Explain the concept of a total institution as it relates to correctional facilities

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Prison cultures are unique because prisons are total institutions that encompass every aspect of an inmate's life.
• Unlike a student or a bank teller, a prisoner cannot leave the institution or have any meaningful interaction with outside communities. Others arrange every aspect of daily life, and all prisoners are required to follow this schedule in exactly the same manner.
• Inmates develop their own argot, or language.
• They create their own economy, which, in the absence of currency, is based on the barter of valued items such as food, contraband, and sexual favors.
• They establish methods of determining power, many of which, as we shall see, involve violence. Isolated and heavily regulated, prisoners create a social existence that is, out of both necessity and design, separate from the outside world.