What is Prisonism?

Prisonism is punitive dehumanization. It has two definitions: (1) The dehumanization of people in prison, and (2) The practice of aggressively sending people to prison. The result of such an inhumane custom is seen in our country's recidivism rate which is why society's No.1 goal is the reformation of our federal prison system. 

How Prisonism affects staff:

Long-Term Effects

• Chronic stress
• Burnout
• Depression
• PTSD symptoms
• Divorce and family conflict
• Higher rates of heart disease and hypertension
• Earlier retirement or disability
• Lower life expectancy

Mass incarceration and understaffing

Mass incarceration creates prisons that hold far more people than they were originally designed for. When populations increase while staffing remains stagnant or decreases, officers face:

• More conflicts, more mental health crises, more medical emergencies, more paperwork, more disciplinary incidents

Decision fatigue

Correctional officers make thousands of decisions every shift. Examples include:

• Who needs medical attention?
• Is this argument about to become a fight?
• Is this inmate lying?
• Is someone suicidal?
• Should force be used?
• Is this movement safe?

Years of nonstop decision-making lead to:

• mental exhaustion
• irritability
• reduced empathy
• poor judgement
• emotional numbness
  

Hypervigilance

Many officers continue scanning for danger after work. They may:

• sit facing exits
• dislike crowds
• constantly watch people's hands
• become startled easily
• have difficulty sleeping
• struggle to relax on vacations

Moral Injury

This occurs when people feel they have participated in, witnessed, or been unable to prevent actions that violate their deeply held moral beliefs. Examples include:

• witnessing preventable violence
• lacking enough staff to protect people adequately
• being unable to provide timely help during emergencies
• enforcing policies they personally disagree with
• feeling powerless in the face of systemic problems

Examples of Prisonism toward inmates include:

• Abuse of authority (This is when authority figures use excessive force against prisoners)

• Advocation of unjust treatment (This is when people support, defend, or recommend, the cruel treatment of prisoners)

• Indifference to living conditions (This is the acceptance and/or "blind eye" to overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of privacy, pest infestation, etc)

• collective punishment (this is the practice of penalizing a group of people for the actions of one or a few, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law)

• exploitation of labor (this involves forcing inmates to work for little or no pay)

• inadequate healthcare (this includes poorly-trained staff and/or having too few medical staff to operate effectively, delays or denials of necessary medical treatment, neglect and preventable deaths, etc.)

• economic exploitation (this includes mismanagement of funds whereas monies generated from inmate purchases and communications, which are supposed to go into "Inmate Welfare Funds," are often mismanaged and diverted)