LockDown - Shanks and Shakedowns | Prison Documentary | Nat Geo
Prison violence is a daily occurrence due to the diverse inmates with varied criminal backgrounds that penitentiaries house. The three different types of attacks are inmate on inmate, inmate on guard, and self-inflicted. These attacks can either be impulsive and spontaneous or well-planned out and premeditated. Factors such as gang rivalries, overcrowding, minor disputes, and prison design contribute to the violent attacks that transpire.] Prisons are trying to avoid, or at least better deal with these situations by being proactive. They are taking steps like placing violent convicts and gang leaders into solitary confinement, balancing the cells by critically examining each inmate to see where they are likely to reside peacefully, reducing blind spots, and training as well as educating the officers
Prison violence is inflicted onto either another inmate, a prison guard, or themselves. In 1999 it was reported that one in five inmates, or twenty percent of inmates, at fourteen state prisons had been physically assaulted by another inmate. Prison violence can consist of inmates fighting with their fists, homemade weapons, or being raped. The attacks that are implemented onto anyone but the self are either instrumental or expressive.
Instrumental violence is premeditated; it is planned out, calculated, and then implemented. More commonly executed by males,this act typically establishes power and is, “…justified and rationalized by the inmate population by creating peer admiration, fear, protection…”. Typically, surviving in prison involves establishing strength and power, which is why instrumental violence is so commonly used.
Prison violence is capable of occurring anywhere throughout a prison. Any inmate is capable of acting rash and snapping at any given moment, that an outbreak can occur anywhere and at any time. Oftentimes, an inmate will look for a place that offers a sufficient amount of time to commit their act proficiently. If they are outside of their cell, they have the chance to smuggle out a homemade weapon by placing it up their rectum. Although these acts can occur anywhere, a very common place inmates search for is a blind spot.
The perpetrators of violent attacks are convicted criminals, some of whom in prison for committing crimes that left multiple people brutally beaten and left for dead, so violence is in many of these individual’s nature. These people, “…settle disputes and seek power in the way they are accustomed- through violence”. This natural fire in their bellies is undoubtedly a huge factor that goes into why prison violence occurs, but the physical design of the prison can serve as another factor. A prison can either have indirect or direct supervision. Both types of supervision have their strengths, but also detrimental weaknesses.
Most inmates look to get into an altercation armed with some sort of homemade weapon. The weapons they use to attack their victims are made to be very destructive and can easily be both hidden and accessed. They use objects such as shanks, clubs, daggers, razors, and saps to serve as weapons] A shank is a homemade knife, and is used to stab the person they are planning on fighting with, typically created by sharpening a common object. Clubs are considered “…objects such as pitchers, hot pots, and broom handles…”. They are put into use by throwing or hitting their target with these objects. A sap is typically a padlock enclosed in a sock, but really any hard object can be placed inside. Their prey is hit, typically over the head, with this weapon. Razors are very commonly used to commit prison violence. When an inmate knows there is a possibly of facing an attack, they will often place razors inside their mouths (in their cheeks) so that they can spit the razor out of their mouth and slash up the other person’s face. Since this tactic has been caught onto, many times a person will first punch whomever they are fighting in the face so that if a razor is in there, their whole mouth will get cut up. An inmate can choose the shank, club, dagger, razor, or sap as their weapon of choice to either do harm or protect themselves. When it comes to creating these weapons, prisoners really do serve as craftsmen and make weapon-making into an art of the sort.
A supermax is a separate facility within a prison where inmates are placed, “…for violent/predatory behavior within other institutions. They may be identified as gang leaders, or considered high risk for escape. Inmates incarcerated in the supermax facility do not have the freedoms allowed inmates in general population because of their security status/institutional disciplinary record”.[1] These inmates are placed in a cell for twenty three hours a day and have very few of the freedoms that the typical convict possess. This prevention measure works because it takes the biggest threats and influences.
