Prisonization

Prisonization describes the process of gradual adaptation of prisoners to the prison culture, i.e. to the norms and values that apply in prison . The term comes from American criminological prison research and is related to theories of subculture . The scientific preoccupation with prisonization began in 1937 with a paper by Hans Reimer on Socialition in Prison . It was influential continued in 1940 by Donald Clemmer with The Prison Community and in 1958 by Gresham M. Sykes with The Society of Captives .

Two explanations

There are two directions of explanation in prisonization theory. The so-called deprivation model refers to classical prison research (particularly that of Donald Clemmer and Stanton Wheeler), which described the process of adapting inmates to a subculture hostile to rehabilitation in American prisons in the 1930s and 1950s. According to the deprivation model , inmate culture and adaptation to it form in response to the deprivations of incarceration.

The import model , on the other hand, explains the attitudes and values of the prisoners with their pre-institutional biography ( socialization ). According to this explanatory model, already existing behaviors and structures with the offenders are brought to prison, where they are then further trained.

The results of international empirical studies show that the causes of prisonization consist of a combination of both explanatory approaches, with American prison conditions contributing more than European conditions to the formation of prisoner subcultures.

Expression and course of prisonization

With the beginning of the prison term, the prisoner adapts to the official rules of the institution in order not to attract attention and to prevent sanctions. Even more important is the adaptation to the rules and manners of fellow prisoners with whom he spends most of his prison term and whose acceptance he urgently needs, even if their attitudes and behavior contradict his own and those of society . Prisonization also includes a passive standard of living and an expectation of care.

There are different assessments of the course of the prisonization process. In some cases, a linear development and steady increase in the degree of prisonization is assumed over the course of the prison term. On the other hand, it is assumed that the course corresponds more to a U-curve : When imprisonment begins, there is a large degree of correspondence with the norms of the outside world, which continuously decreases over the course of the imprisonment period while at the same time subcultural norms are adopted. Towards the end of the prison term, the conformity with the norms of the society, into which the prisoner has to reintegrate after release, increases again.

Sometimes the process of prisonization is also described as a useful strategy for avoiding damage caused by institutionalization . Mostly, however, the negative impact on the prisoner's personality is emphasized.

literature

Donald Clemmer: The Prison Community . 2nd edition, Rinehart, New York 1958 (first edition 1940).
Steffen Harbordt: The subculture of the prison. A sociological study on rehabilitation. Ferdinand Enke Verlag, 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1972.
Rüdiger Ortmann: Prisonization . In: Günther Kaiser , Hans-Jürgen Kerner , Fritz Sack , Hartmut Schellhoss (eds.): Small criminological dictionary . CF Müller, 3rd edition, Heidelberg 1993, pp. 402-409.
Hans Reimer: Socialition in Prison . Proceedings of the Sixty-Seventh Congress of American Prison Association 1937.
Gresham M. Sykes : The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison . (1958).
Hans Toch : Linving in Prison . Chicago 1977 (2nd edition 1992)
Stanton Wheeler: Socialization in correctional communities. American Sociological Review , Vol. 26, 1961, 697-712.

Individual evidence

↑ In this work the term prisonization was used for the first time. Compare Anna-Sophie Noack: Prison - Power - Resistance. A power analysis approach to the events from May 28th to June 1st, 1990 in the Fuhlsbüttel prison . Lit Verlag, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-643-13506-3 , p. 7.
^ Frieder Dünkel , International Comparative Prison Research. In: Hans Joachim Schneider (Ed.), Internationales Handbuch der Kriminologie. Volume 2, de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89949-131-9 , pp. 145–226, here p. 163.
↑ The following presentation is based on: Günther Kaiser , Heinz Schöch , Strafvollzug. An introduction to the basics . 5th, revised edition, Müller, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8252-0706-4 , p. 473 f.

[1] In this work the term prisonization was used for the first time. Compare Anna-Sophie Noack: Prison - Power - Resistance. A power analysis approach to the events from May 28th to June 1st, 1990 in the Fuhlsbüttel prison . Lit Verlag, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-643-13506-3 , p. 7.

[2] Frieder Dünkel , International Comparative Prison Research. In: Hans Joachim Schneider (Ed.), Internationales Handbuch der Kriminologie. Volume 2, de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89949-131-9 , pp. 145–226, here p. 163.

[3] The following presentation is based on: Günther Kaiser , Heinz Schöch , Strafvollzug. An introduction to the basics . 5th, revised edition, Müller, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8252-0706-4 , p. 473 f.