Unfortunately, it is very common for prisoners to have lost everything when they have been released for example their family, friends, job and their housing. Other prisoners may be good role models for prisoners who are finding it hard to fit into the lifestyle of being in prison. There are certain schemes that prisoners can go through to try and fit into the lifestyle of a prisoner, I will be talking about this later in this report. To have a positive relationship with friends and family is extremely important in a custody environment. Prisoners are able to have visits, but visits are supervised by staff and this could be stressful for prisoners and also visitors.
My thoughts on “STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT” The Stanford Prison Experiment raises troubling questions about the ability of individuals to subsist suppressive or submissive roles, if the social setting requires these roles. Philip Zimbardo, professor of Psychology at Stanford University, began researching how prisoners and guards would assume obedient and authoritarian roles. His primary goal in this experiment was to find out the process when guard and prisoners become controlling and passive. He did this by setting up a mock prison in which all of the prisoners were assigned the same uniforms and cells, and used numbers instead of names. The guards were assigned uniforms and offices, somewhat similar to the prisoners except they were equipped with billy clubs, whistles, handcuffs, and keys, and had freedom.
Ackerman always says, “if you treat inmates like human beings they will act like human beings”. Santos explains the difference between UPS Atlanta and FCI McKean and how each institutions staff members treat the inmates. Some staff members in prisons are there to help those inmates no matter what crime(s) the individual has committed. As for some, their job is just to keep and maintain order meanwhile not having anything to do with helping in the rehabilitation process of those inmates. Santos explains how one of the wardens, in the FCI McKean institution Warden Luther, was there to help those inmates.
The training officers came off as aggressive and as Conover says, “assholes.” The CO training was built to prepare the soon-to –be officers not to become soft while guarding the prison. The trainees are subjected to such things as painful teargas training and brainwashing to prepare them. The military atmosphere is apparent with requirements such as tightly made beds, roll call, flawless uniforms and even shooting practice. Conover likens this to what prisoners must go through every day. Conover’s insight into the process of
It’s a unique privilege to be able to view the world, in all its faults and glory, as others see it. An ignorant assumption would be to think that all people relate to experiences seen, felt, heard or even read in the same manner. Christina Boufis first details this in her story, “Teaching Literature at the County Jail,” as she notices that her “Berkeley students don’t pick up on the drug connection” the same as her female prison students (69). Christina Boufis’s “Teaching Literature at the County Jail,” gives readers the insight on how ones personal experiences affect their connection with the rest of the world. Christina Boufis, an educated English and literature professor, takes the reader through her experiences as she teaches both female inmates in conjuncture with college level students about literature.
When one visits, it results in preserving a healthy relationship once the inmate is released. Visiting has such a positive impact on those who are living in the facility but, it is a long process to become a visitor. New or reoccurring, all visitors must fill out an application an send it to either the public or private prison unit, incomplete applications will be rejected. The number of visitors an offender may receive and the length of the visit may be limited by the facility’s schedule, space, and personnel constraints. In addition, many rules come in to play like: no person will be allowed to socially visit more that one offender, unless they are part of a family, any person representing a certain health hazard will not be allowed into the facility.
The ethical treatment of prisoners is topic that people agree and disagree. Their arguments are mainly based on their personal emotions, there are many individuals in prison all over the US, but the ethical treatment of the prisoners’ rights must be examined. As a community, have we done all we can regarding the treatment of prisoners? On the other hand, can we say we have made prison an easy lifestyle that is no longer punishment for some? Utilitarianism is the perception that those ethical guidelines should be options created by a community to advertise the pleasure of its members.
Social psychologists not only complete research in a laboratory setting, but also try to complete experiments in real world settings, through surveys and other research methods, as some people may not act the same in a controlled setting as he or she do in an uncontrolled. Conclusion Social psychology is an important discipline in psychology. This study helps to take psychology from just focusing on the internal cognitions that an individual has and puts it in the context of social situations. As humans, we are not solitary creatures and seek the company of other individuals. The way that individuals think others view them and the way he or she view themselves have a big role to play in why he or she is the person that they are.
Psychologist Arnez Hundley stated that the great ability that separates humans from the evolutionary background from lower level species is our ability to adapt socially and physically with our surroundings (Hundley 22). After reading this I began thinking about how humans adapt to their surroundings while being incarcerated. And when you begin to actually think about it a humans ability to adapt is his/her greatest technique as a means of survival. Take for instance an individual who has been incarcerated due to situational circumstances like defending the life of another or suffering from a brief psychotic break and has a temporary lapse in judgement and is now sent to prison for an extended period of time. Without the ability to adapt this person could not survive physically or socially in prison because they would not possess to prison house etiquette to differentiate between right or wrong prison behavior under the context in which they
Most prisoners do not expect to really have to do anything out of the ordinary schedule and see no reason why they should help the prison staff. Being forced to do tasks by intimidating a prisoner either by pain or restriction is not the best way to operate a prison. Instead of a coercive type of power I would try rewarding prisoners that complied with me on a daily basis. Such rewards may be spending an extra hour out of their cell or allowing them to have extra educational or recreational time. Getting the prisoners to work with me and not making my job more complicated would be a major goal of mine if I was to be in this type of position.