Whitehead: Corrections, 3rd Edition

Case Studies

Chapter 07: Prisons and Prison Life

You are a correctional counselor working in a local prison. You counsel prisoners about a variety of issues and you are interested in trying to help them cope with incarceration and return to the community. Your job is a difficult one and you have a large number of inmate-clients on your caseload. Even so, it’s your responsibility to understand the psychological needs of your inmate-clients. It’s also your job to understand the special circumstances of these inmates including their adjustment to prison and how they cope with prison life.

The warden has asked you to prepare a report about your experiences as a counselor. The warden wants to understand the obstacles prisoners face in adjusting to prison life and what can be done to rehabilitate them.

Questions

  1. What are the prison deprivations identified by Gresham Sykes?

    Correct Answer

    The deprivation of liberty is the first. One aspect of confinement that many people forget is that confinement often translates into few visitors. If a prisoner is locked up even 100 miles from home, distance alone may make visits by relatives quite difficult. The prisoner’s family may simply not have transporta­tion to the prison.
    A second deprivation is deprivation of goods and services. Prisoners are limited in their access to possessions and services. One aspect of this deprivation that is ignored by many critics is that Americans define themselves to a great extent by their possessions. Most are concerned about their clothes, cars, residences, and other personal items. Americans live in a materialistic society and tend to value having increasingly more and better-quality possessions (e.g., one may be proud of having a late-model car or designer blue jeans or a particular brand of shoes rather than a $15 pair of shoes from a discount store). Prisoners are issued a uniform with no permission for individualizing differences and are allowed only certain things—a few books, magazines, and pictures for their cells. Even necessities may be in short supply.

    A third deprivation is deprivation of autonomy. Free persons can make all sorts of everyday choices—when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat, what to eat, when to schedule activities, and when to take some time to relax. Prisoners are regimented. They are told when to get up, when to eat, when to work, when to recreate, and when to go to bed. Their choices are minimal. Sykes contends that part of this regimentation is intended to treat prisoners like children. Adults choose; children are directed. As a result, the message to prisoners is that they are like children who need to be told what to do and when to do it.

    A fourth deprivation is deprivation of heterosexual contact and expression—at least legitimate heterosexual contact. Adults on the outside can engage in sexual activity essentially when and where they choose. Except in rare circumstances, prisoners are forbidden heterosexual contact, let alone intercourse. Prisons are usually same-gender facilities with little or no opposite-sex presence. One exception is conjugal visitation, such as an overnight visitation program at San Quentin in California for prisoners who are legally married.
    A fifth deprivation is deprivation of security. Prisons are not always safe places. Many of the offenders are violent; some are disturbed. Many prisoners note that the worst thing about prison is the company they are forced to keep.

  2. What types of adjustments do prisoners face?

    Correct Answer

    Prisoners maybe experience spiritual adjustments in prison. Traditional religious services and chaplains are helpful for prisoners as they attempt to adjust to the pains of imprisonment and as they try to change their lives while inside in preparation for release.

    Inmates may have to adjust to the prison sexual hierarchy and the possibility of sexual victimization.

    Inmates may also face adjustment to staff-on-inmate victimization, which can include physical violence and/or sexual misconduct.

    Inmates may be faced with gang violence and may be pressured to join a gang for protection during their incarceration.

  3. What policies or practices could be implemented to help inmates adjust to prison life?

    Correct Answer

    An orientation program could be implemented to help prepare inmates for what they will face as they enter prison. They could receive an inmate handbook about the prison rules. The program could include inmates who have been in prison and they could act as mentors to the new inmates.

    Inmates could be assigned to a counselor that they can see on a weekly basis to discuss their adjustment and other personal concerns.

    Inmates also might be encouraged to join programs to address their specific needs (e.g., spiritual programs, alcohol or other drug programs, and various support groups).

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.