Literature Review Rough Draft
Abstract-
This paper examines the unique psychological effects and changes prisoners undergo in order to survive the incarceration experience. It challenges that several trends in the American Prison System have harmful and even life lasting affects on an individual; mentally and physically. Research has shown that prisons are inhumane and cause negative psychological effects on inmates while serving their time as well as following them upon the prisoner’s release. Studies also show that anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are very common in those who have lived in prison for a prolonged period of time or anyone that has become accustomed to the prison lifestyle. In recent years, psychologist …show more content…
The prison system has been a natural form of punishment for deviance and criminal acts for centuries. By the end of 2010, more than seven million adults in the united states were apart of the incarceration system. () This represents about one in every thirty-three adults in the United State’s population. In todays current world statistics, the United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country. () The weight of psychological research on imprisonment concurs that the adaptation experience to the nature of institutionalism, the effects of solitary confinement, the challenges inmates face in order to survive prison, and, eventually reintegrate themselves into the free world has prolonged mental affects from the process of …show more content…
In one interview, an inmate describes the challenges that they must endure under the social rules that are enforced in prison. He uses the example of watching another inmate being killed. Inmates are torn between what to do as a moral human being versus what to do as someone following the “prison culture” (Munn 2011). Other research has concluded that the adjustment to prison culture promotes almost a sense of helplessness and may impair ones judgement or decision making. The psychological suffering is mainly centralized by the new cultural norms of violence, from either the experience of witnessing it or the new found fear embedded in