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NCJRS Abstract

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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

Page Count:	18

Type:	Report (Study/Research)

Format:	Article

Language:	English

Country:	United States of America

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



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NCJRS Abstract

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