Philip Zimbardo actually played the role of the warden and looked over the behavior inside the prison. The Stanford experiment was originally supposed to last for 14 days but had to be cut short due to what was occurring inside the mock prison. The guards became abusive and the prisoners began experiencing stress and anxiety. The guards and prisoners were never instructed in how to behave and were left with that freedom. Instead of behaving in a positive manner the guards started to become aggressive and abusive towards prisoners and the prisoners started to become passive
He explores prison dynamics between inmates, and between inmates and guards to discover the forces at work inside the Leavenworth walls. The stories of the guards are just as interesting as the stories of the inmates, but they paint a completely different image of the prison and the people inside it. Earley digs into the past of these incarcerated men in order to not only inform the reader, but to humanize the individuals. Despite the fact that these prisoners have committed heinous crimes and acts of violence, they are also people who come from somewhere. Everyone has a story and Earley exemplifies this idea with his novel.
In 1960s America there were many concerns about the treatment of prisoners by prison guards. Many complaints were made by prisoners of violent and brutal attacks by the guards that were meant to be protecting and caring for them. Zimbardo wanted to find out exactly what made prison guards behave in this way, and in particular was it the situation they found themselves in (referred to as situational factors) or the personalities of the guards (referred to as dispositional factors). In other words, did the guards behave violently because the rigid power-based social structure within the prison made them behave that way (situational), or because they had aggressive and sadistic personalities that led them to choose to become prison guards (dispositional)? Zimbardo aimed to investigate the difference between situational and dispositional factors in social roles by creating a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University.
The participants chosen were emotionally stable, mature, physically healthy and law abiding citizens. After just a few days of the experimental prison life, it was unbelievable to see how such people could easily slip into roles and be perverse to others around them. The prisoners at one point decided to try and take over the prison. After the guards witnessed this, they became more cruel and punished the prisoners even more. It was amazing to see how well some of the participants that were guards possessed this position so easily.
The facility has cells that accommodate two inmates per cell. The facility also has laundry rooms, an infirmary, canteen, kitchen, dining hall, program activity room, conference rooms and numerous offices to conduct prison business. It contains a segregation unit for 15 inmates who need special accommodations or have special needs, such as mentally ill, physically disabled, or drug dependent offenders. On the exterior of the facility, there are recreational areas where inmates have an opportunity to participate in various activities. There are free weights and benches on the premises as well as basketball goals for the inmates’ enjoyment.
This is a pivotal part in terms of maintain the functioning of society and to ensure that people don’t go around breaking laws wherever and whenever they want. The criminal justice system is therefore a central part of society and without is society would quickly deteriorate into chaos. There are however a number of issues in the criminal justice system. Some of these issues include false convictions and bias within the courtroom. The tutorial discussion this week was essentially discussing how the system operates and some of the flaws within the system such as false convictions which come about through human error or in extreme cases racial bias (Alberto F. Alesina, Eliana La Ferrara, 2011).
Due to the correctional officers not being properly trained on how to breach a prisoner’s cell and properly extract the unruly inmate may be considered a violation of the inmate’s rights. Had the correctional officers been trained properly when it came to subduing the inmate he may have not received the injuries that caused him to be put into a comatose state. With any local, state and federal agency liability is the utmost of importance due to the impact that it has on the agency. When referring to the correctional facility in this scenario the supervisor usually knows who has experience and who does not out of his staff. The supervisor did not plan or intend for the inmate to be knocked out and to later end up in a coma, because he was more or less genuinely interested in the inmates safety at the time he was beating himself up in his cell.
Women as a result of their backgrounds and concerns have a harder time doing time than men do. There are not as many riots and attacks in women’s prisons as there are in men’s. Perhaps a better way to classify prisoners is group them according to needs. Some prisoners have families and some do not. Some prisoners are loners others are drug users.
Soon there after, the basic ground rules were set between guards and prisoners. Two people in particular stood out to me the most, Clay Ramsey, one of the experiment prisoner also known as” prisoner 416”, and experiment prison guard, Dave Eshlemen. Dave established his role as a prison guard by “stirring things up”, as he put it, making it difficult for prisoners by calling them names of making fun of them. He was also known for waking prisoners in the middle of the night or just while they were sleeping then making them do household chores work like cleaning a toilet or
I believe it’s unethical to not feed the prisoners just because they aren’t acting right or if they get into a fight with another prisoner or cellmate. Some prisoners are denied access to medical attention which is also unethical as this can result in deaths that would otherwise have been avoided. In especially the 3rd world countries the state of their prisons is deplorable. Prisoners are confined in these prisons that look like they are healthy but in all it isn’t and when the prisoners are finally released; they look very unhealthy and have more health problems than when they went in. While visiting my