Code: unwritten guidelines that express values, attitudes, and types of behavior that older inmates demand of younger ones. Represents values of interpersonal relations within the prison Prisonization: assimilation into the inmate subculture.

7. Inmate Social Code: Rules to Live By

8. Prisonization • What do prisoners learn in the inmate culture? • Criminal skills (e.g., how to burglarize a house) • Disrespect for authority (do not trust guards and staff) • Crime as a way of life (hustling, smuggling, illegal commerce) • Force is necessary to solve some problems • The need for group support and loyalty (hard to survive by yourself; do not rat)

9. Consequences of prisonization • Make reintegration into society difficult • The skills learned on how to survive in prison do not work well outside • Leads to recidivism (parole violations, new crimes) • Research shows the most prisoners have become prisonized, have adjusted to life inside, after two years

10. Men Imprisoned (cont.) The new inmate culture Precipitated by black power movement in the 1960’s and 70’s African American and Latin inmates are now more organized Racial polarity and tension is a dominant force Groups formed as a result of various factors: Religious or political affiliations To combat discrimination Previous street gang membership

11. Women Imprisoned At beginning of 20th century female inmates were viewed as morally depraved individuals who flouted conventional rules of female behavior. Only 4 women’s prisons were built between 1930 and 1950. Before 1960 few women were in prison. 34 women’s prisons were built during 1980’s as crime rates soared.

12. Women Imprisoned (cont.) Female institutions Generally smaller than those housing male inmates Majority are minimum security Suffer from lack of health, treatment, and educational facilities Limited vocational training

13. Women Imprisoned (cont.) Primarily young, unmarried, poorly educated, minority group members From broken homes Suffered from physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence Psychological/substance abuse problems Subject to sexual exploitation/abuse by staff

14. Women Imprisoned (cont.) Adapting to the female institution Behavior is less violent than male inmates Anti-authority inmate social code of male institutions does not exist May engage in self-destructive behavior to cope with problems Creation of make-believe families as coping mechanism

15. Who Is in Prison? • Inmates • Guards • Staff (education, counseling, drug treatment, rehabilitation services) • Administrators • Visitors • Each group has different needs for protection and safety

16. Correctional Treatment Methods Individual and group treatment Behavior modification Aversive therapy Milieu therapy Reality therapy Cognitive skills Formal education Faith-based rehabilitation efforts

17. Correctional Treatment Methods (cont.) Special-needs inmates Drug-dependent Mental problems Physical disability problems AIDS - infectious diseases Elderly and sick Gays and lesbians Women with children

18. Correctional Treatment Methods (cont.) Drug treatment Programs to treat alcohol and substance abuse Use of methadone Creation of therapeutic communities

19. Correctional Treatment Methods (cont.) AIDS-infected inmates Homosexual behavior and in drug use increase risk Both behaviors common in prison Approximately two percent of prisoners are infected Administrators reluctance to provide education on prevention as riskiest activities are forbidden in prison

20. Gays and Lesbians • Need protection from other inmates and staff • Have low status among other inmates • Segregation in separate housing areas (same as women with children who need special facilities to be with their children)

21. Correctional Treatment Methods (cont.) Vocational training programs Most institutions provide New York has more than 42 trade and technical courses for inmates While programs provide benefits for inmates and institutions they are subject to criticism Inability to find related jobs on release Equipment is inadequate or obsolete Programs used solely for prison maintenance Objections of unions

22. Correctional Treatment Methods (cont.) Work release Furlough programs allow deserving inmates to leave the institution and hold regular jobs in the community Inmates are able to maintain work skills and community ties Transition from prison to outside world is easier Citizens are worried about inmates “stealing” jobs from them Worries about safety and new crimes being committed while on release Post release programs

23. Correctional Treatment Methods (cont.) Rehabilitation Robert Martinson’s “nothing works” Conservative view of corrections currently emphasizes punishment over treatment Recent research indicates it is possible to lower recidivism rates

24. Guarding the Institution Control is a complex task Prison guards were traditionally viewed as ruthless Now viewed as public servants Guards play a number of roles Despite appearances and total institutions – order is maintained in prisons by the inmates as well

25. Guarding the Institution (cont.) Female correctional officers Estimated 5,000 women are assigned to all-male institutions Questions of privacy and safety Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977) Research indicates that discipline has not suffered because of the inclusion of women

26. Prison Violence Inmate v. inmate Inmate v. staff/guards Guards/staff v. inmate Sexual assault In prisons – inmate on inmate gay sex; male guards-female prisoners Outside prison – prostitution rings, sex services provided by staff/guards to outsiders; “rent” out female inmates

27. Prison Violence (cont.) Contributing factors to violence Poor communication Destructive environmental conditions Faulty classification Promised, but undelivered reforms Lack of treatment programs

28. Prison Violence (cont.) Causes of individual violence Violence-prone individuals Personality disorders Lack of effective grievance processes Violence as a survival mechanism Staged fights by guards

29. Prison Violence (cont.) Causes of collective violence Inmate-balance theory Administrative-control theory Overcrowding Rise of gangs within prisons

30. Prisoner’s Rights Hands-off doctrine: administrators were given a free hand to run institutions irrespective of constitutional violations Prison administration was a technical matter best left to experts Society was apathetic Prisoner’s constitutional rights viewed as limited approach Cooper v. Pate signaled the end of the hands-off doctrine

31. Prisoner’s Rights (cont.) Minimal standards of human dignity: prisoners are still persons under the law Access to courts, legal services and materials Freedom of expression Freedom of religion Right to medical treatment Access to reading materials and media Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment – conduct which shocks the reasonable conscience (lengthy solitary confinement, shackling, excessive physical punishment, torture)

32. Leaving Prison • Notice that less than 20%, one in five, of prisoners leave because they have finished their sentence

33. Leaving Prison Parole: early release of prisoner subject to conditions set by a parole board Decision to parole is determined by statutory requirement Discretionary parole Mandatory parole release

34. Leaving Prison (cont.) 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

35. Leaving Prison (cont.) Parole hearings Method of case review varies by jurisdiction Consider factors such as crime, institutional record, and willingness to accept responsibility Few legal guidelines on decisions to parole or not – highly discretionary

36. Leaving Prison (cont.) The parolee in the community Must adhere to conditions of release Parole is viewed as a privilege and not a right Failure to comply with conditions of release results in return to prison Intensive supervision parole

37. Leaving Prison (cont.) The effectiveness of parole More than half return to prison shortly after their release, many for technical violations, not new crimes Re-arrests are most common in the first six months after release Cost of recidivism is acute – high number of new criminal offenses

38. Leaving Prison (cont.) Factors leading to parole failures Consequences of prisonization Prisons rarely address psychological and economic problems that are likely to lead parolees to recidivism Little preparation for reintegration while in prison Prisons do not allow development of skills essential to cope with outside world Disruption of home life while incarcerated and lack of support systems once released Limited resources when are released (e.g., bus fare home) Loss of rights/inability to find employment “Civic death” laws

39. Civic Rights Lost by Ex-Prisoners

40. Reforming Prisons • The argument: Prisons make bad people worse • Reform prisons • Ensure minimal standards of dignity and well-being • minimize abuses • Lessen disconnect from society • Increase external oversight • Enhance transparency, oversight, legal remedies • Create and use alternatives to prisons • Drug courts, intermediate sanctions, community corrections • Change the metaphor from war-making to peace-making: use prisons only as last resort and only for those who need to be in prison • Restorative justice