‘That's not my name’: prisoner deference and disciplinarian prison officers

Abstract

It has long been documented that prisoner deference is essential if prison officers are to effectively undertake their control functions (Sykes, 1958; Goffman, 1963). Whilst there is evidence that there exists a number of prison officer working personalities (Carrabine, 2004; Scott, 2008), it is clear that a significant number of prison officers, especially those who consider security, discipline, and control to be central to their working practices, exercise power through their personal authority (Sim, 2008). It is maintained in the critical literature that for such officers, a positive interaction only arises if prisoners recognise the officer's inherent superiority. This demand for an elevated form of respect can be understood as the deployment of an ‘asymmetrical status norm’ (Scott, 2009).

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David Scott

Dr David Scott teaches at the University of Central Lancashire and is the coordinator of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control