Real Prison Culture And The Shawshank Redemption Sociology Essay

Real prison house ho social function Culture And The Shawshank Redemption Sociology EssayA large majority of the population forget not become both knowledge of what prison houses be a surely wish, if it was not for the motion picture studios and the picture stations. The population acquire the knowledge about prisons through and through picture levels, documentaries, drama and litigate series involving actual prisons a cycle the humanness as made obtainable through these dickens medias. The National geographical television channel has a programme titled Lockdown where crews go inside actual prisons and film the effortless aspects of prison life. This program shows their viewers how difficult, stressful and how dangerous prisons argon (National Geographic Television Production, 2010). Comp bed that with Hollywood photographic films where a director tells a story to his or her imagegoer customer. The director must ensure that he or she has include some of the real life aspects of the prison environment only he or she back tooth exclude some of these aspects if it does not fit into the storyline. The characterization Shawshank Redemption is a perfect example of this. The director, Frank Darabont did not to dissolution the track card and allowed Andy Dufresne and Ellis Boyd Red Redding to become friends. Pending on which real life prison you look at, this might not occur. For example the program Lockdown did an episode titled Gang War. One of their film crews entered Salinas Valley convey prison house in California and showed their viewers that the prison is a pulverisation keg ready to erupt at any time because the prison is divided by racial lines (National Geographic Television Production, 2006). If a prisoner crosses these racial lines, violence leave behind occur amongst the prisoner race and the race group he wrap upends (National Geographic Television Production, 2010). This paper allow for research the confused aspects o f prison life, using the movie Shawshank Redemption to show the various aspects of prison life. The next aspects of prison life will be explored prison as a machine and its use as a course of instruction of penalization, prison adjustment on bunkos and the prison culture.Prison CultureA prisoner in a federal disciplines institute in the United States of the States by the found of Michael Santos has a website titled Prison News Blog Prison News and Commentary. Santos writes on what he has undergo while he has been incarcerated since he was 23 years old. Santos writes describing prisons and the prison subcultures as the avocation Prisons atomic number 18 resembling mini communities, totally separated from the wider caller. Those who follow inside find cultures that differ in remarkable ways from the America that most citizens know and love (Santos, 2008). In this section of the paper the content of prison subculture will be explored explaining culture in general, bunko g ame subculture, the deprivation, meaning models, sedulousness of imprisonment, the diametric powers of stings and the references of correction incumbents. Is there a difference betwixt subculture and con game subculture, the textbook describes the term subculture as the distinctive values, beliefs, norms, symbols, language, and ideologies embraced by a particular group or community set apart from the big society (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p. 131). The term convict subculture is defined as the norms, beliefs, values, language, and ideologies by flimflams at heart correctional knowledgeabilitys (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p. 131). An example of culture is the pot who believe in the papistic Catholic religion. In comparison confidence game subculture ar mess who be incarcerated at one of the federal, provincial or local correctional institutions and the well-disposed structure these inmates create and how these inmates interact with all(prenominal) upstart(pr enominal). yard bird subculture raft be further explained by two approaches from Sykes in 1958 and past(a) re-examined by Messinger in 1970. The first approach is the deprivation model, this model describes that prisoners visualize considerable distraint and frustration attendant with the deprivation of the daily basic require a b ar citizen has (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p. 132). The needs are the by-line freedom, time alone when you need it, you slew procure what you want and obtain the services you want, sexual dealingships, independence and the feeling of humankind safe (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). The above list of items can excessively be called the pains of imprisonment. The pains of imprisonment can be defined as the kinds of deprivations inmates experience by virtue of existence in prison (Stojkovic Lovell, 1998, p. 244). This creates the inmate subculture and the tender interactions amid the inmates (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). A single prisoner can function as an individual, me against the man attitude or allow themselves to coalesce with the new(prenominal) inmates to salvage the pains of imprisonment. (Stojkovic Lovell, 1998 and Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). A prime of example from the movie The Shawshank Redemption is the temper Andy Dufresne, Andy remains by himself until he starts to speak to Ellis Boyd Red Redding. Andy wherefore allows himself to integrate into the inmate subculture and becomes friends with the warden, prison guards and other inmates.The second approach of the inmate subculture is the importation modelwhich attri furtheres the development of the prison subculture to the values, roles, beliefs, and inclinations that prisoners bring with them into the prison. In short, a prison is a microcosm of the outdoors society, reflection of the world right(prenominal) the prison walls and not delinquent to the pains of imprisonment (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p. 132).The importation model includes the pr isoner-staff dynamic how they interact amongst each other. The three different guinea pigs of inmates which are the following awaiting trail, post belief awaiting sentence and serving his or her prison sentence (Stojkovic Lovell, 1998 and Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). The various racial groups within the prison population much(prenominal) as (African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Caucasians). The type of crime the inmate is in prison for and if the inmate is in prison for reoffending. The inmate subculture will be also be effected by the following the personality differences of each of the inmates sooner organism sentenced to prison. The hierarchy of the inmates in which the powerful ones will be on top and the weak ones will be on the bottom. The inmate sexual preference will also evasive action a role e.g. sexual urges. Both models are real standardized but the deprivation model looks at the pains of imprisonment, while the importation model looks at prison subculture and prisons are like cities in the free world. (Stojkovic Lovell, 1998 and Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). Many examples from the movie come to light they include the warden allowing the prisoners to model away of the prison repairing the roof of the prison and other jobs as a die hard gang. The prison gang The Sisters and the drawing card Bogs Diamond trying to get Andy to bring to pass oral sex on him. The be example from the movie is the stinting system in prison, Ellis Boyd Red Redding gets Andy a rock hammer and two posters during Andys stay in prison. Red has to smuggle these items into the prison through the slipstream area and the help of other inmates. Both the deprivation and importation models are valid theories but what an inmate does in the first moorage he or she was incarcerated will have an impact on his or her behaviour while they are incarcerated in the prison system (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). So if the inmate is an outsider before he or she were incarcera ted they will be an outsider during their prison time. On the other hand, if the inmate does not respect authority and runs wild, he or she will be the same way in the prison system.In the prison system, inmates have established certain names for the various roles each inmate has. The term coined for this set of terms is prison argot rules (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). The following are the roles that were seen in The Shawshank Redemption movie. The first role seen is tip. A fish implies to the vulnerability of the new inmate who must learn to adjust to the prison environment, in other words to sink or swim (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p.134). The movie depicts this role when Andy and the other new inmates are being unloaded from the autobus and the older inmates are calling Andy and other new inmates names and devising gestures about a reeling a fish in. The movie also shows the oc flow rate inmates betting on which new inmate would be the first to prognosticate the first nigh t by and by lights out. Once the lights go out the current inmates start trying to make a new inmate cry. A Centre-Men are inmates that are unpopular with other inmates and these inmates attempt to ingratiate with the prison warden and guards (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001).The two characters in the movie are Andy and stand. Andy helps Warden Samuel Norton and the guards with their tax forms and investments and Brooks maintains the prison library and deliverers books to the other inmates. Both men are popular with the other inmates so they are not true centre-men because the other inmates are pally to them.The next term is the Merchant/Peddler is an inmate who sells when he or she is in the position to give and the inmate population regards the merchant as individual who exploits his companions (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p.134). An example of a merchant/peddler in the movie is Red. He can get what you want if you are willing to remunerate his price for it. The last two argot ter ms depict in the movie is the wolf.A wolf is an inmate who takes on the male role in the sexual encounter and these individuals are very aggressive and a punk is inmate who is forced into the female sexual role. The punk inmate are forced into submission by wolves (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p.134). The movie portrays the character Bogs Diamond the leader of the prison gang The Sisters. Bogs and The Sisters assault Andy numerous times and one picture Bogs tries to get Andy to perform oral sex on him but does not prevail. The most important argot term in the prison world is the rat. A rat is an inmate who gives information about another inmate to prison officials in exchange for their own personal benefits, preferential intervention and the use of contraband goods (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001). Rats are the lowest of the low in the prison on the same level as rapist or babe murderers. In short, if other inmates discover that someone is a rat then he or she will become an outsider in the prison. completely these definitions are some of the argot rules that are part of the adjustment an inmate will have to face during their prison adjustment var..As with inmate argot roles, correction officials (prison guards) have their own roles in terms of the different types of correction officials. The different types of officials are the following the rule enforcer, hard liner, people rifleer, the synthetic ships officer and the loner guard (Cesaroni, 2010a). The first example is the influence enforcer who is an officer that tends to be very rule based, inflexible officer who believes that he or she is in the prison to teach field of force. This officer is alone interested in custody and control and does not want to accomplish with the inmates. last this type of officer does not believe in being friendly to the inmates (Cesaroni, 2010a).The Hard liner officer is someone who is power hungry, enforces the rules very strictly, likes to punish and show their autho rity, this type of officer tends to be abusive and aggressive to the inmates and have a veto attitude with the inmates. He or she also identifies strongly with his or her follow officers and this type of officer has a negative attitude with the inmates and resent on having to provide any services to the inmates (Cesaroni, 2010a). The batch worker officer tends to an older and experienced correctional officer. He or she relays on their verbal skills and common sense, interpersonal skills to resolve problems through mediation and not by conflicts. He or she is flexible with rules has a well-situated style with the inmates (Cesaroni, 2010a). This type of officer enjoys the challenge of dealing with the inmates and does not like being authoritarian with them (Cesaroni, 2010a). The Synthetic officer is a cross between the rule enforcer and the people worker in which he or she follows the rules closely but takes each and every office staff into consideration before reacting to it. Thi s type of officer is firm but fair for each situation and they do not let themselves be taken advantage of by other correctional officers or inmates (Cesaroni, 2010a). Lastly the Loner officer, he or she strictly enforces the rules because this type of officer is afraid of being criticized. We see this type of officer with females or minorities. This officer does not want to negotiate with inmates and does not want to make mistakes while on duty. The officer enjoys working in the correctional administration part of the prisons and not rather on one-one-one relations with the inmates (Cesaroni, 2010a).Examples from the movie are the following Warden Norton is depicted as a people worker officer at the start off of the movie when he informs the new inmates that he believes in two things, discipline and the bible but as the movie progresses the movie watcher sees Warden Norton true colours and the type of officer he really is. Norton shows that he is a hardliner officer by allowing inm ate Tommy Williams to be murdered and Andy set free because of the new information that Williams has on who really murdered Andys wife and her mistress. Other examples of Norton being a hardliner officer is that he uses the inmates as inexpensive labourers and he takes bribes from other agencies who are competing on the same contracts. The last example is skipper Byron Hadley, the head officer. Hadley can be seen has a rule enforcer officer. In the movie Hadley is seen yelling, screaming, to re-establish tack in the prison after the older inmate made a new inmate start to cry after lights out on Andys first night at Shawshank. Hadley was the officer that uses his woodened asp baton on this inmate to confirm his authority with the older inmates and show it to the new inmates.Prison as a Form of Punishment and Prison as a MachineAs describe in spill the beans punishment is a necessary evil and when a punishment is invoked when someone is believed to have done wrong (Cesaroni, 2010b ). In 1954, Andrew Flew outlined the rules of punishment. The rules of punishment are the following there must be human suffering, as a result of a criminal law-breaking the offender who committed the offence is the only one being punished fourth be the intentional creation of the suffering other humans in response to that offence and at last be inflicted by an authorized governing body that created the rules and laws for the society as a whole that the offender has committed the offence in (Cesaroni, 2010b).In 1991, David florilegium outlined the Sociological Perspectives on Punishment. The first spot is the moral process. This perspective stated that punishment of the offender functions to preserve the shared values and norms of the society wishes. Punishment symbolizes and enacts moral judgements and punishment sustains solidarity and collective conscience (Cesaroni, 2010b). An example from the movie is when Andy is sentenced to two consecutive life terms. The second perspecti ve is economic and political where a part of a wilder strategy of controlling the little and lower classes (Cesaroni, 2010b). It is a known fact the offenders that come from poorer areas are case-hardened harsher then people from wealthier areas. The prison system uses their inmates as a sleazy labour force as seen the movie when the inmates are tarring the roof and other times seen working outside. The third perspective is power knowledge and discipline (Garland, 1991). Power comes from the judges and the court to convict offenders (Cesaroni, 2010b). The prison system is setup to educate inmates and to reform these inmates. Prison Officers are the discipline in which they use in daily practice to keep order in prisons. In the movie one scene shows Warden Norton allows an officer to search Andys for illegal items but none are found but is pleased when the warden sees Andy reading the bible. Lastly cultural transformations are changes in attitude, conduct, social organization and modes of interactions (Cesaroni, 2010b). In the past 500 years there have been changes in how society superintends the following sensitive issues sex, violence, bodily functions, illness, suffering and death. Each of these sensitive issues has been moved from a public domain to a private domain (Cesaroni, 2010b). The above perspectives can explain the complicated items of prison as a form of punishment in society (Cesaroni, 2010b).The prison system has been developed to run like a well oiled machine. The prison machine system will not function correctly unless the inmates behave as the parts of the machine. stonemason writes the following on the prison as a machine as athe system with its impenetrable sets of rules and regulations which grind on relentlessly. The effect of such mechanistic depiction of punishment is to highlight both the individual raise up for survival and constitutive(a) process of dehumanization that comes with incarceration in the system. The sameness and r egulation of prison life is most often depicted by the super structured movement of prisoners (Mason, 2003, p. 289.)In the movie there are many examples of the above occurring. The first example is when Captain Hadley yells at an inmate you eat when youre told to eat, you shit when we say you shit, you piss when we say you piss are the set of rules and regulations which grind on relentlessly. The individual fight for survival and inherent process of dehumanization examples are the stay in the hole for Andy when he fights Bogs Diamond and the daily checks every morning by the officers before inmates go for their breakfast and the prison staff discovers Andy has escaped sometime during the night. Lastly the highly structured movement of prisoners is seen when they are being allowed out of their cells, going for meals, eat together and spending time in the yard.Prison AdjustmentWhen a new inmate enters a correctional institution (prison) the inmate will experience three distributor points of prison adjustments. The three stages are initiation, prisonization/ institutionalization and rehabilitation. Based on Wheeler theory that prison life and culture is in a U-shaped curve (Cesaroni, 2010c). The top of the U is the entry period of the correctional institution for the inmate. This is a high stress period for an inmate regardless if they are a first timer or a repeat offender. The diaphragm part of the U is where the prison inmate subculture is established and the inmate and is the uttermost(a) away of what they were like in the free world Cesaroni, 2010c). The last stage of the U is when the inmate is nearing the end of his or her sentence and starts to reconnect with their love ones and the outside world. This period is another stressful period for the inmate because the inmate does not know what to expect in the free world but is thirstily looking forward to it (Cesaroni, 2010c).The initiation process according to Goffman is a tooth root shift in the soci al self. This adjustment to prison involves a psychological process (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p.130). Goffman refers this as the mortifications of self the process of adjusting to the institution requires the loss of a civilian personal identity and the incorporation of a new institutional identity (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p.131). This is depicted in the movie when Andy and the other new inmates are paraded in front of the older inmates and these inmates are calling them fish. The new inmates are then paraded into a dark room where Warden Norton and Captain Hadley continue this process by informing the inmates of the rule one no blasphemy and we tell you when you can do things. The inmates are told to strip down, are then hosed down with pee and then are covered with a white powder. The inmates are given(p) their prison clothes and a bible and a forced to straits through the prison naked to their cells. The text states that Clemmer argues that the inmates loss of autonomy encourages the inmate to identify with the prison hierarchal system that is very similar to that of the outside world (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p.131). Most of the new the inmates adjust to the prison subculture in order for these inmates to feel safe in prison environment and allowing them to learn and result the rules of the prison (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001).Goffman describes the term total institution as a stance of residence and work where a large number of like-situated individuals, cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period of time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p. 130). Prisons are controlling structures and social organization in which prisons functions. Clemmer coined the phrases prisonization or institutionalization. This refers to the process of socialization of an inmate into the subculture of the prison. This process includes the learning about the prisons subculture such as values, beli efs and behaviours that challenge the prison staff (Ishwaran Neugebauer, 2001, p. 131). An example of this is when Brooks is being released from Shawshank Brooks did not want to leave Shawshank and was forced to do so. Brooks discovered he could not survive in the outside world after being in prison for fifty years. He killed himself by hanging himself in the halfway house after craving his name in the rafters.Offenders commit crimes mainly because they are lazy. They need to learn to work hard and be taught a new attitude toward work. (Cesaroni, 2010d). Thus last leg in the prison adjustment is the rehabilitation phase. In this phase the prison system attempts to re-educate inmates so one day they can income tax return to the general public one day. Throughout history, a strong work ethic was directly related to a positive social behaviour. Currently, the prison systems are teaching the inmates that if you work hard, you will develop work skills that can be used in the free worl d (Cesaroni, 2010d). An example of this from the movie is the character Brooks, he was passwordd after fifty years in Shawshank prison. The parole board got him employment with a grocery store and living in a half-way house. In the end Brooks could have been rehabilitated more to handle the stress after being in the prison system for quintuplet decades and the numerous social changes that occurred since Brooks has been in prison such as how common the automobile has become, electricity, how people dress.In conclusion, the Shawshank Redemption movie is the appressed motion picture that depicts what prison is really like. It is a terrible place to live disconnected from the outside world. The movie also proves that all that correction officers are not the same. Some tend to be power hungry while others prefer to be loners working in the prison office. Inmate subculture is also dealt with by the movie showing the different the various types of roles prisoners have in prison. The thr ee different stages of prison adjustment an inmate goes through while in the prison system. The stages are the initiation phase, the prisonization or institutionalization phase and the rehabilitation phase. Lastly the movie shows the prison system acting as machine and as form of punishment. The Shawshank Redemption is movie that should be watched by any student studying criminology.