Methods of control are used by correctional officers to ensure the safety and security of correctional facilities. For inmates, these methods include formal and informal control. Informal control is more commonly used than formal control. For example, an inmate might lose certain privileges such as phone time, recreational yard time, commissary, educational programs, toiletries and even clothing if they do something against the rules. For more formal control, the inmate might be reprimanded with a disciplinary report or a corrective consultation.

Informal control is immediately impacting inmates’ lives and there is a threat to their luxuries. Inmates are more likely to respond to informal control in hopes of avoiding punishment. Instilling fear in inmates helps inmates realize the value of their privileges and how easily they can be taken away. This type of control allows inmates to be more in control of how they are reprimanded and teaches incarcerated individuals the importance of rational decision making.

One study found that 50% of inmates view informal control as effective. Specifically, they found that inmates in prison find the most effective punishment is lack of access to their canteen, and those in jail felt that loss of phone time was the most effective deterrent. The authors emphasize the importance of value these “luxuries” hold with those incarcerated. While incarcerated, inmates are stripped of almost all of their rights. A great motivating factor is allowing inmates to right their wrong rather than just be punished (Santos, etc., 2012).

Overall inmates feel that informal controls are most effective. This is due to the motivation that is created once privileges are threatened.

• For the transgender incarcerated individuals, they face even more pains of imprisonment. The individuals face problems with being put in the wrong halls with the wrong clothes then what they classify themselves as making it a big problem. The individuals also share how isolated they feel and the pain of transphobia in the prison. Much of the staff are transphobic and old fashioned; they believe it’s male or female, so they treat the individuals as their born gender which is offensive. One even shared they’ve heard staff say “What the hell that’s a guy” when a transgender was in a female prison. And in the men’s hall they tell the transgender individuals that they don’t want them there. From the incarcerated individuals prison is an ostensibly binary system and have not adapted for those in the transgender community. (2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvqj8hgxRfg (3)

In this YouTube documentary it was filmed by “Fault Line” to help understand how elderly people who will spend their life in prison feel about their experience. One of the elderly ladies who shared her perspective on incarceration went by the name of Estella Jackson and she is being held at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center. She begins by explaining that the reason she is in prison is because it was between getting killed or kill and she chose to protect herself. She will be 60 years old in November and she said the hardest thing about being in prison is explaining to her grandkids why she cannot go home with them. Another person discussed during this documentary is Sherman Parker, he is 100 years old with one leg missing and suffering from dementia. When asked how he felt about crime he said, “it is nowhere for a person to be”. One of the inmates in this facility gets paid for helping in the healthcare unit because there is not enough staff and he explained that these elders who are serving time in prison are not a harm to others and that they should no longer have to serve time.

Critical Thinking Questions/Exercise

Try to go three hours without your phone, without communicating with others, or leaving your room.

1. What do you think the hardest part about being isolated from the outside world is and why?
2. Do you believe that prisoners have the same struggles that you had during your three hours, if not what do you think differs?
3. How do you think they cope with these struggles?

References

AlJazeeraEnglish. “Dying inside: Elderly in Prison | Fault Lines.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 June 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvqj8hgxRfg.

Maycock, M. (2021). The transgender pains of imprisonment. European Journal of Criminology, https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370820984488.

Van Ginneken, E. F. (2015). Doing well or just doing time? A qualitative study of patterns of psychological adjustment in prison. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 54(4), 352-370.