Representations of Prison in Nineties Hollywood Cinema: From Con Air to The Shawshank Redemption

• NCJ Number: 192356
• Journal: Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 40 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2001 Pages: 317-334
• Author(s): Sean O'Sullivan
• Date Published: November 2001
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This article discusses the misrepresentation of prison in popular cinema.

Abstract

In the 1990's, there was a steady growth in the world prison population with the United States contributing significantly to the upward trend. Opponents of prison growth have begun to investigate the role of the mass media in fuelling the growth of the prison population. The public has a poor understanding of the characteristics of the offending population and their offenses, and is poorly informed on the relative effectiveness of custodial and non-custodial sentences. Scant consideration has been given to the influence of representations of prison in mainstream popular film or people’s perception of the legitimacy of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Four significant prison-related films were examined. These were The Shawshank Redemption, American History X, Con Air, and Convict Cowboy. One of the most striking things about the four films discussed was their treatment of gender. Women were either conspicuous by their absence and/or used in entirely conventional ways. The four films could all be said to be in some way “uncritical” of any actual experience of incarceration, and to operate within the limits of dominant social understandings of imprisonment. In focusing on higher tariff offenders and facilities the films provided a skewed representation of the nature of the inmate population and the characteristics of its offenses. All of the films tacitly accepted imprisonment as a necessary part of the criminal justice system. None put a radical critique of imprisonment and none articulated concerns about the growth of the prison population. This discussion does suggest that film and television drama do circulate a repertoire of prison imagery which carries connotations and which is meaningful. More work needs to be done to understand the ways in which prison imagery circulated by film and television may have contributed to the growth of the prison population. 17 notes, 24 references