Institutional Violence In Prison

Institutional Security and Violence

Curtis B. Sanders

Introduction to Correction

C. J. 130 -October 5 - 2010

Professor Nancy Alleyne

This is just an example of what the correctional officers go through on A daily basis their hands are tied, “The
officers who observe and supervise inmates on a daily basis have no say at all. As a consequence, inmates
No longer respect officers and only perceive them as the person who makes them obey rules and regulations.
Therefore, the lines have been drawn in the sand.
This may account for the 1,000 or more assaults on officers annually. “Furthermore, the inmate can appear to be the model of propriety with a counselor who sees him once every three months, but consistently be a major problem to the officers. “New York’s correctional officers are high-quality law enforcement professionals. There is no reason why we cannot entrust them with the responsibility to evaluate inmates. I strongly believe that returning to a system whereby correction officers file evaluations to the Parole
Board will improve the officer–inmate relationship and
Lead to a prison environment. Source: Denny Fitzpatrick, Director of Labor Relations for the
New York State Correctional Officers and Benevolence Association
(NYSCOPBA), Webpage, 28 November 2000. .

Officers in maximum -security prisons now generally prefer total lockup; they feel safer when inmates are in their cells twenty-four hours a day . Although tower positions
Are dead-end jobs, they are beginning to become desirable because they exclude contact with inmates. Thus, correctional officers, like inmates, serve time. The values they bring into the institution are reshaped by the necessities of institutional control and by nagging anxiety about their personal safety.
Correctional officers often express the conflict between inmates and with words of this nature :“They tell us that if we treated them like men, they would act like men.
But we tell them that if they acted like men, we would treat them that way.” They may go on to say, “Physical abuse follows verbal abuse, and we are getting a lot of verbal abuse.
How can we keep control of the correctional facilities there are Many factors leading to violence are beyond the control of prison officials. Among them are the size of prisons and the crowding of facilities; the enforced idleness of too many inmates; inadequate financial support from the state legislature; public indifference; and the increasing number of violent and aggressive criminals, including gang members from the streets, being sentenced to prison. Furthermore, prison officials cannot alter the belief of prisoners that the only way they can gain the public’s attention and overcome public apathy is through institutional violence.
Institutional violence, which varies in seriousness and expression from state to state, may possibly be reduced by these methods: making the prison more humane, improving the quality of correctional leadership, improving the training of staff, better screening to identify the violent and vulnerable, making prison space defensible, denying recognition to inmate gangs, and incarceration in super-max prisons and high
security units. Many factors are lead into the violence that are beyond the control of prison officials. Among them are the size of prisons and the crowding of facilities; the enforced idleness of too many inmates; inadequate financial support from the state legislature; public indifference; and the increasing number of violent and aggressive criminals, including gang members from the streets, being sentenced to prison. Furthermore, prison officials cannot alter the belief of prisoners that the only way they can gain the public’s attention and overcome public apathy is through institutional violence.
Institutional violence, which varies in seriousness and expression from state to state, may possibly be reduced by these methods: making the prison more humane, improving the quality of correctional leadership, improving the training of staff, better screening to identify the violent and vulnerable, making prison space defensible, denying recognition to inmate gangs, and incarceration in super-max prisons and high security units. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SOCIAL ORDER WITHIN
THE PRISON?
Within the Walls 12.1 A Former New York Correctional Officer
Speaks Out
WHAT ARE EXPRESSIONS OF PRISON VIOLENCE?
Riots and Other Major Disturbances
Inmate Assaults on Staff
Staff Assaults on Inmates
Heroes Mark Colvin, Professor of Sociology at George
Mason University
Inmates versus Inmates
Within the Walls 12.2 Sex in Prison
Self-Inflicted Violence
WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF PRISON VIOLENCE?
Violent Characteristics of Inmates
Social Factors
Structural and Institutional Factors
HOW CAN PRISON VIOLENCE BE REDUCED?
More Humane Institutions
Effective Correctional Administration
Line Staff and Defusing Violence
Correctional Ombudsmen
Adequate Screening
Defensible Prison Space
Gang Control
Super-Max Prisons and High-Security Units