Navigating the Convict Code: Insights into Prison Subculture Dynamics

Abstract

Convict Code During the last decade of the last century and the first years of this new century, prison problems in the country have occupied a large part of the newspaper headlines and have generated anxiety and confusion among the population. The issue of prisons has been marked by high rates of violence inmates in prisons, situations of extreme violence such as uprising of prisoners, protests, riots, among others. The accent and how often such events occur has helped the prisons of our country continue to be perceived, nationally and internationally where people are crowded without distinction by the type of crime co -involved, mental state, physical conditions, level of aggressiveness, among others. Spatially such hells are located in an inadequate infrastructure physical, due to the absence of a basic regulation related to this type of establishment, which implies that nothing can be considered spaces optimal for the treatment of delinquent subjects. The general idea is that the existence of the prisoner subculture involves the interpersonal interaction of inmates, forming one or more groups inside the prison. This interaction is governed by the existence of convict code and regulatory roles of forming a preset behavior The convict code is considered to be the set of norms, values, system of life and informal sanctions typical of the prisoner subculture that regulate life and social relations in prison in four specific: a. - among inmates; b. - between these and the custodians; c. - between the inmates and the formal administration of the prison; and d. - between the inmates and people outside the prison. The rules within the jail basically consist of symbols and pre-established ways of acting in certain situations. Part of this policy is to respect certain aspects that have a symbol inside the prison, such as: the visit, the food, the religion, study, private property and debts, among others. Other part of the norms is based on the way of acting in certain situations as well as not showing fear in the face of another inmate's attack; don't cooperate or show respect or sympathy towards the National Guards; be aggressive in any situation; not showing weakness or feelings of tenderness; distrust any inmate (even the best friends), among others (Trammell, 2012). These norms regulate the life of the inmate in his relationships with other inmates or with the custodians and National Guards, with the administration of the prison as well as with people outside the prison. The code also maintains the control of the other inmates through the use of different sanctions, which consist mainly of bodily injuries loaded with excessive violence; bringing as a consequence that this form of use of the violence persuaded both those who injured a norm of the inmates and the other inmates. Convict code in prison is important in prison since it helps to reduce violence among inmates and prevents inmates from exploiting fellow inmates .Violence in prison is a fundamental problem for all prison systems in the world. It compromises human rights, security and the lives of inmates...