NCJ Number
195096
Date Published
2002
Length
219 pages
Annotation
This book examines the way in which British prisons use media in coping, or failing to cope, with the pressures of prison life, exploring the impact of the media in terms of inmates' identities, shaping power relations between inmates, and in helping inmates cope with a prison sentence.
Abstract
In setting the stage for a discussion of why media is of interest in the prison context, the first chapter reviews the literature on the "effects" of imprisonment and suggests that for the majority of inmates, imprisonment is debilitating, dehumanizing, and painful; it removes persons from everything that is familiar and effectively disconnects them from the world outside prison. The dominant theme of the introductory chapter is that inmates will experience the pains of imprisonment in different ways and to differing degrees, depending on prior experiences, background, etc., but the key to social-psychological survival is their ability to adapt to life inside through a variety of coping strategies. The chapter highlights the gratifications sought by inmates in media content, so they can maintain the sense of security necessary for the successful management of self. Having outlined the various deprivations that inmates experience and the potential uses of media to offset or compensate for them, the second chapter relates inmates' individual experiences of imprisonment to the developing social and structural conditions. It is argued that the means by which inmates adapt to the rigors of incarceration can only be understood in relation to outside contacts; social networks; the overtly masculine inmate culture; the biography and history of the prison in which they reside; and the practices of the prison service, criminal justice system, incumbent government, and prevailing social attitudes toward criminals. The third chapter provides a methodological context for the empirical analysis, as it describes how the research was conducted and provides an account of the prisons in which the fieldwork was conducted. The fourth chapter is the first of the three empirical chapters that collectively trace the intimate "micro" sphere of inmates' lives via the intermediate social environment of the inmate culture to the "macro" structures that determine prisoners' access to media. This chapter argues that the primary resource required to survive a prison sentence relatively intact and be prepared to re-enter society is to find and remain in touch with oneself, a process which is explored in relation to media resources as technologies of identity, agency, and memory. The fifth chapter argues that the prison society is more complex than the classic prison studies imply. Research findings show the specific and varied uses to which media resources are put in constructing identities and negotiating power in the social and public prison environment. The concluding chapter determines the extent to which the issue of media's availability in prisons is shaped by the requirements of the institution or by the needs of inmates. 285 references and a subject index