The guards were given a uniform that consisted of a shirt and mirrored sunglasses. At the start of the experiment, in order to make the prison appear as realistic as possible, the prisoners were arrested at their homes and taken to the prison where they were stripped, searched, deloused and given prison uniforms to wear. The intention was to observe and film prison life
The article, Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison, written by Philip G. Zimbargo takes us inside the research world of the prison environment and reveals several ethical and behavioral concerns about using social experiments to study human behavior. Zimbargo, a psychology professor at Stanford University, was fascinated with the social dynamics of prison, especially the individual interaction that takes place between guards and prisoners. Zimbardo’s method was simply to take all the accounts of ex-convicts and prison guards and create an environment that most reflected that of an actual prison system. Once that was in place he would assess the inmates using three different psychological tests (List tests) to eliminate perceivable confounds the Zimbardo use a random sample of a population consisting of inhabitants of the Stanford university area. There were 22 participants’ chosen for the role of either guards or inmates and 2 other participants were selected for the role of “warden” and “superintendent.” The guards and inmates were randomly assigned and instructed only on what they needed to know.
Prisoners were arrested at their homes and were treated like criminals. They were blindfolded and taken to Zimbardo’s imitated prison where they were finger printed, booked and photographed. Those who were assigned the role of guards were given khaki uniforms, whistles, a wooden baton, and reflective sunglasses so that eye contact with the prisoners was impossible. Prisoners were given prison clothing with an identification number on front and back, a tight nylon cap, rubber sandals, and a chain around one ankle. Slowly each individual began to conform to their roles as prisoners and guards and the individuation process began.
He still has occasion meetings with the participants from the experiment. This experiment that Zimbardo created was a little unusual. It is completely understandable to want to understand more about the minds of prisoners and guards and how they are affected inside the prison walls alone, but Zimbardo seems as though his description of the prisons experimental methods Confer 2 were understated. The rules of the prison were arranged by the psychologists, which caused the guards to behave the way they did. Was this the whole point of telling the guards how to control the prison?
The men were divided into two groups: Prisoners and Guards. They were warned that as prisoners of this experiment their privacy and other rights would be violated, as well as being harassed. Zimbardo’s goal for this experiment was to find out the period in which the prisoners and guards become controlling and passive. In order to do this he had to set up a mock prison. The prisoners were given the same smocks to wear, lived in cells, and were given ID numbers.
This was the prison system in the 1700’s. Prisoners were punished by beheading, hung, whipped, and stoned. In the late 1700’s, Benjamin Henry Latrobe built the Walnut Street Jail it was used to reform prisoners instead of harsh punishment (Goodban, 2006). Prisoners received the bare necessities to sit, sleep, and eat were their only luxuries. When the death penalty was no more the jail suffered overcrowding which led to riots, escapes, and prison guards were attacked.
This overwhelmingly unwelcoming reception that greeted Gerard creates the intimidating environment that the character is experiencing for the first time. Amidst the chaos and gloom of the prison, Hare shows us a small glimmer of humanity in the character of prison officer Raymond Beckett. Although Beckett is presented as a hard headed prison officer who has dealt with thousands of hardened criminals over the years, after hearing Gerard has not been in prison before he shows him some compassion and sympathy. He gives advice on how to survive his first ‘stretch’ in prison. We see evidence of this when Beckett said: ‘you better learn, I’ve seen people go
Social Structure Crumbling in Pelican Bay CJA314 - Criminology Social Structure Crumbling in Pelican Bay For this assignment, the Pelican Bay State Prison: War Zone video was chosen to analyze the social structure theory involved within the prison. The types of social structures that have developed within this prison will be explained along with how the prisoners adapt to the social structure. In assessing all of the problems involved with this social structure, possible ramifications for attempting to change the social policy will be discussed. This paper will give a clear picture of how little can be done to a social structure that is so prone for violence, that even death cannot change the behavior, it only makes the behavior worse. In more recent years, Pelican Bay State Prison located in Crescent City, California, has received national media attention on more than one occasion.
Thoreau used images such as the walls of the jail, the window in his cell, and the change that he went through during his night spent in jail to inspire his readers to live their lives freely and how they want to. The walls of the jail that Thoreau spent the night in inspired him to see how they seemed to be symbolic of how the Government only wants to lock people up physically, but not mentally. He quotes, “I stood considering the walls of solid stone, two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the light, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of the institution which treated me as if I
They selected people who are naturally more inclined to aggression, college students, than true correctional officers. There were three types of guards in the experiment first, stood the tough but fair guards who followed prison rules, these guards were there to play the role as the psychologist has assigned. Secondly, we had the guards who did small favors for the prisoners and hardly ever punished them, which I believe where the ones who placed themselves in the prisoner’s shoes or their emotional sense was on the other side of the situation. Finally the guards who were hostile, dogmatic, and endured prisoner humiliation. These were the guards who began to be over ruled by the character they played and appeared to thoroughly enjoy the power they wielded.