Preview

Life in Prison

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1349 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life in Prison
Life in Prison – Behind a Convict's Eyes

Crystal Fisher

Introduction

This paper is about the book "Behind a Convict's Eyes" by K.C. Cerceral. This book was written by a young man who enters prison on a life sentence and describes the world around him. Life in prison is a subculture of its own, this subculture has its own society, language and cast system. The book describes incidents that have happen in prison to inmates. With this paper I will attempt to explain the way of life in a prison from an inmate's view.
Understanding Prison Life After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
Describe Strategies and Compare with Voices from the Field Some of the adaptation strategies used by "Anonymous" and the other inmates in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The “penitentiary is a zoo and the inmates are caged animals” (Hirliman, pg.24). Lessons from our tour support many complaints from inmates in the book. An inmate not receiving his glasses or specific medicine until weeks later, is torture in not being able to see but still expected to perform all actions of other inmates. When controlling shower times, spraying pepper spray, being strapped to a chair for hours at a time, are put in the hands of the wrong people, is immoral no matter how hard, they try to justify it. When “I dont know” or “just cause”, are the reasons for performing an action to inmate it’s not right.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Prison Door Diction

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The author’s diction intensifies the feelings toward the jail, and shows the shift from a dreadful to a beautiful setting. The…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The reader will hear from current and former prisoners’ that explain their experiences. They discuss behavior, trouble they encountered, and their state of mind when they were free in society before heading down the wrong path. Their testimony is to educate readers on how…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Describe the realities of prison life and prison subculture from the inmate’s point of view. Illustrate the significant differences between men’s prisons and women’s prisons. Describe the realities of prison life from the corrections officer’s point of view. Describe the causes of prison riots, and list the stages through which most riots progress. Discuss the legal aspects of prisoners’ rights, and explain the consequences of precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court cases in the area of prisoners’ rights. Describe the major problems and issues that prisons face today.…

    • 33625 Words
    • 135 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Historical Prison Eras

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Correctional institutions emerged gradually from the Big House. In this new era harsh discipline and repression by officials became less-oppressive features of prison life. Correctional institutions did not abolish the pains of imprisonment; one might classify most of these prisons as Big Houses “gone soft” (Seiter, 2011). These institutions offered more recreational privileges such as more-liberal mail, different visitation policies, and more amenities including educational, vocational, and therapeutic programs. Something that promoted peace and more stability was…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Bohm, R.M., & Haley, K.N., 2012) In the American prison systems, the prisoners outnumber the staff members, which affects the prison system; therefore, administrators in the prisons have taken on the role of working for the incarcerated. Some prisoners have the hardest time adopting inside prison walls. Just think some offenders with a short sentence are imprisoned with inmates that have life sentencing; they go into the prison system with the mindset that I’m going to do my time and be out; however, with the population growth of gang violence inside prisons; prisoners are forced to return to society institutionalize. " Prisoners learn new and better ways to commit crimes while they are locked up with their fellow convicts.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first section of the summary talks the growth of the prison systems. The mass incarceration has grown and does not help the inmate to function as a normal citizen who goes back into society. Rehabilitation is not required for them but, it is offer and is not a required to help with daily task as education, skills or a job. Most of the inmates and even some need housing and public assistance that is not given to them. Inmates are restricted to work in normal setting due to criminal records or are forbidden because they have records.…

    • 259 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life Without Parole

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This essay will consist of many of my ideas and opinions on sentencing teens to life without parole. I agree that teenagers deserve life without parole for heinous crimes like first and second degree murder depending on whether or not the teenage offender planned out their crimes or the crime was committed in the heat of the moment out of anger or sadness. The teens that are in these programs and have lesser sentences should also only have 2 more chances to mess up and commit more crimes before they are sentenced to life without parole. I also believe that all the teens that planned out their crimes should be where they are in prison. There is another reason why teens commit crimes, It is the undeveloped of their frontal lobes of their brains…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    death penalty

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Specific deterrence- punishment of a crime that prevents the offender from repeating the same offense again.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Schneller, D. P. (1976). The prisoner’s family: A study of the effects of imprisonment on the families of prisoners. San Francisco: R and E Research Associates.…

    • 7598 Words
    • 31 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Incarceration

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In one interview, an inmate describes the challenges that they must endure under the social rules that are enforced in prison. He uses the example of watching another inmate being killed. Inmates are torn between what to do as a moral human being versus what to do as someone following the “prison culture” (Munn 2011). Other research has concluded that the adjustment to prison culture promotes almost a sense of helplessness and may impair ones judgement or decision making. The psychological suffering is mainly centralized by the new cultural norms of violence, from either the experience of witnessing it or the new found fear embedded in…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Americans all know that our prisons are the final frontier for the socially rejected criminals and violent offenders. Once they are convicted, prison is their new home. For which it can be five years or the rest of their lives until death. When the door closes behind them the rest of the world doesn’t matter. It is inside the prison that matters. Those of us who are outside the prison are unaware of what goes on in there, such as prisoner’s abuse.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life In Jail

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Death is a very emotional topic and hard thing to deal with no matter what. Knowing the person or having it be a friends acquaintance you still always feel a little bit of sorrow. Everyone has someone that they love so it is hard to pick the right and the wrong sides of stories. If someone 's husband was being sentenced to the death penalty, the wife would be heart broken, but the wife of whom her husband may have killed would be thrilled to see him executed. That is why most say it is all about revenge and getting back at someone. The feelings that some people may get when talking about the death penalty though can be very different. Sometimes people want revenge on another…

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Death Penalty

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The mother of a teenager killed during a shooting rampage at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Aurora in 1993 is begging the governor to let convicted killer Nathan Dunlap die. "Sit back, make no decision, allow the one that 12 people made after listening to all the evidence 17 years ago stand," said Sandi Rogers in a statement sent to Gov. John Hickenlooper. Sandi 's son, Ben Grant, was 17 years old when he was shot and killed with his co-workers. Dunlap had been fired from the restaurant before he came back and shot five people at closing time. Four died, one survived. Ben had only worked at the restaurant for three weeks before the shooting. Sandi said Ben didn 't even know Dunlap. "He 'd never met the guy, he 'd never even seen the guy before," Sandi said back in 1993. Ben 's family and friends said he was a bright, strong, funny young man. "He never got to get married, and have children, he never got to see the world," Sandi said. The sole survivor of a mass shooting in 1993 is tired of talking about the man who changed his life forever. “Every time I have to speak on this, it re-opens wounds,” said Bobby Stephens. Stephens was 20 at the time of the shooting. He was picking up some extra hours at the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant where he worked when gunman Nathan Dunlap came in to rob the store. Dunlap shot and killed Sylvia Crowell, 19; Ben Grant, 17; Colleen O’Connor, 17; and Margaret Kohlberg, 50. Dunlap also shot Bobby Stephens in the face, but didn’t kill him. Stephens lay wounded and bleeding until the robbery was over. Dunlap was convicted and sentenced to death for his crimes. Now, 20 years later, Dunlap learned he will live at least a while longer. Gov. John Hickenlooper announced on May 22, 2013 he’s granting a temporary reprieve of Dunlap’s execution. Capital punishment, also dubbed the “death penalty” is the premeditated and planned taking of a human life by a government in a response to a crime committed by that legally…

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prisoners Rights

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When prisons started to change, the rights of prisoners began to develop making this an important step for them, prisoners were about to see progress in action in favor of them. Prisoners were about to see that they were not to be treated unfairly just because they are in prison, but they had rules they had to follow in addition to being more involved in their court case. As an example they are able to sue prisons for harm against them or apply for appeals while in prison (Foster, 2006).…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics