Morgan Nelson
Sociology 1010 - 10/24/13
U.S Prison Society / Final Paper
The U.S. Prison System and the societies that are formed behind bars
perfectly represent Sociology. A society is one of the largest and complex
groups of people who share a specific geographical location or territory.
Along with society, come culture and many sub-cultures within that culture.
The Prison Society includes notions of Hierarchy, Stratification, Social Class,
Social Mobility, Status Symbols, Roles, Prestige, Power, Property, and
Language . . . and the Sociological aspect list goes on and on.
Personally, I have a cousin who is a Police Officer in California, a sister
who was a Deputy Sherriff in Cedar City, and a mother who is a Psychiatrist
working with inmates at the Utah State Correctional Facility. So my curiosity
toward prisoners in general has always been prevalent, however it wasn’t
until my new brother-in-law, Paul, came into the picture that I became
“schooled,” as he would put it, on the “inner workings” of a prison. Paul was
incarcerated for eight years of his life, and believe me, his perception of
prison was vastly different than that of the rest of my family’s, as Federal
Employees. Not only did Paul’s experience as an inmate fascinate me, but
the thought of prison as its own society and culture intrigued me.
Morgan Nelson
Sociology 1010 - 10/24/13
U.S Prison Society / Final Paper
According to my sister, Melissa (Deputy Sherriff), there is typically a jail
in every county and prisons have to be contracted through the Federal
Government. The Bureau operates institutions at five different security levels,
Minimum Security, Low Security, High Security, Correctional Complexes,
and Administrative. Rikers Island is New York City’s main jail complex and
is considered the world’s largest penal colony with 130,000 inmates residing
there each year at different times and an inmate population of 14,000. Rikers
has a staff of 7,000 officers and 1,500 civilians. Put into perspective, over 2.3
million Americans (about 1% of the population) are currently incarcerated
throughout America.
In order to understand the Prison System, we must first look at the history
of prison itself. Prior to the American Revolution, imprisonment was seldom
used as punishment for crime. The modern prison was devised by American
reformers who believed that prisoners could be “reformed” by incarceration
and labor. With the rise of industrial capitalism, unpaid prison labor became
a source of rich profits. Railroads, roads, and public buildings were being
built and maintained by convicts. In the South, the use of prisoners as slave
laborers was central to the economy. In sense Prisoners became property.
Morgan Nelson
Sociology 1010 - 10/24/13
U.S Prison Society / Final Paper
Prison was reformed in the early 1860’s and has undergone drastic changes.
Inmates were being provided with what some argues as “posh” living.
Decent food and exercise meant that the inmates had become healthier than
the average citizen. Libraries and schooling were also provided, giving most
inmates an opportunity to an education, and making the Prison System a great
alternative to the streets.
Convergence of punishment, “tough crime,” rhetoric, and economic
dependency have produced a phenomenon called the “prison Industrial
Complex,” leading the U.S. to incarcerate more of its own citizens than any
other nation in the world. Currently, 2.3 million Americans are incarcerated.
Gang Culture is also on the rise with over 1,000 inmates now being held in
segregation in the hopes of keeping rival gang members apart. Along with
gangs comes gang violence which is more violent then ever. Over the last 20
years, the prison population has more then tripled, rising 17.5% in the last 5
years. Keep in mind, the population is growing but the culture is being
changed and rehabilitation has effectively been abandoned.
Prison is a community within its own society and many cultures within.
With so many people being incarcerated it would be ethnocentric to believe
that a society, culture, and subcultures, would not prevail.
Morgan Nelson
Sociology 1010 - 10/24/13
U.S Prison Society / Final Paper
Along with a society comes commerce: the whole system of an economy
that constitutes an environment for business, implying much more than
culture. And the Prison Society in fact includes legal, economic, political,
social, and technological systems. Prison societies rely heavily on reciprocity
and barter and trade systems. Gender, race, age, crime, religion, status, class,
and sanction all play a role in the societies that are formed behind bars.
About 7% of U.S. Federal prisoners are women. Whites make up 56% of all
Federal prisoners; 40% are black; 2% are Native American; and 2% are Asian.
About 73% of American federal prison inmates are U.S. citizens and 16% are
Mexican. One in every 15 persons will serve time in their lifetime. State
government spends $50 billion a year and the Federal government $5 billion a
year. Basically, the entire Prison System is being brought down by “over
population.”
Law Enforcement, however, is trying to eliminate the prison subculture and
bring unity to prisoners. The theory formulates that less hierarchy, plus more
uniformity, equals more control. The main idea: gone is the day of subculture
conflict in the prison system. From the perspective of a Sociology Student –
especially after taking part in this class – it is impossible to eliminate
subcultures because society will always find a way to stratify.
Morgan Nelson
Sociology 1010 - 10/24/13
U.S Prison Society / Final Paper
References
Henslin, M. James, Essentials of Sociology, a Down-to-Earth Approach. Ninth
Edition
Wright, W. Michelle Brown, the Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society, and
Spectacle. Punishment & Society [serial online]. October 2011
Concoran R. Changing Prison Culture. Corrections Today [serial online]
April 2005 Article
Crime Correspondent C. Prison Gang Culture is Growing Fast – officers. Irish
Times [serial online]. April 30, 2010: Newspaper Source
John Hopkins University. Press; Prison Literature. Encyclopedia of American
Studies [electronic resources]. 2010
W. David Pierce, Carl D. Cheney, “correspondent Relations: Imitation and
Rule-Governed Behavior” (Ch. 11) Behavior Analysis and Learning, Third
Edition, Edited by: Bill Weber
The Stanford Prison Experiment, 12-01-12, http://www.prisonexp.org/