Inmate Social System (Subculture)
 Prisonization
 Inmate Code
 Argot Roles
 Find a “niche” within the system
 Inmate Economy
 Limit: Most research is on “big house” prisons
 Males, maximum security, north/midwestern…
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Women’s culture? Minimum Security? Southern Prisons?
John Irwin—Prisons In Turmoil
 Prison culture from early 1900s to the early 1980s
 Big House Era
 Correctional Institution Era
Inmate code starts to crumble, as “thieves” not able to dominate
 New subcultures emerge (splintering of social system)
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“Modern” (dated now)
Black inmates become more numerous and more assertive (black
power movement, black Muslims, etc.)
 Influx of young “hoods” or “gangbangers”
 Inmate culture further splintered
 Gangs, some “old cons,” violence dominates other aspects of the
old code
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Female Inmate Social System
 Researchers have examined the “female” code
 Violence not glorified
 CO/Inmate interaction tolerated more
 Race mixing more common/tolerated
 Less emphasis on doing own time
Explaining the Subculture
 Deprivation Model
 Sykes “pains of imprisonment”
Physical safety, heterosexual relations, autonomy, material goods,
freedom
 Deprivations more severe = less variation in social systems
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 Importation Model
 Extension of culture on outside
Gangs/STG’s
 Emergence in 1950s, dominance since 1970s
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Irwin = “state raised youth” or “gangbangers”
Do your own time  do gang time
OK to rip off independents
Organized around RACE and/or ETHNICITY
 Trends/Issues
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Prison  streets (Mexican Mafia)
Streets  prison (bloods, crips, etc)
Prevalence?
Why are gangs a problem/threat?
Correctional Administration
OV E RV I E W
MANAGEMENT STYLES
GOVERNING PRISONS
UNIT MANAGEMENT
Prisons as Unique Institutions
 They are a bureaucracy (see chart in book)
 Rule bound (standards of conduct), hierarchical, standardized…
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Assume rules are correct and follow them religiously
 However, they are unique
 Don’t get to select clients
 Have little control over release of clients
 Clients are there against their will
 Clients do most of their work in the institution
 Chaotic, sometimes volatile environment
Given the constraints…how best to run a prison?
 The Old Penology (PN/Auburn debates)
 The Autocrat/Dictator model (1800s-1950s)
 Joseph E. Ragen (Stateville prison in IL)
Substituted “his way” for the typical politics of the time
 James B Jacobs, Stateville (1977)
 Complete control over every detail—enforced by brutal physical
punishment –during Irwin’s “big house” era
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 The Sociology Era (1950s-1980s)
 No interest in “controlling” inmates
Interests = inmate subculture, guard attitudes and cultures…
 ASSUME wardens can do little to control inmates without help
from the inmate social system
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John DiIulio Governing Prisons (1987)
 DiIulio = a rather conservative political scientist
 “…officials responsible for prison policy have been the
slave of some defunct sociologist.”
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“Management” viewed as disruptive to inmate social system
 Book summarized a comparative study of 3 states
 Texas “control model”
 California “consensual model”
 Michigan “responsibility model”
Governing Prisons II
 How best to measure effective management, or a
“good” prison?
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Order
Amenity
Service
 The “Confinement Model”  now used in much of the
prison literature
Governing Prisons III
 Concludes that TX control model is superior
Homicide rate in TX system is 1/8 of CA system
 Violence/disturbances rare in TX system
 Programming better (less volatility)
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 Reasons to be skeptical
 Context of his study (CA and MI in late 1970s, early 1980s)
 The “Exceptional Manager” theory
 The building tender system
 CO Abuse/Violence
Management/Leadership Styles
 Authoritarian
 Joseph Ragen
 George Beto (idiosyncratic)
 Laissez-faire
 Democratic/Participatory
Unit Management
 Now the “rage” for running prisons
 Architecture x Direct Supervision model
 DECENTRALIZATION
 Not one chain of command for the entire 1000 inmates
 Manageable units (pods)
 UPSIDES
Almost everything self-contained
 Custody/treatment division is lessened (team)
 New career ladders
 Free up warden to do “big picture” things
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Summary
 Pre-1980s = little could be done
 Prisons as corrupting, inmate culture will override
 1990s and beyond
 MANAGEMENT MATTERS
 Debates
What sort of management works best?
 How do we evaluate prison management?
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