Blog # 20

First and foremost, I think the hostage did a good job keeping her alive and keeping the situation under control. She was able to make the inmates identify her as a human and not just an object which helped keep her alive. She was able to identify with the inmates and she was able to get inside their heads by telling them lies about her childhood. I think that this hostage situation does reflect conditions described in Britton’s study. For example, Louis Fraley, was the woman taken hostage but two inmates. This was a result of these two men feeling they could over power a woman and she would not be able to handle the violent encounter as well as a male would be. Also, as mentioned in Britton’s study, the concern for female correctional officers is relevant because they are often more exposed to sexual harassments and assault.
A second notable thing in this situation is how the Arizona Prison System is considered a gendered organization. For example, the director, Dora Schriro, was looked down on in the beginning of this ordeal. Many people criticized her because she was a woman coming in and taking over a man’s job and she was criticized on how she handled the hostage situation. However, as a result of the way she handled the situation everyone made it out alive, which made her the first to accomplish that. Many women in the chosen field are taught in training that emotions can be bad and they could get in the way of decision making in high risk situations, however, both Fraley and Schriro used their emotions to handle the situation with resulted in a positive way and no one was hurt.

This was a good example of Britton’s “keepers” and “turkeys” because when Schriro needed information on the prisons structure, the hostage, and the inmates, the information was not available. This is one of the things that Schriro seeks to change. She does not want inmates to just be kept but she wants them to be able to leave the prison with a trade so they can change their lives and not have to return to prison. She also made an effort to retrain the correctional officers on how to deal with certain situations which would make their overall job experience more beneficial. It is expressed in the article that those who ran the AZ prison system prior to Schriro, ran the prison like those of “keepers” and “turkeys” which basically means the inmates were locked up and forgotten about. This also resulted in less constructive training for the correctional officers.

Prisons are considered total institutions because they are like their own communities that are separate from society. The people who are in the prison, guards and inmates, only socialize with other guards and inmates. I also think the NBC documentary earlier in the unit helps show how prisons are considered total institutions. For example, the documentary was of a women’s prison which explores the bonds inmates have with each other. It also shows how these women are allowed to work within the prison walls to earn a living and also develop a trade that would later aid them once they were released. This is important for the institution itself because it is giving back to society as a whole but is also creating a community for the inmates. This similar situation seems to be what Schriro wants to achieve.

I think media and the on the job training has a lot to do with officered being endangered on the job. The media portrays correctional officers to be big, burly men that are capable of meeting violence with violence. These guards are armed men that are capable of restoring order to meanest and most violent offenders. Also when it comes to training, we still have this stereotypical image of the correctional officer, so training focuses on being able to handle the violent encounters with physical strength. I personally agree that Britton’s recommendations may have been useful in avoiding the situation. I think the media needs to have a different image when it comes to correctional officers so that way people in our society do not get the wrong impressions. Also, different training should be given to female and male guards and this training should also be based on the population they are going to be working with. It is true that men and women have different skill sets and it is important to understand that both men and women correctional officers are important in prisons but their different skills should be utilized and welcomed instead of trying to make them the same. This should also be relevant when dealing with male or female inmates. I think that Schriro is moving the Arizona prison system in the right direction, but like all things, change generally takes a while to grasp.