NCJ Number
80138
Date Published
1979
Length
327 pages
Annotation
A participant observation study was conducted at a minimum security prison for women in New Mexico to describe the reality of the prison experience for women.
Abstract
The author volunteered to teach a human relations course at the Women's Honor Unit, which was part of the New Mexico State corrections system and was located in Albuquerque. The facility housed 24 prisoners, 11 of whom became the primary information sources over the course of the study. All the prisoners had been convicted of serious offenses but were considered honor prisoners by the administration of the larger women's prison. The prison culture and individual women's experiences were examined during the 5-month research period. The women were found to have developed a code of ethics and standards for behavior, as exemplified by everyday expressions of speech by which women repeatedly reminded themselves of their common membership in a subculture. The real experience of prison was largely tedious and dull. Talk played a much more important role than sexuality in relationships between and among women. Talk was used to order groups, to limit deviancy, and to reward conformity. A great separation existed between the administration and the prisoners. The administrative staff was interested mainly in management and efficiency; power and control were removed from prisoners. The prison was neither effectively rehabilitative nor retributive. In addition, women prisoners' ability to maintain identities as mothers was threatened by prison life; self-esteem and familial life patterns were undermined. Instead of being sentenced to do time, which is alienating and disruptive of individual productivity, criminals should be sentenced to constructive activity. Footnotes, chapter references, and a bibliography listing 42 sources are provided.