BULLYING IN PRISON - IS THIS A PROBLEM?
Bullying in society has been a major problem for years and is spreading in different areas such as prisons.
Bullying is defined as the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively impose domination over others. This act of abuse has caused more suffering for prisoners leading some of them to suicide. Many believe that the sole purpose of a prisoner influenced into bullying other prisoners is to attain social status in prison. If not for power, then just moral disengagement between others. The rate of bullying in prisons have increased so much that over half the prisoners in jails are both a victim and perpetrator of bullying.
Some prisoners just can't take the suffering of being locked up and bullied simultaneously, so they request and/or self harm to move to a different cell or prison.
Here is an example of a prison bully:
20 - 70 % of young inmates are bullies; 0 - 62 % of adult inmates are bullies. Therefore, more than half the prison inmates are bullies.
CASE STUDY : The Politics of Prisoner Abuse
Bullying among inmates isn't the only source of bullying that goes on in prisons. Many prison guard's have been caught abusing their prisoners. This book, "The Politics of Prisoner Abuse", talks about the increased rate in prisoner abuse since the 9/11. The author of this book had discovered hidden records of prisoners being beaten brutally or even to death. This shows that some prisons systems in our society can be quite unacceptable.
Bullying among inmates isn't the only source of bullying that goes on in prisons. Many prison guard's have been caught abusing their prisoners. This book, "The Politics of Prisoner Abuse", talks about the increased rate in prisoner abuse since the 9/11. The author of this book had discovered hidden records of prisoners being beaten brutally or even to death. This shows that some prisons systems in our society can be quite unacceptable.
The types of bullying that go down in prisons include: Physical abuse, practical jokes, intimidation or threats, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, gossiping, spreading rumours, and ostracising. On the other hand, prisoners who get bullied experience: Fear and tension, isolation, depression, injuries, debt, difficulty in settling and making use of facilities, material deprivation, and illness. If caught bullying in jail, extra days can be added to their sentence and/or be transferred to another establishment. But prison guards don't always notice when bullying occurs.
Another couple reasons why bullying occurs in prison is:
Limiting access to material goods, the existence of capitalist economic structures, high population density, the organizational structure of prisons, existence of inmate subcultures, attitudes of the peer group, and the importance on dominance hierarchies. One of the most popular is limiting materials such as drugs because drugs are the most traded tangibles in prison so competition increases between prisoners to acquire them. This creates a Prisoner caste system.