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Life in Prison

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Life in Prison

Cody Cotten

CJA/383

December 21, 2010
Chet Madison Jr.

Life in Prison

When an individual is introduced to the prison life, after violating rules and laws, he or she must come to terms about the journey he or she are about to take behind bars in prison. No one can save them, or do their time for them, and a majority of their freedom has been stripped from them either temporarily or permanently. Prison life deals with all walks of life and is not discriminative toward any race. In this paper I will discuss my perspective on prison life, policies I would enforce an inmate’s need for respect, changes on correctional policy, and why people commit crimes. I have learned many things about prison life. I have in fact changed my perception of what I thought prison life was like. Prison is in fact a fight for survival where the stronger inmates will abuse the weaker inmates. Not only survival from inmates, but from a few corrupted correctional officials as well. When entering prison, one must be perceived as a tough individual to avoid being abused or bullied by other inmates. In addition to other inmates, there are some correctional officers that bully and abuse certain inmates for many reasons. This also gives reason for inmates to hold a sturdy ground while incarcerated. S.D. (2003), currently, prison administrator’s house inmates together based on their desire for violence, misconduct, and escape. The idea behind this is that grouping dangerous inmates together allows prison administrators to concentrate surveillance resources on those most in need. I have learned that prison has an inmate social system, characterized by social roles and an inmate code. Exposure to the social system of the prison community begins as soon as a prisoner enters the institution. I have observed that inmates become quickly aware of norms and values

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