Dangerous Masculinity by Anna Curtis

Author:Anna Curtis [Curtis, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813598369
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 2019-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

This Prison Is “Soft as Hell”

Incarcerated men, like many people on the outside, define masculinity along a continuum that links weakness with femininity and strength with masculinity.11 The men discussed “hard” versus “soft” masculinity in the fatherhood groups as well as in one-on-one interviews, and the terms came up dozens of times. Many of the men described the prison system of the state where the facilities were located as “soft as hell,” with the exception of the two maximum-security facilities, one of which housed prisoners the DOC considered gang-affiliated. Describing the prison as “soft” meant several things. First, the men agreed that there were fewer fights as compared to the state’s prison system in the 1990s, as well as fewer prisoner deaths, and that sexual assault happened but was not pervasive. When I first began discussing the prison with my respondents, all three of these things seemed like positive developments to me, so I didn’t understand why so many men curled their lip as they called the prison “soft.” The prisons in California and in the South were considered to be the toughest places to be incarcerated, though no prisoner expressed a desire to be incarcerated there instead of the state they were currently in.

Although the DOC staff had a high level of control over prisoners, a world of activities and power struggles existed out of sight of the COs. Much of this centered around the underground food market and the disputes that emerged while men played cards and other games. For instance, even though prisoners resented the policy change and sought to get around it, the prison administration and COs had managed to almost entirely eliminate cigarette smoking in the prison facility. Cigarettes became a highly sought-after item on the black market and increasingly difficult to acquire. Based on my conversations with prisoners, it seemed to be easier to get scheduled drugs than cigarettes.

Perhaps more important to daily life was the treatment of “snitches,” prisoners who told on other prisoners. The topic of snitches came up in every twelve-week cycle at the adult facility and multiple times at SY. During a group at NCI, one prisoner suggested that snitching was not acceptable and another man, Big Cheese rolled his eyes as he said, “Everybody in the joint [prison] be doing it.” Several men made noises and nodded in agreement. Big Cheese’s assertion, that prisoners got away with snitching, was a widely held belief at the adult facility and one that older prisoners pointed to when they suggested that life in prison had changed in ways they didn’t like.

G had been in and out of prison over the past thirty years, mostly on drug and assault charges. During one of his interviews, G commented that the level of snitching that went on in the prison today wouldn’t have been tolerated twenty years ago. The snitches in the facility would have been beaten and ostracized, but nowadays nothing happens to them. G felt that it used to be easier to keep

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