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Erving Goffman
- Total Insitutiton
- isolating people from society and allowing staff to manipulate them.
- this results in "institutionalized" people:
- 1) staff members supervise all spheres of an inmate's life
- 2) the environment is highly standardized with each inmate treated the same
- 3) rules and schedules dictate how inmates perform all aspects of their daily life
- he argued that these practices are degrading and problematic for inmates
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Stanford Prison Experiment
- Philip Zimbardo constructed a mock prison with college students to study how a prison environment can change human behavior
- scheduled to last for two weeks, but was terminated after 7 days
- students assigned the role of guard quickly exhibited hostility toward the "inmates" by bullying them and engaging in behavior o demean them
- students who were "inmates" soon became servile, dehumanized robots
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Prisonzation
- the process by which a new inmate absorbs the customs of prison society and learns to adapt to the environment
- deprivation vs. importation
- - deprivation: much of the prison subculture stems form aspects of life of which inmates are deprived
- - importation: aspects of life inmates bring with them into prison
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Inmate Code
- inmates become socialized to the prison culture and quickly learn the inmate code
- do your own time
- be a stand-up guy
- don't rat on other inmates
- don't trust the guards
- don't exploit other inmates
- maintain dignity and respect
- settle conflict between inmates
- respect the real "cons"
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Prison Culture
- indigenous to prison vs. imported into prison
- convicts: long-term inmates, often grew up in foster homes or juvenile institutions
- thieves: inmates who have adopted a career of crime
- square johns: usually first-time offenders who identify with "traditional" society
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Interpersonal Violence
- occurs between individual inmates
- involves personal issues
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Collective Violence
- initiated by group soy inmates
- creates prison riots and disturbances
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Prisoner-Prisoner Violence
- prison gangs (security threat groups)
- typically divided across racial/ethnic lines
- prison administrators want to weaken gang influence by
- - identifying members
- - segregating housing
- - restricting gang symbols
- - strip searches
- - monitoring mail and telephones
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Antisocial Offenders
- use force and coercion
- violence works for them
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Special-Needs Offenders
- unable to function well
- often react with violence
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Psychopathic Offenders
- predatory, cold, calculating
- violence simply for enjoyment
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Prison Gangs
- seen in prisons dating to 1960s
- controlled the violence in prison
- members usually have extensive criminal history
- often prison gangs were extensions of street gangs
- control and carry out criminal activities within the prison
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Identifiers of Gang Members
- attitude and demeanor
- paranoid
- secretive
- grooming
- hair (head and facial)
- customs
- hand signs
- greetings
- phrases
- symbols
- tattoos
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Mexican Manfia
- aka La Eme or MS13
- late 1950s
- mexican american
- considered the most active gang
- drug trafficking
- enemies: black guerrilla family, la nuestra familia
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La Nuestra Familia
- original formed for protection purpose from the Mexican Mafia
- rivals: mexican mafia, texas syndicate, aryan brotherhood
- symbols: 14 or XIV or sombrero with a machete
- N is the 14th letter
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Aryan Brotherhood
- 1967
- white supremacist group
- wanted to oppose the threats of Black and Hispanic gangs
- enemies: black guerrilla family, crips, bloods
- symbols: Shamrock, "AB", swastikas, "666"
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Black Guerrilla Family
- 1966
- african american
- politically oriented (marxist roots and antigovernment)
- life pledge of loyalty
- symbols: sabers, machetes, rifles, shotguns with BGF
- enemies: aryan brotherhood, texas syndicate, mexican mafia
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Texas Syndicate
- 1970s
- mexican american/hispanic
- originated in California
- protect Texas inmates in California
- paramilitary
- drug trafficking and contract murders
- symbol: overlapping "TS"
- enemies: aryan brotherhood, mexican mafia, la nuestra familia
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Controlling Prison Gangs
- renounce membership and debrief
- isolate gang members
- disciplinary segregation
- transfer to supermax prison
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Homosexual Behavior in Prison
- most sexual assaults in prisons occur to generate fear and to maintain control over the prison population
- sexual triangles
- - consequence of single-sex prisons
- - prohibited in prison - often not consensual
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Prison Rape Elimination Act
- enacted in 2003 - required prisons to collect information on the prevalence of sexual assault in prison
- prison reception - at intake, inmates advised of possibility of sexual assault; staff trained to watch for sexual aggression
- steps toward prevention - conjugal visits (allowed in 6 states) - doesn't necessarily reduce instances of homosexual activity
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Drugs in Prison
- many inmates in prison have drug addictions
- drugs in prison generate huge profits
- prisons try to reduce drug trafficking by
- 1) searching inmates after visits
- 2) random drug testing of inmates
- 3) frisking staff as they enter prison
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History of Women's Prison
- originally housed with men
- Walnut St. Jail (late 1700s) - women housed separately
- England (1816) - law passed to requite families to be supervised by female guards
- Reformatory Model - cottage-style architecture
- Present day - campus-style architecture
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Culture in Women's Prisons
- inmate code not as important to female inmates
- female inmates not hesitant to talk to staff - no presumption that inmate is a "snitch"
- greater stress and depression because of separation from children
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Pseudofamilies
- women in prison create family relationships - "family" members attempt to live in the same housing unit
- homosexual relationships tend to involve emotional support - a large percentage of female inmates are involved in lesbian relationships
- women have a high rate of sexual victimization of other inmates
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