Prisoner Identity Formation

• In Event: Inmate Culture, Identity, and Transitioning to Release

Abstract

This paper documents two processes of identity formation for prison inmates. One process involves actions taken by criminal justice system personnel that assign the “identity of prisoner” to new inmates. A second process involves actions taken by inmates to garner respect and assert their own, unique “prison identity” to protect themselves within the status order of the prison. Using data from in-depth interviews with a white male who while completing a six-year sentence spent time in both medium, maximum and super-max security prisons, this paper relies on interactionist theories in sociology to examine processes of identify formation and maintenance over time in different prison contexts.

Author

• Theodore J Hawver, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater