Deck 11: Prison Life for Inmates

Question 1

How do most male inmates adjust to incarceration?

A) by seeking support from their families outside the prison
B) by isolating themselves and trying to do their time independently
C) by forming close relationships with other inmates
D) by joining the prison gangs and furthering their cause

Answer 1

by isolating themselves and trying to do their time independently

Question 2

Which of the following is a characteristic of Goffman's total institution that results in isolation and inability to act for oneself?

A) Prison inmates learn the behaviors of being in prison, which leads to increased identification with criminal lifestyles.
B) Staff members supervise all spheres of daily life, including eating, working, and sleeping.
C) Staff and inmates can easily develop a hostile attitude toward each other.
D) Prison inmates construct a culture with unique values, roles, and customs.

Answer 2

Staff members supervise all spheres of daily life, including eating, working, and sleeping.

Question 3

What do prisons do through the use of rewards and punishments to bring inmates to a law-abiding lifestyle?

A) retrain
B) punish
C) rehabilitate
D) resocialize

Answer 3

resocialize

Question 4

Which of the following accurately describes square johns?

A) Square johns are long-term inmates who become used to the prison society.
B) Square johns are ex-inmates who have adopted a career of crime.
C) Square johns are repeat offenders who have been arrested for soliciting prostitutes.
D) Square johns are first-time offenders in prison who have more identification with noncriminals.

Question 5

Which of the following is an element of the inmate code as identified by Sykes and Irwin and Cressey?

A) Trust the guards.
B) Settle conflict through mediation.
C) Do your own time.
D) Respect the square johns.

Question 6

Which of the following is a theory of how inmate culture becomes a part of prison life?

A) Inmates import the culture into the prison from the outside world.
B) Inmates replicate the culture introduced by prison staff.
C) Inmates establish the culture described in each prison's bylaws.
D) Inmate culture is determined by the slang used in the prison.

Question 7

Which of the following is a reason for what many see as the recent demise of inmate code?

A) Many young, impulsive inmates only respect intimidation.
B) There is a greater reliance on probation than on prison.
C) Prisons are more geographically isolated than they were in the past.
D) There are more convicts in prison now than in the past.

Question 8

Which category of violent inmate is predatory, calculating, and usually acts violently for no good reason?

A) special-needs offenders
B) young offenders
C) antisocial offenders
D) psychopathic offenders

Question 9

Which of the following is most TRUE of gang members in prisons?

A) They are more likely to have a substance abuse problem.
B) They participate extensively in many prison programs.
C) They have little history of crime compared to nongang members.
D) They are in no way associated with street gangs.

Question 10

Which prison gang is also known as the Texas Mexican Mafia?

A) La Nuestra Familia
B) Black Guerilla Family
C) Mexikanemi
D) Mexican Mafia

Question 11

Which of the following is a measure to control prison gangs?

A) observing inmates' routine to identify association with gang members
B) moving gang members from maximum-security prisons to medium-security prisons
C) facilitating inmates' access to money to control the prison's underground economy
D) placing the most violence-prone gang members amidst first-time offenders

Question 12

Which of the following refers to gang members telling correctional officials everything they know about the gang operations and membership?

A) validation process
B) inmate code
C) conjugal visiting
D) debrief

Question 13

Which of the following actions is recommended by the National Major Gang Task Force to monitor gang members?

A) report gang-related grouping activity once a year to the Task Force
B) maintain a centralized photo and data file on significant gang members
C) help gang members communicate with each other in the prison
D) isolate gang members for long periods of solitary confinement

Question 14

What is the relationship that exists when two inmates become jealous and fight over another inmate?

A) collective violence
B) prisonization
C) sexual triangle
D) conjugal visiting

Question 15

Which of the following requires the collection of the incidence and prevalence of sexual assault within correctional facilities and development of national standards for the reduction of sexual violence in prison?

A) Prison Rape Elimination Act
B) Prison Litigation Reform Act
C) Institutional Abuse Reduction Act
D) National Major Gang Task Force Act

Question 16

Which of the following is considered a good deterrent to and source of data about use of narcotics by prison inmates?

A) sexual triangles
B) random drug testing
C) debriefing
D) pseudofamilies

Question 17

Who tried to convince officials in the early 1800s that female prisoners should be separated from male prisoners and that female guards should be hired to supervise them?

A) Elizabeth Fry
B) Elizabeth Cady Stanton
C) Susan B. Anthony
D) Jane Addams

Question 18

Which of the following steps was taken by Zebulon Brockway while introducing reforms for female prisoners?

A) getting electronic detection devices installed to reduce escape attempts
B) preparing inmates for release and ensuring their successful return to society
C) using male inmates as role models for the women
D) placing the inmates into large groups and preparing them for release

Question 19

Which of the following refers to organizations formed by female inmates who have roles of parents and children?

A) pseudofamilies
B) sexual triangles
C) gang intelligence
D) guerilla family

Question 20

Approximately what percentage of female inmates are mothers?

A) 22 percent
B) 90 percent
C) 48 percent
D) 65 percent

Question 21

Which of the following is a measure used by prison staff to reduce the number of sexual assaults in prisons?

A) advising inmates at reception about sexual assault and the option of being separated from aggressors
B) asking inmates to work out their issues by themselves
C) ignoring signs of aggression and allowing potential targets to remain in the situation
D) permitting conjugal visiting for male inmates who are not legally married

Question 22

Telling prison staff what other inmates are doing is an element of the inmate code.

Question 23

A good explanation for the high level of violence within prisons is that prisons hold violent people who act out in violent ways.

Question 24

Prison gangs are declining in U.S. prisons.

Question 25

Many prison gangs started as an extension of street gangs.

Question 26

The most important action that prison staff can take to control gangs is to ignore gang activity till it reaches a flashpoint.

Question 27

Federal Bureau of Prisons policy requires that validated gang members (not associates or suspects) be assigned to a maximum-security prison.

Question 28

All prisons have a rule against any type of sexual behavior between inmates.

Question 29

The Prison Rape Elimination Act requires the collection of information on the incidence and prevalence of sexual assault within correctional facilities.

Question 30

The federal prison system and forty-seven states do random drug testing of inmates for drug use.

Question 31

The need for drug treatment in prisons far exceeds the provision of drug treatment programs.

Question 32

There is no place for humor in prison.

Question 33

Women's prisons have nothing in common with men's prisons.

Question 34

Women in prisons have always received vocational training in a wide variety of occupations, not just cooking, sewing, and cleaning.

Question 35

Male and female offenders have always been housed separately in the United States, even in the earliest jails.

Question 36

Using female guards to supervise female prisoners was one of the requests made by Elizabeth Fry.

Question 37

Both male and female inmates are equally hesitant to talk to prison staff.

Question 38

The ________ institution is Goffman's concept of a setting isolating people from society and unnecessarily manipulating them through the actions of the administrative staff.

Question 39

The expected rules and behaviors represented by the model prisoner that reflect the values and norms of prison society are known as the inmate ________.

Question 40

________ is the process whereby inmates take on the folkways, mores, customs, and general culture of the penitentiary.

Question 41

The term ________ describes long-term inmates who become used to the prison society and find a way to live in that environment with a minimal amount of problems and disruptions.

Question 42

________ are inmates who have adopted a career of crime and are doing their prison time until they can get out and hit the "big score."

Question 43

Inmates who are usually first-time offenders and have more identification with straight society and the norms of noncriminals are ________ johns.

Question 44

________ violence occurs between two or more individual inmates, with the reason being a personal issue between the individuals.

Question 45

________ violence occurs between and is initiated by groups of inmates; it includes prison riots and disturbances.

Question 46

Groups that form in prison and use the threat of violence to intimidate other inmates, control drug sales, and gain power are called prison ________.

Question 47

The gang ________ process is used to confirm an individual's gang involvement level.

Question 48

________ is when a gang member informs correctional officials about gang operations and membership.

Question 49

Gang ________ officers collect intelligence and advise administrators regarding strategies to manage and contain prison gang activity.

Question 50

________ visiting is sometimes referred to as "family visiting."

Question 51

The ________-style architecture of prison design used for early women's prisons had several small housing units, including kitchens, living rooms, and sometimes nurseries.

Question 52

Family organizations formed by female inmates who take the roles of parents and children and other relatives are called ________.

Question 53

Match the definition with the appropriate prison slang term.

-One on one fight

A) Head up
B) Bad Mammy Jammy
C) Juice
D) On the rio
E) Bricks

Question 54

Match the definition with the appropriate prison slang term.

-Life outside prison

A) Head up
B) Bad Mammy Jammy
C) Juice
D) On the rio
E) Bricks

Question 55

Match the definition with the appropriate prison slang term.

-Attractive female visitor

A) Head up
B) Bad Mammy Jammy
C) Juice
D) On the rio
E) Bricks

Question 56

Match the definition with the appropriate prison slang term.

-Power

A) Head up
B) Bad Mammy Jammy
C) Juice
D) On the rio
E) Bricks

Question 57

Match the definition with the appropriate prison slang term.

-Serious

A) Head up
B) Bad Mammy Jammy
C) Juice
D) On the rio
E) Bricks

Question 58

Describe the concepts of the inmate code.

Question 59

Explain Clemmer's process of prisonization.

Question 60

Prison gangs, or Security Threats Groups, are managed differently depending on the state. What do you feel is the best way to control gang members who are incarcerated?

Question 61

Discuss the benefits of allowing conjugal visitation for an inmate.