Add your conference to our Justice Events calendar

PUBLICATIONS

Stay Informed
Register with NCJRS to receive NCJRS's biweekly e-newsletter JUSTINFO and additional periodic emails from NCJRS and the NCJRS federal sponsors that highlight the latest research published or sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs.

NCJRS Abstract

The document referenced below is part of the NCJRS Virtual Library collection. To conduct further searches of the collection, visit the Virtual Library. See the Obtain Documents page for direction on how to access resources online, via mail, through interlibrary loans, or in a local library.

1 record(s) found

NCJ Number:	183240

Title:	Sensemaking in Prison: Inmate Identity as a Working Understanding

Journal:	Justice Quarterly Volume:17 Issue:2 Dated:June 2000 Pages:359-376

Author(s):	John Riley

Date Published:	June 2000

Annotation:	This study examines some of the ways in which correctional officers construct, communicate, and defend a shared account of inmate identity in a maximum-security prison.

Abstract:	Through sensemaking activities embodied in informal conversational routines, correctional officers produce a working understanding of the prisoner that is a central element in the reproduction of social control in the prison. Challenges to the dominant assumptions embodied in key sensemaking categories may be met by a variety of defensive strategies. These strategies are embedded in the informal conversational routines of the group. Through the selective use of official records, by reframing tolerance as a social control strategy and through participation in acts of ritual insubordination, correctional officers maintain a working understanding of the inmate that is demeaning, derogatory, and ultimately stereotypical. To better understand sensemaking processes and their role in reproducing authority relations in correctional facilities, it would be useful to explore the relationship between sensemaking practices and the behaviors they appear to prevent or promote. References

Main Term(s):	Corrections

Index Term(s):	Correctional Officers; Correctional personnel attitudes; Correctional Personnel Training; Corrections management; Inmate attitudes; Inmate staff relations; Maximum security; Perception; Prison climate

Page Count:	18

Format:	Article

Type:	Report (Study/Research)

Language:	English

Country:	United States of America



	To cite this abstract, use the following link: http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=183240

*A link to the full-text document is provided whenever possible. For documents not available online, a link to the publisher's website is provided. Tell us how you use the NCJRS Library and Abstracts Database - send us your feedback.

PUBLICATIONS

NCJRS Abstract

Find in a Library