Prison society is composed of three social groups: the inmates, the guards, and the administration, with each group antagonistic to the other while being complementary and symbiotic. The treatment staff, especially the psychiatrist, forms a fourth subgroup, albeit without an identity of its own or a particular structure of social cohesiveness. The psychiatrist has no other recourse but to gravitate toward one of the three dominant groups. The psychiatrist either becomes a prisoners' advocate, antagonizing the guards and administrators, or sides with the guards, becoming overly conscious of security matters. If the psychiatrist becomes aligned with administrators, management policy and a smoothly running prison tend to have priority. To ensure employability, the psychiatrist must be allied with either the guards or the administrators, which means the psychiatrist becomes involved in shaping inmate behavior to the needs of the system, whether or not interventions are dictated by clinical needs. Psychiatrists should avoid any situation where the client does not come willingly. If this is not possible in prisons, then psychiatrists should not be on their staffs. The only permissible contact with prisons would be as an ouside consultant sought through the prison medical officer to ensure that the pure medical function defines the parameters of the psychiatrist's work with prisoners. Nineteen references are listed.