Revisiting the Role that Culture Plays in Prison Work
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Since the 1970s, the well-documented growth of prisons and prison populations has created a system in the United States that employs over four hundred thousand staff for nearly 1.5 million incarcerated people resulting in prisons that are overcrowded and understaffed. Criminological research demonstrates the complex and conflicting dynamics of prison work, where goals of rehabilitation, security, population management, and retribution are all demanded at once. Staff must reconcile with the highly isolating nature of their work, the resounding belief they are constantly at risk due to the incarcerated, and the role they play as arms of the state. In this talk, I broadly survey findings from a large data collection effort including 18 focus groups from all adult correctional facilities in one southern state in the U.S. to (re)consider how staff are forced to use culture to adapt and make sense of their role in a violent carceral system.
