17: Working with Inmates: Part II

A striking difference between Britton's findings and the NBC documentary, Lockup - Inside North Carolina Women's Prison, is that of Britton's assertion that the "Dirty Harriet" prototype is not seen in media portrayals. However, the documentary shows almost exclusively this type of macho, tough female officer. Additionally, Britton definitely downplayed the possible dangers and uncomfortable, unstable environment a prison can be to work within. This is illustrated particularly through the documentary's presentation of female corrections officers interacting with disrespectful male prisoners, who view the women as sexual objects despite their authoritative powers over the prisoners. Britton contended that women in her study felt safer working in male prisons than they did working on the streets of a major city. Another dissimilarity between Britton and the documentary is the portrayal of who is in the prison: the majority of inmates seem to be white women, while the majority of correctional officers appear to be minorities. Britton acknowledges a symbiotic relationship between inmates and officers, that is not evident in the documentary, where the two groups appear very separate.

A similarity between the two works is the evidence of reverse subordination. Reverse subordination, in this setting, is the resentment of male prisoners toward female corrections officers. It is sometimes seen as a reversal of natural order when a woman has authority over a man, and this can lead to male prisoners acting out in various inappropriate fashions. While it can be challenging for female officers to regain control of a situation, they are the authority figures and ultimately have control.

From an officer's standpoint, building relationships with the inmates can present definite dangers for the officer. In the documentary, incarcerated women discussed how they had effectively extorted officers after having some type of likely sexual encounter in order to gain power within the prison hierarchy.

Some essentialized assumptions the correctional officers employed regarding the inmates, in the documentary, include that they are unstable, do not have good intentions, and, at the end of the day, are still violators of the law. Inmates must be viewed as unstable, or, at least, needing to be guided and ruled over, because otherwise the lines between those in charge and those who are being punished are too blurry. There must be an "us versus them" mentality embraced by officers, that allows for distance between the parties. Officers assume that inmates have bad intentions, and that varies from meaning violent to sexual. One man, a convicted murderer, compared the female corrections officers to delicious steaks that he could not eat, in the CBS news story on female corrections officers.

In Britton's study, she found that female correctional officers had two predominant perceptions of inmates. The first was that inmates have obviously made mistakes, but ultimately they are humans. The preconceived notion that inmates are animals is washed away when officers start work, after training. The second perception was that inmates are too pampered and catered to.

An issue unique to African American and Latino officers is having to deal with their notions of racism within the prison system. There is a difficulty in working within a system that imprisons a greater number of the minority group with which one associates herself. Britton discusses what is called a "double consciousness," which means having an understanding of how the system views inmates (as negative beings or antagonists to the protagonist role of the officers), in addition to an understanding of her personal perspective on racism and experiences with it. It seems that minority officers tend to adopt the "language of the overseer," which means that they leave behind their racial background when engaging in their work. It is an assimilation to a presumably white male culture that prevents the officer from appearing to be an "other." This language also serves to separate an officer from inmates, maintain authority and focus on work rather than identifying with inmates due to possible background similarities, whether real or perceived.

Correctional officers often employ a motherly role in working with inmates. This allows women to diffuse situations, while not being particularly threatening, but also maintaining a familiar sense of authority. This role assumption serves as social control because it forces inmates into the role of children who are required to obey, and know that they will receive punishment if they fail to do so. This allows inmates to continue to be human, but unequal.