Abstract In The Prison Community;Donald Clemmer coined the word “prisonization” and defined it as the process by which the psyches and behaviors of convicts were molded by the social and structural hallmarks of prison life.
‘Socialization in Correctional Communities’ discusses Donald Clemer’s process of prizonation. Prizonation is defined by Clemmer as, “the taking on, in greater or lesser degree, of the folkways, mores, customs and general culture of the penitentiary.” Clement saw prizonation as an illustration of more general pro- cesses of assimilation occurring wherever people are introduced to an unfamiliar culture. The result is an individual that is immune to a conventional value system. Degrees of prizonation in an individual can be examined to determine one’s adjustment to release. Prizonation is considered an incomplete concept because it only examines transmission of culture but it does not examine the culture of prison itself. Prizonation is upheld by the prison system process. One is stripped of identity and given a serial number to be identified by. Impersonality is present among the prison system and it supports prizonation. Clemmer postulated that the variables affecting degree of prisonization are : socialization during pre-penal life, continuation of positive relationships outside of the penitentiary, affiliation with inmate groups with inmate groups, placement into small groups that are separate from the general population, and the duration of the sentence. Clement conducted a survey to test an inmate’s rate of conformity to guard’s rules. The more conformity an inmate displays to the guards rules, the more the inmate has undergone prisonization. Clement reasons that no inmate can escape prizonation because of the exposure one faces to concepts such as inferiority, and understanding lacking basic needs. His survey was made up of hypothetical questions that analyzed if an inmate would conform to a guard’s general expectations. An example of one of Clemmer’s situations were: “Inmates Smith and Long are very good friends. Smith has a five-dollar bill that was smuggled into the institution by a visitor. Smith tells Long he thinks the officers are suspicious, and asks Long to hide the money for him for a few days. Long takes the money and carefully hides it.” If one were to respond to a situation in the way the guard would have liked, then they have conformed to the prison system and will most likely experience hardships adjusting to the outside world. The general results were that the beginning stage displayed low conformity during their first six months. The middle stage displayed the second highest rate of conformity. The last six month category displayed the most conformity.
This information in this source is from an old study in 1961 but the paper makes concessions for what the study leaves out. This source is a study on resocialization in prison. The study is credible and therefore it is good for research on resocialization. This is a scholarly article that I would cite. The author is a non profit organization that is there to help scholars so the authority is credible. This information is the most detailed account of resocialization processes in prison but it can not be assumed to repeat in every situation. This is non biased and the article stayed focused on the study and the results. Discussion of the results is backed up by the facts in the study.
Resocialization is when old behaviors are discarded because they do not fit a new social situation. Inmates are a group that faces resocialization. Clemmer’s term “prizonation” is an example of resocialization. Prizonation is taking on the norms of prison. Resocialization is prizonation because during the resocialization process, people unlearn non-useful habits and struggle to find habits that are beneficial. Clemmer’s survey is an in-depth analysis of resocialization in prisons. A concept from Clemmer’s analysis of prizonation that is interesting, in correspondence with the subject of resocialization, is that the degree of conformity to the previously occupied society will impact the adjustment period to the newer one.
- Eating, sleeping, and working routines in prison. Clemmer's found that not all inmates were committed to the prison community at the same level. Those with longer sentences, unstable personalities, and pre-prison relationships that do not foster proper adjustment will. Associate with primary prison groups, and in turn be the most prisonized.
- GRUNINGER, PRISONIZATION IN FIVE COUN-TRIES: TYPE OF PRISON AND INMATE CHARACTER-ISTICS (1975) (unpublished manuscript at University of Iowa); C. Schrag, Social Types in a Prison Community 1944) (unpublished M.A. Thesis at University of Washington). CLEMMER (1940), supra note 2; R.
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Dissertation Archive
Title
An Examination of Donald Clemmer's Concept of Prisonization and Its Role in the Future Development of Penal Policy in the United States
Author
Donald Clemmer Prisonization
Date of Award
2002
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Criminal Justice
Donald Clemmer Prisonization Of Women
First Advisor
Stephen L. Mallory
Advisor Department
Criminal Justice
Abstract
In The Prison Community (1940; 1958), Donald Clemmer coined the word 'prisonization' and defined it as the process by which the psyches and behaviors of convicts were molded by the social and structural hallmarks of prison life. Clemmer's research, moreover, led him to suggest that prisonization largely confounded the social ideal underlying the penitentiary concept: it not only thwarted attempts to rehabilitate convicts but also inspired behavior that was contrary to accepted standards of social conduct. Clemmer was neither the first nor the last to describe this philosophical flaw in the concept of legal incarceration. Indeed, his assessment of the problem, if not the word he coined to express it, has been a recurring theme in the literature of criminal corrections for well over two hundred years. This dissertation examines that theme, advances the theme that what Clemmer termed 'prisonization' has been the nexus of the problems that have plagued legal incarceration as well as the seed of a majority of modern penal reforms, and argues that the struggle of ex-inmates to 'deprisonize' poses a dire and worsening threat to American society.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Jack William, 'An Examination of Donald Clemmer's Concept of Prisonization and Its Role in the Future Development of Penal Policy in the United States' (2002). Dissertation Archive. 1824.
https://aquila.usm.edu/theses_dissertations/1824
