Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of Social Work

Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
Name of the student
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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
Introduction
The society is made up of individuals who come together with mutual benefits to live in
an enclosed parameters. A society is built upon mixture of thoughts that may or may not be
relevant to the social respect of each individual. The society is divided in segments based on
race, gender, income and social norms. Through ages the societies have narrowed their
acceptance level and made their understanding limited to their limited beliefs. Some have
divided on their personal counter where as some have divided it on cultural grounds. The same
thoughts cannot be right for everyone. The freedom to live in a happy surrounding with like
minded people, with whom one can share their thoughts and time is very essential (Hanson,
2017). A closed society that is very much prevalent everywhere that compares the worth of an
individual based on their social power, standards and wealth accumulation does not easily
accepts an outsider or an oppressed population.
The world is full of happy and sad people. Happy are those who have all resources in
their reach and enjoys the benefits of the society across the world. And there is a sad population
who are devoid of some very basic societal benefits and the worst part is they cannot complain
because the accusation shall come on them, and in the worst case they may be asked to leave the
society. The societal boundaries are not geopolitical borders (Herbert, 2018). United states is a
society that is composed of huge groups of people who actually belongs to other groups and
society. In correct sense USA is a Pluralistic Society. Being a highly modernized country it
attracts the crowd from other parts of the world where the people are not happy and facing unrest
or economic backwardness or religious persecutions.
USA provides living to almost everyone who happily accepts its law and rules. The life
of some of the vulnerable population, those who are oppressed through ages have tried to find

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
shelter in USA. The life of a prisoner is not easy in any part of the world. The society takes a
huge amount of time to accept them. There are many reasons that can be associated to it, some of
the reasons can be valid but maximum times the barring of the oppressed group of prisoner is not
valid and seems vague. Not only in USA but across the world they are treated as danger to the
society and after getting released they are not treated equally with other people of the society.
These are oppressed group and oppression mean that someone is treated malicious and harmful
pattern of subjugation and exploitation of a community or individuals practiced by an
authoritarian (Brinkley et al., 2018). These are group of people who are prevented from equal
opportunities and basic freedom and are subject to cruel and unfair treatment.
Prisoners are person who are deprived of freedom and liberty against their will. They are
captivity sometimes with consent and sometimes forcefully. They are serving their sentence in
the prison and are prosecuted by the law based on the type and intensity of the crime they have
committed. These groups are oppressed with the societies cruelty and intolerance towards them.
They are personally very much under constant identity loss (Costopoulos et al., 2017). They are
separated from their family and friend, they have no one to call or talk to, they live in a confined
condition. The only option left with them is to change and adapt the situation. They are
psychological disturbed and longs to be out to be in the freedom space. But the irony is that
outside they are again facing the exactly same situation and they are again changing and trying to
adapt to the situation. Research has found that in case where the prisoners are serving the
sentence for long time period see a change in personality. The personality change is subject to
loss of freedom, lack of privacy, daily brutality and fear of not been accepted in the society when
released (Bai et al., 2015). They are drain emotionally daily by making them realize that they are

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
a criminal and whatever they do this image can never be changed. In many cases even when they
are out of the prison they feel like they are still in the prison and behave in that every ways.
Factors, Ideologies and Norms influencing the oppression of the prisoners
Based on oppression the prisoners try to enforce themselves on weaker group. The idea to
prove superiority over others as an individual or in group is by getting the right to control the
other gives permission to mistreat the weaker group. This is an interpersonal oppression which is
very much visible in the prisoner and specially when the groups are divided based on race. The
African American and Latinos are always separated from the American crowd and most of the
time labeled as “Acting American” group. This invites fights, grouping and isolation in most of
the cases. The darker race like Africans is subject to jokes not only by their inmates but also by
posted officers. They are stereotyped and sometimes beaten and harassed to an unbearable levels
that impacts their social and psychological state of mind (Weaver et al., 2019). This all is the
result of discrimination and interpersonal sexism. The oppressed group is subject to these daily
tortures and the oppressive group makes it a daily ritual to remain in power. These are some few
problems in and outside the prison and they have to fight with it daily throughout their life.
Factors that are most influential in inviting continuous oppression these groups in and
outside of the prison are discrimination based on gender, color, race and ethnicity. A research
done found out that the prisoner who are involved in serious crimes are not psychologically
disturbed as much as they are harmed by the way they are treated by their inmates. The social
norm of being in a group and feeling safe disappears when they are isolated and discriminated
based on the race, color or language. The Latinos and African are accepting this and trying to
blend in the other society by changing their way of living. The ideology that a person who has

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
never been to the prison is a safe to stay with and those are easily accepted in the society
(Underwood & Washington, 2016). But the fact is little different when comes to reality the
prisoner are already served a big part of their life improving themselves. When they are out in
the society they are well versed that even one single act of crime can stereotype them and
separate them from the freedom to live in the society. They spend their whole life trying to hide
their identity so that a well versed life can be led (Thompson, Newell, & Carlson, 2016). The old
norms of the society look down on underprivileged as criminal are also subject to demean them
from the basic freedom to experience the casual state of mind. This is extreme level of
neuroticism or high emotional instability. They are not able to form an ideal personality to shift
to return to the outside normal world. He or she starts to become more detached emotionally,
more self-isolating, socially withdrawn, and unable to suite to life after release. In short due to
the impermeable thoughts and stubborn society released prisoners becomes incapable of living a
lawful life than what they were leading prior to imprisonment.
Institutional stereotypes, stigmas and prejudices
The institutional stereotype and stigmas that binds them from a normal life is countless in
number. Be it men or a women, released from the prison they have to start a new life where they
have to be back in their family. When they are released in they face a hostile environment which
is challenging making them unproductive. It has been reported that within three years of the
release almost 67.7% of the ex offender are again arrested for the same or different crimes. And
76.6% are rearrested with five years of the release. The society is constantly trying to prove that
an ex offender is a fail once they are released. The systemic legal and societal barriers makes it
more difficult for them to be compared with the normal population. It makes it difficult for them
to get employed, secure a safe housing, and get similar treatment as other person by the locals.

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
These factors inflict same thoughts of crime and they commit crimes to be back to the old secure
confined space of their own. The differentiation is based on micro and macro level (Belknap,
Lynch, & DeHart,2016). Micro level is the individual, their family and macro level is the
organizations, agencies, communities, and nations. These are interconnected a social change in
one context impacts the other area. A persons reentry in the society can only be successful when
the meet the most basic needs of the life. Those are home, family, criminal complications, social
connection and employment. Attaining each and every basic need of life is filled with challenges,
each one is interconnected.
Employment or livelihood is completely limited to the ex-inmates. It is very much likely
that a ex prisoner will get a stable job with a lot of difficulty in 80% of the cases they are denied
access to the work if they don’t have any personal acquaintance (Jones et al., 2018). They are
treated differently from the normal group the oppression is completely institution and hits at the
interpersonal level. The ex-inmate even being equally experienced professional is less likely to
be invited for interview or even offered job even if they have previously worked in the same
premises. But when the inmates have limited education and work experience, making it difficult
for them to secure employment after they are released. According to one data 70% of them are
high school dropout. The bad combination of a limited professional network and low education
level can make it very difficult for ex-convicts to get an interview for the job. This is a long fight
for them to prove their worth in the society, which is constantly trying to prove them as failures
(Price, 2015). The oppression is felt all over the world which again draws them to their criminal
world and limits their freedom.
The second important role is played by the family; they bring the sense of warmness in
their life. Prisoner who are regular in contact with their family are more socially active then

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
those are not visited by anyone. Maximum number of them are parents to the minor children who
while being the prison they miss out their critical year of growing up. The prison rule and
regulation plays a negative role in creating obstacle in the meeting process. The timing, visiting
hours, visiting procedures and other factors that have to be followed by the family members
makes it difficult for them to be in touch with the family. Ex-offenders when returned to home
are dependent on family members. They are trying to be back and trying to overcome years of
limited contact, and a change in the household. According to the Urban Institute Justice Policy
Center, 82 percent of ex-offenders have a feeling that it would be easy to reunite with family
(Hongo, Katz, & Valenti, 2015). But after returning home they reported that it was more difficult
to be reunited. Returning to the family is a new financial and emotional burden making it
difficult to support a dependent adult specially when the family is not well to do. The teen or the
young parents finds it difficult to connect with their parents or their child. They feel like a sinner
who cannot be part of their happy life. The oppression is so heavy that it can only be felt
emotionally and there is no cure except time, as time heals most of the wounds. The continuous
stereotyping and emotional stigma does not allows them to move n to a more normal life for
years. Prisoner is going out.
Cultural and intergenerational dynamics
The impact of oppression is also felt the cultural level, it defines what is right, wrong or
normal in nature. Throughout the schooling we have learned to follow our culture religiously. In
short, the social on daily basis in the outside world, our daily interactions make a huge
differences. The cultural messages and norms that serve to maintain power and privilege for the
dominant groups can be direct and indirect. This takes into consideration of the class people,
color, and economies. A critical consciousness helps us to address and dismantle racism, sexism

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
and other forms of oppression. That mean that we should apply a systems approach to analyze,
uncover and change that oppression can be eliminated from our personal, interpersonal,
institutional and cultural levels. The individual prisons vary their nature and effects, a
combination conditions of confinement in many has increased the levels of prison insecurity
throughout the nation (Rubin, 2017). The intergenerational inequality brings the situation to bad
to worse. The incepting nature of the people who have never been this situation make the
prisoners to isolate themselves for the betterment of the life. They feel happy when social out of
the teasing , pointing and stereotype crowd.
The micro attacks
Over the period of time the premises are becoming smaller and their increased population
in the cells destroying their life. The United States has tried to bring significant impact on
conditions of confinement across the country but was not able to improve the increased levels
overcrowding, mental illness and many more issues. They were not even able to bring down the
oppression due to racial and ethnical diverse prisoner behaviors. The state is still trying to work
on the reductions in lethal violence within prisons, and continuously trying to improve conditions
in the prisons. These can be termed as the micro attacks inside the jail which the inmates has to
face daily and this is what is shaping them like this (Fine & Cross 2016). The conditions are not
working in favor of making them more socially accepted. The hospitalization and medical
recourse are minimized to a level which can make them mentally ill due to sufferings. The
mental illness in and outside the prison has seen a major rise pointing out towards the conditions
that they are kept in the cells. The women are more likely to suffer from various mental disease
and once diagnose with some mental disease are completely shut inside locked invisible room
that does not allows them to be out socially. They are considered dangerous, lethal and unsocial

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
elements who should be avoided at all circumstances. These bring the oppression of social
dilemma in them locking their thoughts to one point and freezing their dreams and goals of life
(Hunter et al., 2016).
Social work profession to help the prisoners
This is a social responsibility to open the doors of freedom and happiness for them. A
prisoner is an equal shareholder in the nations growth. They are counted when the economy
growth is taken into consideration. The government and the nation cannot ignore their presences
(Lehmann, 2017). As a social work professional one can make plans to design a method of
teaching and educating people all around the world. They can think about how with the legal
method help these inmate inside the prison. Methods of how the mental and physical health can
be improved with the help of the in-charge officers. The funds that are allocated for their
development may get stolen by the corrupt people in the system. The social worker can work by
bringing the whole fund for the utilization of the inmates (McCarter, 2017). They can keep the
records of the health benefits provided to them and specially of the mentally disturbed prisoners.
They have to bear the burden of being responsible if they take charge to improve the life of the
prisoners. The social worker should consider talking regularly to officers to know the status and
what help can be done for the betterment of the inmate. They can organize seminars for the
officers who are the in-charge of them.
A social work professional can help the ex-inmate outside the cell by creating awareness
about the possibility of living a social life. They should educate the prisoners who are out how
they can manage their daily life and family life what changes they should follow. This is not very
easy as the prisoners who are emotionally blank will not understand this but making an effort can

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
at least stir a change in the ocean (Goomany & Dickinson, 2015). Educating and providing help
for employment is the two biggest tools in bringing them on the equal platform as others. They
have to be brought out of the oppression that they may be facing through years. The social work
is one of the best reasons to give them a positive environment which otherwise is difficult. This
vulnerable group can be guided correctly to lead a normal happy life. The social work
professional can make their dream of leading a normal life real by arranging resources for them
and organizing routine psychological seminars for all. The prisoners have the right to lead a
normal life. A social worker who is in this field for long can make this possible by a little effort.
There are more than millions of in-mates who are waiting for the world to change their thinking
socially. The developed countries still have better resources than the under developed countries
to provide to the prisoners. A social cause can minimize this gap and bring equality of freedom
in the prisoners in the world. This can be bestowed on the shoulder of the social work
professionals as responsibility to bring the change and give meaning to the cause.

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Assignment on Life of Prisoners and Impact of social Work
References
Bai, J. R., Befus, M., Mukherjee, D. V., Lowy, F. D., & Larson, E. L. (2015). Prevalence and
predictors of chronic health conditions of inmates newly admitted to maximum security
prisons. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 21(3), 255-264.
Belknap, J., Lynch, S., & DeHart, D. (2016). Jail staff members’ views on jailed women’s
mental health, trauma, offending, rehabilitation, and reentry. The Prison Journal, 96(1),
79-101.
Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., Cloud, D. H., Davis, C., Zaller, N., Delany-Brumsey, A., Pope, L., ... &
Rich, J. (2017). Addressing excess risk of overdose among recently incarcerated people
in the USA: harm reduction interventions in correctional settings. International journal of
prisoner health, 13(1), 25-31.
Costopoulos, J. S., Plewinski, A. M., Monaghan, P. L., & Edkins, V. A. (2017). The impact of
US Government assistance on recidivism. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 27(4),
303-311.
Fine, M., & Cross Jr, W. E. (2016). Critical race, psychology, and social policy: Refusing
damage, cataloging oppression, and documenting desire.
Goomany, A., & Dickinson, T. (2015). The influence of prison climate on the mental health of
adult prisoners: a literature review. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health
Nursing, 22(6), 413-422.
Hanson, A. (2017). Psychiatry and the dying prisoner. International Review of Psychiatry, 29(1),
45-50.

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Herbert, S. (2018). Inside or outside? Expanding the narratives about life-sentenced
prisoners. Punishment & Society, 20(5), 628-645.
Hongo, A., Katz, A., & Valenti, K. (2015). Art: Trauma to therapy for aging female
prisoners. Traumatology, 21(3), 201.
Hunter, B. A., Lanza, A. S., Lawlor, M., Dyson, W., & Gordon, D. M. (2016). A strengths-based
approach to prisoner reentry: The fresh start prisoner reentry program. International
journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 60(11), 1298-1314.
Jones, M. S., Worthen, M. G., Sharp, S. F., & McLeod, D. A. (2018). Life as she knows it: The
effects of adverse childhood experiences on intimate partner violence among women
prisoners. Child abuse & neglect, 85, 68-79.
Lehmann, V. (2017). The prison library: A vital link to education, rehabilitation, and
recreation. Education libraries, 24(1), 5-10.
McCarter, S. (2017). The school-to-prison pipeline: A primer for social workers. Social
work, 62(1), 53-61.
Price, J. M. (2015). Prison and social death. Rutgers University Press.
Rubin, A. T. (2017). The Consequences of Prisoners' Micro-Resistance. Law & Social
Inquiry, 42(1), 138-162.
Thompson, M., Newell, S., & Carlson, M. J. (2016). Race and access to mental health and
substance abuse treatment in the criminal justice system. Journal of Offender
Rehabilitation, 55(2), 69-94.

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Underwood, L., & Washington, A. (2016). Mental illness and juvenile offenders. International
journal of environmental research and public health, 13(2), 228.
Weaver, C., Lee, J., Choi, H., Johnson, W. W., & Clements, C. (2019). Offenders living with
mental illness: How are they perceived by future professionals?. Journal of Social
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