Blog #20

At the beginning of chapter six, Britton finds that the account of one female officer contributing 90% of the stress on the job is not atypical. There is something undoubtedly wrong if the major stress factors for corrections officers are coming from the institutions and their structure. Similar to the findings of the prison director, Dora Schriro, Britton found that officers often times bump heads with inflexible and illogical work rules, inept and incompetent co-workers and supervisors. Unfortunately, for Louis Fraley, she learned this the hard way as did the entire state of Arizona having learned that the prison system was flawed in more ways than one. Because the prison is a gendered institution, there were many that doubted that a woman could change the facility structure but after the Lewis prison ordeal, Shriro proved herself and then she was supported and deemed as someone that could be trusted to run a male prison.
Historically, we have learned that prisons were built for male prisoners to be overlooked by male guards and female prisoners were merely an afterthought. As a result, Britton finds that men hold the majority of administrator positions nationally in both the female and male prisons and therefore the training and policies that shape the prison and its employees are made from a male perspective rather than existing as a neutral entity.
Men are more apt to use aggression and physical force to put a prisoner in place and what Britton’s study demonstrates is that although it is unlawful to use racially derogatory terms when referring to inmates, prison staff often use the terms anyway as a form maintaining authority. Similarly, it seems as though Wassenaar used the hostage opportunity to gain some authority by calling out to Louis using derogatory terms rather than by her name. In both cases, we see that demeaning and humiliating another person leads the person to believe or feel that they are above the other.
Furthermore, the male officers’ openness about their preference for aid from male officers vs. a female or that they could take better care of themselves than women proves that this “status” of power, authority and masculinity is reinforced in the institutional construction of the (masculine) prison. Britton finds that the overall presumption of male officers is that women are simply not made for jobs in prisons, instead they should be working at a desk or in a clerical position, away from the danger and violence that they are (un)able to handle. The officers’ positions are more so gendered because as some male officers account, they are placed in positions that are more closely in physical contact with the inmates whereas their female counterparts are placed in positions in control units in order to keep them “safe” or at a distance from actual inmate contact. And when there is a call for back up where physical force is required, the men are more likely to be called than women.
The training or lack thereof is indicative of Britton’s discussion between “keepers” and “turnkeys” because they are literally trained to just keep prisoners in check and to turn the key on their cell. What they should be trained in is tactical communication and dignified treatment of inmates. I think the fact that Wassenaar was so physically and verbally aggressive is indicative of the anger and frustration of having been treated that way for the entire time that he had been in prison. I think that the male guard in the tower should have never opened the door as it is unreasonable to think that your fellow prison guard does not have access to the door-that’s a major flaw in training. One should not open the door to anyone that doesn’t have access regardless if they are wearing the uniform.
Overall, I think the coverage of the hostage situation was very biased because Officer Louis Fraley was not given the credit that she deserved for handling the situation so well and making every attempt to make herself equal to her hostage taker. I find it ironic that when the roles are reversed, then it is ok to view yourself as equal for your protection. Personally, I feel that it should always be that way as some of Britton’s study subjects expressed that it is beneficial to be kind to the prisoners because you never know when you will depend on them. Officer Fraley deserves more credit for not only handling the situation successfully but for proving that women are equally as capable of handling situations that they were not trained for which raises the question: Why weren’t they trained on these situations?