NCJ Number
117464
Date Published
1988
Length
279 pages
Annotation
This case study explored how race relations were organized at a small maximum security prison in a highly urban, industrial Eastern State.
Abstract
In addition to participant observation of inmates, staff, and prison activities from October 1970 through December 1971; interviews were conducted with inmates regarding past, present, and future events. Additional data was obtained from documents on prison disturbances, characteristics of the prison population, and disciplinary incidents and dispositions. Analysis revealed that organization of race relations constituted a system in a state of equilibrium. The system was not integrated by value consensus but more by the tenuous bonds of coercion, complementary interests, and interdependence in pursuit of these interests. Prison reform policies undermined white inmate solidarity, while reforms increased black inmate solidarity. There was little sense of cross-racial solidarity between black and white inmates. Most daily activities were characterized by a clear pattern of mutual avoidance and segregation. The key to harmonious race relations was an arrangement by which white and black leaders intervened to prevent individual encounters from developing into group violence. It is concluded that race relations in the prison setting are the result of both prison reform and black nationalism. 17 tables, 6 figures, 92 references.