Most Americans will never see the inside of a prison.
Movies and TV shows provide the only glimpses they will ever get into a mysterious world based on stereotypes of dangerous, disturbed, or devious inmates and corrupt or cruel prison guards (more accurately, correctional officers).
On the other hand, prison dramas frequently fall back on familiar stock characters to evoke empathy: the wrongly accused, the illiterate, or the mentally ill. Think: The Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins as banker Andy Dufresne accused of a double murder for which he professes his innocence. He suffers years of abuse at the hands of the warden and a sadistic guard but after years in prison triumphs.
Graphic depictions of rapes, assaults, and killings so common on television (Oz, HBO 1997-2003; Prison Break, Fox Broadcasting 2005-2009) and in film fascinate viewers for the same reason that onlookers gawk at a horrific traffic accident–they are smugly sure that such bad things will not happen them.
What makes real prisons so intolerable for real inmates are isolation (from family and friends), numbing monotony, and grinding boredom. Likewise, bad food, limited or no programs, grim surroundings, and hundreds of seemingly petty rules make serving time a spirit-destroying experience.
Not surprisingly, the threat of violence is exacerbated among inmates forced to live in close proximity to so many others.
It takes very talented writers, directors, and actors to capture the essence of prison life in an empathetic, but honest, way and to reflect the range of personalities and mindsets of those who society deems irredeemable–murderers, drug abusers, rapists, swindlers, gangbangers, and thieves.
Netfix’s Orange is the New Black, Season Two (which in the interest of self-disclosure I admit I have never viewed), seems to fit this criteria in its hit series about life in a women’s prison. In the July 2014 edition of The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum writes:
If the show had a mission statement, it was to restore the humanity of women so often portrayed as monsters or as lurid victims… (and) it’s more uncompromising about its characters, at once more nuanced and more damning.
It is unlikely that prison reform will ever become a national priority until public misconceptions about prisoners (influenced by movies and television) are grounded in truth.
Perhaps then, citizens will demand that correctional institutions focus equally on the “care,” as well as the “custody” aspects of their missions. After all, what happens to inmates largely affects how they return to society–either hateful or hopeful.
Outside The Walls: One Mother's Voice 
Through the Camera’s Lens: Prisons
Posted: October 5, 2014 in Commentary, criminal justice, inmates, Media, TV moviesMost Americans will never see the inside of a prison.
Movies and TV shows provide the only glimpses they will ever get into a mysterious world based on stereotypes of dangerous, disturbed, or devious inmates and corrupt or cruel prison guards (more accurately, correctional officers).
On the other hand, prison dramas frequently fall back on familiar stock characters to evoke empathy: the wrongly accused, the illiterate, or the mentally ill. Think: The Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins as banker Andy Dufresne accused of a double murder for which he professes his innocence. He suffers years of abuse at the hands of the warden and a sadistic guard but after years in prison triumphs.
Graphic depictions of rapes, assaults, and killings so common on television (Oz, HBO 1997-2003; Prison Break, Fox Broadcasting 2005-2009) and in film fascinate viewers for the same reason that onlookers gawk at a horrific traffic accident–they are smugly sure that such bad things will not happen them.
What makes real prisons so intolerable for real inmates are isolation (from family and friends), numbing monotony, and grinding boredom. Likewise, bad food, limited or no programs, grim surroundings, and hundreds of seemingly petty rules make serving time a spirit-destroying experience.
Not surprisingly, the threat of violence is exacerbated among inmates forced to live in close proximity to so many others.
It takes very talented writers, directors, and actors to capture the essence of prison life in an empathetic, but honest, way and to reflect the range of personalities and mindsets of those who society deems irredeemable–murderers, drug abusers, rapists, swindlers, gangbangers, and thieves.
Netfix’s Orange is the New Black, Season Two (which in the interest of self-disclosure I admit I have never viewed), seems to fit this criteria in its hit series about life in a women’s prison. In the July 2014 edition of The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum writes:
It is unlikely that prison reform will ever become a national priority until public misconceptions about prisoners (influenced by movies and television) are grounded in truth.
Perhaps then, citizens will demand that correctional institutions focus equally on the “care,” as well as the “custody” aspects of their missions. After all, what happens to inmates largely affects how they return to society–either hateful or hopeful.