LIFE IN PRISON
Female Inmates’ Adaptation and/or
Subscription to Inmate Code (prisionization)
PRISIONIZATION: “the taking on, in greater or
lesser degree, of the folkways, mores,
customs and general culture of the
penitentiary.” – Donald Clemmer
The Invisible Criminal
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Historical implications
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Gender was secondary
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Imprisoned and then forgotten
No programs
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Imprisonment followed male guidelines
Different type of care than male convicts
No medical attention
No supervision
Few opportunities to work
Today there is more parity in policy but is there
equality?
PRISON CULTURE
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Subjugation
Institutionally paternalistic
Systematically repressive/arbitrary
Symbolizes oppressive authority
Intensifies powerlessness
Strips away identity
Dysfunctional environment
PAINS OF IMPRISONMENT
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Separation from family
Freedom of choice and activity limited
Apprehension
Stigma
Lack of experience
Ward & Kassebaum, 1964
FOUR RESPONSES TO PAINS OF
IMPRISIONMENT
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DEATH
INSTITUTIONALIZATION
SELF-MUTILATION
MADNESS
INSTITUTION EFFECTS
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Below quality of men’s prisons
Provide fewer programs/reinforce traditional roles
Less access to lawyers & outside contacts
Unspecialized prison
More severe impact
Experience two emotions
 Surprise
 Fear
Look to staff
 Information
 Material goods
INSTITUTION EFFECTS (cont)
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Inmate Code
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Not as salient for females as for male prisoners
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Reaction to deprivation
Identity as women
Internalization of delinquent subcultures
Importation vs. deprivation: direct effect on subscription to code
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Importation: criminal history and personal characteristics
Deprivation: situational or prison-specific variables
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Low subscription
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End of term ???
1st arrest after age 25
High subscription
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Middle of sentence ???
Younger and urban inmates
Prior imprisonments
More serious convictions (verbally)
Married
Short-timers/early phase
End of term???
INSTITUTION EFFECTS (cont)
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Also…
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Less predatory inmate population
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Low subscription indicated by little role playing
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Merchants
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Politicians
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Gorilla
Reflects male needs for status, independence, and masculine
self-image
More like medium security men’s prison
Less tense
Less violent
Subculture: Men vs Women
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Men’s exist to protect from each other
Neutralize rejection
Emotional support
Gender
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Women experience incarceration differently
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Likely to be rule-breakers
Gender-based frameworks
Less social capital
Subverts mother-child bond
Do not maintain group solidarity
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Informing on others characteristic
Not relevant for women
Roles differentiated along sexual lines
Emotional/ manipulative coping strategies
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Dramatically different from men’s
Perpetuate gender stereotypes inside
Engage in self-aggression
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Suicide
Self-mutilation
Seen as less respectful to authority
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Willing to argue
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Written up twice as much as men
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For less serious infraction
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
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Jenson and Jones
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Examines prisonization during 1970s
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Studies career phase
No issue of overcrowing addressed
Did not consider “other” impact of “public institutions”
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Social services experiences
 Foster care
 Welfare recipients
Continue to use male oriented questions
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Women’s need’s not considered
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McCorkel’s article suggests
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View of women prisoners have changed
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Redefining of dependency
Marriage of welfare and criminal justice policies- maybe
more to come
Reform efforts replaced with punishment
Different internal and external pressure for change
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Solution to overcrowding
Replace penal paternalism
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Made prisonlike
Treat women like men – masculine
 More punitive
CONCLUSION
Inmates tend to undergo some degree of
prisonization irrespective of race, education,
urban-nonurban status, prior prison experience,
legal status and offense. (Jensen & Jones, 1976)
However, the deceptive nature of women’s
prisons… while subtle, is stronger than in
men’s institutions. (Chapter 1, p.20)