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PRISON GUARDS AND THE USE OF PHYSICAL COERCION AS A MECHANISM OF PRISONER CONTROL *
Author(s) -
MARQUART JAMES W.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1986.tb01500.x
Subject(s) - prison , guard (computer science) , coercion (linguistics) , criminology , duty , apprenticeship , psychology , duty to protect , social psychology , sociology , political science , law , computer science , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , programming language
This paper examines the dynamics of the use of unofficial force by prison guards in a Texas penitentiary. The findings suggest that rather than being idiosyncratic or sporadic, guard use of physical coercion was highly structured and deeply entrenched in the guard subculture Upperranking guards served as mentors and socialized younger nonmnking guards into the process of using physical coercion. These nonranking guards actually served as apprentices. Most importantly, guards who used physical force were rewarded for their behavior with improved duty posts or even promotions.