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Janae Merrill
A Theoretical Look at Life In Prison
1. Introduction
Prison for most of the general population is something feared and despised. For
others, it is seen as inevitable. But what do those who live within the walls of the prisons
around the world see it as? Is it something to fear or is it a place where achievements are
made? Whatever the feeling of those within the walls, prison becomes a new home,
temporarily or permanently, for inmates. In order for the prison system to be something
other than just a rotting place for criminals, there needs to be rules and systems set in
place that attempt to either rehabilitate the inmates or make them feel useful. “The
narrow definition of new generation prisons refers to correctional environments which
tend to ‘normalize’ the physical surroundings of the correctional institution” (Astone,
Burns, Astone). In the popular TV series, Prison Break, the dynamics of the prison world
can be examined. Of course, these dynamics are portrayed through a camera lens and do
not necessarily represent reality. The show does however give insight into the theories
written about by authors Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser. The prison, as a house for
criminals will be explained through Foucault’s ideas. The nurse within the prison, Dr.
Tancredi describes Fox River Penitentiary as “a small town” (6). In order for Fox River,
the name of the prison in the show, to be considered a town, there has to be certain
elements within the prison that mirror those of a town outside prison. There has to be
some kind of leader, a system of class or government, and there has to be rules/laws. The
town aspect of the show will be easily explained through the theories and ideas of
Althusser. The prison system and the relationships within the show, although seemingly
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superficial on the surface, become very complex when looked at through theoretical
lenses.
Prison Break deals with a plot to break out of prison. The two main characters are
brothers and when one of them, Lincoln Burrows, is put on death row innocently, his
younger brother Michael Scofield makes a plan to break him out. In order to do this,
Scofield commits a crime that causes him to be incarcerated at the same prison as
Burrows. With the escape plan tattooed on his body, Scofield puts his plan into action in
order to break himself and his brother out of prison before Burrows is executed in a
month. A critic of the show said, “It was another example of a government wide
conspiracy against a couple of guys for reasons that were best left not looked at too
deeply”(Alaspa). For the purposes of this paper, the reasons for the incarceration and the
break out will not be examined. But the plot of the story as background helps to provide
context for the type of prison these two men find themselves in and also the inmates that
they are forced to work with.
2. The Panopticon
The idea for which the prison in Prison Break is modeled after is one pioneered
by Jeremy Bentham in 1787. “Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham publishes his
ideas for a panopticon, a quite brilliant merger of architectural design with an
understanding of human behavior. This is a prison requiring minimal supervision”
(Kietzmann, Angell). The panopticon is a spiral, circular building with “cells [that] are
placed on the circumference, stacked floor upon floor, with the doors facing a guard
tower at the centre” (Keitzmann, Angell). The design of this innovative prison makes it
possible for the prisoners to be watched constantly, by one another and by a guard. The
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panopticon, in design, was meant to change the inmates’ behavior just by the inmates
assuming and knowing that there was always someone watching them. Foucault says, “In
[Bentham's panoptic principle] there was much more . . . than architectural ingenuity: it
was an event in the "history of the human mind’” (Rosen, Santesso). Foucault greatly
agreed with Benthanm’s system because of the second element within the prison,
punishment. Punishment along with being watched constantly is what is believed to
change behavior within this panoptical system. Foucault writes extensively about
punishment within this essay “Discipline and Punishment.” Foucault writes,
‘[The object was] no longer the body, with the ritual play of excessive pains. . . .
[I]t [was] no longer the body, but the soul.’ The prisoner's mind was now treated
as ‘a surface of inscription for power,’ with the final goal of creating an ‘obedient
subject, [an] individual subjected to habits, rules, orders, an authority that [was]
exercised continually around him and upon him, and which he must allow to
function automatically in him’ (Rosen, Santesso).
Within the show, the inmates are subjected to making new habits and following new
rules, orders, and authority. It is done through the constant watching of the inmates and
also by punishment. “In order to direct social behavior, represented a reactive approach
by authority to disobedience, and focused on punishment, or the threat there of”
(Kietzmann, Angell). In Prison Break, the watching and the punishment is sometimes
given by the guards, but most of the time it is the inmates who are watching and
punishing each other based on the society that they have built within the prison, separate
from the one the guards and the warden have made.
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The panoptical system, which is portrayed in the show, does not necessarily have
the effect on the inmates that Bentham predicted. Instead of changing automatically
because of the constant supervision and punishment, the inmates stay the same
throughout the show. The prisoners must do this in order to survive Fox River. “With
society itself as the prison, and each prisoner doubling up as a potential guard and bounty
hunter. The state doesn’t need to pay salaries to the jailers; it’s all payby-results spying
and sanctimonious reporting” (Kietzmann, Angell). Fox River is its own society with the
bulk of the citizens being hardened criminals. For one wing in the show, there are two
guards. This is another way that the panoptical system is used in the show. The guards are
not needed because the prisoners are not only serving time for the crimes they did, they
are making sure that everyone else around them doesn’t get special treatment, suffers for
the acts they commit within the prison, and reports to one another in order to have
harmony within the various groups made by the inmates. Within the show, “the guards
are the dirtiest gangs in the place. The only difference between us and them is the badge”
(Sucre 1) As a result of the guards being worse than the inmates, reform is not something
that these inmates are receiving help with or doing for themselves. In the end though, the
panoptical system, as portrayed in the show, proves that having inmates watch each other
is an effective way for a prison to be run.
3. Discipline and Punishment
Discipline and punishment are given freely on Prison Break. In Foucault’s
“Discipline and Punishment” essay mentioned earlier, reasons for the need for discipline
and punishment are given. The Oxford English Dictionary defines discipline as “to train
to habits of order and subordination; to bring under control” and punishment as, “The
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infliction of a penalty or sanction in retribution for an offence or transgression.” Foucault
writes, “The least act of disobedience is punished and the best way of avoiding serious
offences is to punish the most minor offences very severely” (1491). While this theory
may not work well within everyday society, it does apply to prisons. There are many
scenes in the first season of the show that display the importance and the great effect of
discipline and punishment. In the show, the inmates are allowed a certain amount of time
outside of their prison cells. For some of this time, the inmates are outside in what is
called “the yard.” Fences surround them and on the outside of the fences are guard
towers. If the inmates begin to fight or go somewhere they are not permitted to go, shots
are fired and inmates must stop whatever they are doing and go to the ground. This is an
example of discipline. In order to bring the inmates under control, the guards have to fire
shots. If the fighting doesn’t cease, the inmates know that the guards will not hesitate to
shoot them instead of the ground.
At one point in the show the inmates obtain the keys of one of the guards and
chaos commences. Multiple inmates and one guard are killed in the process of the
inmates’ attempt to take over the prison. In order to regain control, SWAT teams are sent
in with guns. After the inmates adhere to the discipline and go back to their cells, they are
punished. Warden Pope says,
I really don’t know what to say to you gentlemen. I try to give you the benefit of
the doubt, I try to treat you with respect, you can’t even respect yourselves. So
there is going to be a 48-hour lock down. I strongly suggest you all learn how to
get along otherwise next time its going to be a week and the time after that a
month. Think about it. (7)
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Lock down in the show means no food, no working, and no time out of cells. Because the
inmates thought they could take over the prison by reeking havoc, the warden makes sure
that won’t happen by locking them in their cells for two days. The cells are small and
uncomfortable and this type of punishment is meant to show the inmates just how good
they have it at Fox River. The warden tries to inflict mental and emotional pain on the
inmates with his form of punishment, but the punishment given by the inmates and
sometimes the guards to other inmates, is meant to inflict physical pain. Scofield refuses
to give one of the inmates, John Abruzzi, a certain piece of information until Abruzzi
promises to help Scofield in return. When Scofield refuses, Abruzzi cuts off Scofield’s
pinky toe. This form of punishment is meant to send a message and to inflict the
maximum amount of pain. After the lock down, the inmates behave and eventually
Scofield and Abruzzi come to an agreement. These two instances and many more in the
show prove that Foucault’s theories about discipline and punishment were correct. There
has to be expected and sometimes severe consequences, especially in prison, if there is
ever going to be cooperation.
4. ISA’s and SA’s
In order to explain the dynamics within the prison, the theories of Althusser will
need to be explained. Althusser is a Marxist theorist who, with his theories, describes the
relationships between the different apparatuses that make up a society. The Ideological
State Apparatus (ISA) includes “the private domain, Churches, parties, trade unions,
families, some schools, most newspapers, cultural ventures, etc.”(Althusser 1342). These
institutions operate on the private level and make up a lot of society. The ISA’s help to
establish the values within a society. The State Apparatus (SA) includes “the
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Government, the administration, the Army, the Police, the Courts, the Prisons, etc.”
(Althusser1341). The role of these institutions is to establish order and enforce rules on a
very public level. Both the ISA’s and the SA’s have a place within Fox River. The ISA’s
are the institutions made and value systems set up by the inmates themselves, a code by
which each inmate and each gang within the prison lives by. The SA’s are obviously
represented by the guards and the warden. Their job is to maintain order among the
inmates and enforce the rules that the prison has made. Althusser says that “The
Repressive State Apparatus functions ‘by violence’, whereas the Ideological State
Apparatuses function ‘by ideology’”(1342). The guards and the warden have to use
violence on the inmates in order to establish their control. The inmates also use violence
but it for a different reason than the SA’s. As defined by Althusser, ideology is “A
‘representation’ of the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of
existence” and/or “Ideology has a material existence” (Althusser 1350, 1352). The
ideology of the inmates is found within the “code of inmates” that has been established.
This code may change from gang to gang, but it is an imaginary set of rules made by the
inmates that have a material existence in the fact that discipline and punishment is
awarded to all who break the rules of the code.
Within the prison there are gangs based upon race, crime, and location in the
prison. These gangs mingle and intermix based on need. One man in the prison known as
“C-Note” is the man to go to for drugs. But the inmates go to a different person if they
need a certain tool or weapon. The largest and most obvious gang in the prison is based
on race. Scofield crosses boundaries of race in order to get the things he needs to the
break out. Burrows informs his brother that “Nothing transcends race in here. Nothing
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does. You so much as look at these cats the wrong way you’re gone. You don’t have to
go looking for trouble in here, it just finds you” (2). Even looking at a person of another
race in the wrong way is part of the code within the prison. The ideology within the
prison among the inmates is one that is built upon respect. When that respect is broken,
like looking at a black inmate when you are white, discipline could occur but most often
times, punishment will be given. In the show a child rapist and murderer, T-Bag, says to
Scofield, “Few days on the inside any god fearing white man realizes the correctional
systems got a serious lean towards the African American system. They think because
they got the numbers right they can do whatever they please” (2). Within in the show,
race is a large part of the ideology of each gang. The races may be apart of different
gangs, but as Burrows said, nothing transcends race.
If an inmate had a well-known reputation outside of prison, the chance of having
more prestige within prison is greater. David Starbek comments “Gangs operate like
‘primitive states’ or ‘quasi-governments.’” Within states and governments, there are
leaders and those who work for the leaders in order to make sure the ideology of the state
or government functions properly. Each gang within the prison has a leader, usually the
person with the most famous reputation. Abruzzi was, and partly still is, a leader within
the Chicago mob. He essentially runs the prison among the inmates. The warden may run
the prison facility, but Abruzzi, and the lackeys he has obtained within the prison walls,
run the prison “town” (6). One part of the prison that Abruzzi runs is Prison Industry (PI).
Sucre says in the first episode to Michael, “The guys who get along get to work. I
wouldn’t get excited if I were you fish, you ain’t sniffen none of PI, John Abruzzi runs it”
Abruzzi may operate on the surface in a private way as an ISA, but his real role within
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the prison and among the inmates is as an SA. He acts as the police, and the
administration, and operates solely by using violence. Althusser says,
The unity of the (Repressive) State Apparatus is secured by its unified and
centralized organization under the leadership of the representatives of the classes
in power executing the politics of the class struggle of the classes in power, the
unity of the different Ideological State Apparatuses is secured, usually in
contradictory forms, by the ruling ideology, the ideology of the ruling class
(1344).
Abruzzi has created for himself a unified organization which allows him to operate as an
(R)SA with all the power. Because he possesses that power, he is able to overpower the
other gangs and their ideology because he is the most powerful ISA.
For those who enter the prison without any affiliations on the inside and without
any real reputation on the outside are forced to accept any leader that will take them.
“Inmates create organizations to protect themselves and provide governance. Once these
groups have the power to deter predators, they prey on others” (Skarbek). For most
members within a gang, they are apart of that gang for protection and because affiliation
with no one means that that inmate is an enemy to everyone. Each gang operates by its
own ideology and whichever gang will allow a certain inmate in, that inmate must learn
to operate by that ideology in order to obtain that protection. T-Bag preys on the inmates
who are young, white, and scared. T-Bag protects those who are a part of his “family.”
He told Michael, “This place is for the family. I think we made it pretty clear you ain’t
blood” (2). T-Bag treats his gang members as if they were family as long as they do what
he says. To a certain extent, this is how each gang operates within the prison. If the leader
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is able to have control over those who are apart of his gang, then the society within that
gang runs smoothly.
5. Conclusion
From the outside of the prison it may seem that traditional SA’s run the prison.
From Prison Break though, it is very obvious that while the guards and the warden think
they have control over the prison and inmates, it is actually the inmates that have control.
Starbek says, “Inmates will attempt to produce their own governance mechanisms to
punish defection and facilitate cooperation. Norms and organization provide two methods
for establishing self-governance within the inmate social system.” The gangs allow for
self-governance to take precedence over the governance of the guards and warden. The
guards and warden may use discipline and punishment, but it is not their discipline and
punishment that the inmates are afraid of. It is the discipline and punishment from fellow
inmates that the inmates are most afraid of. The guards and the warden must follow the
laws set in place by the SA’s and ISA’s above and outside the prison system. The inmates
on the other hand, have the power to establish their own SA’s and ISA’s with their own
rules and forms of discipline and punishment. The prison system in Prison Break shows
that the theories and ideas of Foucault and Althusser apply even to those who are
incarcerated in penitentiaries. With enough power, comes the ability to create individual
forms of discipline and punishment. Forms of government are established based on the
theories of Althusser’s SA’s and ISA’s. Dr Tancrdi says “you wouldn’t be human if you
weren’t scarred in a place like this” (5). Unless an inmate learns to operate based on the
ideology and ruling system set in place by the prisoners, prison will be a place that is
scary and could ultimately kill him.
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Works Cited
Alaspa, Bryan. "Back Behind Bars: A Review of 'Prison Break'." Yahoo Voices. Yahoo,
21 Sept 2007. Web. 1 Jul. 2013.
Althusser, Louis. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses." Trans. Array The Norton
Anthology of Theory and Criticism. . 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 2010. 1350-1344. Print.
Astone, Nicholas A., Jerald C. Burns, and Mary K. Astone. "Social organization as a
correctional ideology: Breaking new ground." American Journal of Criminal
Justice. 11.2 (1987): 115-132. Web. 1 Jul. 2013.
"ˈdiscipline, v.". OED Online. June 2013. Oxford University Press. 3 July 2013.
Foucault, Michel. "Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison." Trans. Array The
Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. . 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 2010. 1491-1496. Print.
Kietzmann, Jan, and Ian Angell. "Panopticon Revisited." Communications Of The
ACM 53.6 (2010): 135-138. Business Source Premier. Web. 2 July 2013.
Prison Break: The Complete First Season. Episodes 1-7. 2005. Netflix.
"punishment, n.". OED Online. June 2013. Oxford University Press. 3 July 2013.
Rosen, David, and Aaron Santesso. "The Panopticon Reviewed: Sentimentalism and
Eighteenth-Century Interiority.” ELH 77.4 (2010): 1041-59. ProQuest. Web. 2
July 2013.
Skarbek, David. "Prison gangs, norms, and organizations."Journal of Economic Behavior
& Organization. 82.1 (2012): 96-109. Web. 3 Jul. 2013.
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