Explain How Prison Subcultures And How Do They Influence Prison Life

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1.) What are prison subcultures, and how do they influence prison life?

Prison subculture is the customs, belief, attitudes, values and type of lifestyle of inmates in a particular prison. Prison subcultures develop independently and cannot be easily controlled by prison authorities. When entering into prison it is a whole different world, the process of accepting the newly institutionalized lifestyle is called prisonization. During prisonization new inmates learn the convict values, attitudes, roles, and even language. There are even prison codes. 1-don’t interfere with the interest of other inmates, 2- stay cool don’t lose your head, 3-don’t steal, keep your word, 4- no whining, 5-don’t be gullible, trust no one. Prison subcultures are a way of addressing the psychological, social, physical, and sexual needs of prisoners. It is believed that subcultures are fundamentally and adaption to deprivation and confinement.

2.) Why have women’s prison been studied less often than institution for men?
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It is believed that men commit more dangerous and violent crime compared to women. There has been and increase in crimes committed by women, which is leading to more studies within female prisons systems. Most female inmates are incarcerated due to drug or property crime, so there is not as much variety of crimes to study in women’s prisons. As for male prison, there are numerous types of crime that take place from drug crimes, rap, murder, etc. This does not say that women do not commit murder it is just less likely for a female to commit that type of