Pelican Bay State Prison: Social Structure and Prison Reform

Social Disorganization Theory and Prison Life

One social structure theory both relates to and illuminates the events depicted in this documentary. Social disorganization theory appears to dominate the entire film. This concept identifies social change, lack of social consensus, and social conflict as the main causes of criminal activity and deviance, and it is closely associated with the environmental theory of criminology. Poverty is regarded as the lowest stage in our social hierarchy. At the poverty level, there are high rates of unemployment, drug use and addiction, criminal activity, and an inability to find stable, meaningful employment. This does not mean these problems are absent at higher social levels — they exist there too, though at significantly lower magnitudes. Lack of education is linked to students who fail to succeed within the school system. They drop out rather than continue to struggle to acquire the skills needed to graduate. The absence of marketable skills stems from students who leave school before graduating and are left to seek manual work — if any work is available at all (Decker, Alarid & Katz, 2013).

The documentary illuminates the permeable boundary between penitentiaries and the outside world — specifically, the relationship between prison life and street life. In this ethnographic portrait of inmate culture, the film observes that prisoners who grew up living by the rules of the street find incarceration reinforcing, because it strengthens their social identities as convicts and street gang members. In such circumstances, a reputation built in prison can translate into significant social currency on the streets. Although the film clearly links the social patterns between prison and street life, other researchers have further developed this theory (Walsh & Hemmens, 2011).

The documentary identifies two primary ways that prisons endanger society. First, the prison system tends to release ex-convicts who are often more dangerous than when they entered. Disturbingly, released inmates carry the aggressive behaviors that develop inside modern prisons back into the community. This creates a destructive cycle of violence between society and the very prison system designed to reduce it. In this cycle, a person enters prison and eventually returns to society more harmful than before. This points to the troubling possibility that prisons can function as incubators that breed violence — both within their walls and beyond (Decker, Alarid & Katz, 2013).

Prisoners are also at significant risk of returning to incarceration after release. While this risk may be overstated in some accounts, it is clearly a central feature of prison life as depicted in the film. New inmates turn to gangs for protection, and this security arrangement can evolve into a lifelong commitment to the group. As a result, individuals who might otherwise be productive members of society find themselves drawn deeper into gang life upon release: on the street, a gang member may be compelled to commit crimes on the group's behalf simply to avoid becoming a target. That same member is also a constant target for rival gangs (Walsh & Hemmens, 2011). Whether the threat comes from one's own group or from competitors, the cycle makes clear that an inextricable connection exists between what happens inside prison and what happens on the street — a pattern that should be of serious concern to all stakeholders.

The documentary traces key historical developments in the U.S. prison system as background for a critical examination of Pelican Bay State Prison. It describes the physical layout of Pelican Bay and the general conditions of confinement within the Security Housing Unit (SHU). The film argues that the effects of sensory deprivation on prisoners within the SHU — including psychiatric and psychological consequences — constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The documentary presents incidents of prisoner psychosis, hallucinations, self-mutilation, and claims that the destruction of inmates' mental health in this environment amounts to cruel and unusual punishment (Stanley & Smith, 2011). In support of this argument, the film also establishes the legal grounds for a constitutional obligation on the part of Pelican Bay prison authorities. It concludes with a reflection on the negative social consequences that result when mentally damaged SHU prisoners are released directly into communities (Decker, Alarid & Katz, 2013).

Primary Content of the Pelican Bay Documentary

From a social structure perspective, the assumed relationship between punishment and crime must be critically reexamined. Punishment is not simply the other side of criminal activity, nor a straightforward means to an end. It must be understood as a social phenomenon, distinct from both its legal definition and its stated social goals. This means examining the formal aim of crime control within the broader system of social policies targeted at managing the poor (Decker, Alarid & Katz, 2013).

The social problems highlighted in this documentary center on how gangs operate through the prison system using a variety of methods. Gang leaders at Pelican Bay manage drug trafficking through communication networks established while incarcerated. When a situation arises that requires a violent response, it is the group leader who issues the order. Prison authorities would like to shut down these networks, but doing so is far more complex than it appears. The effort to prevent gang leaders from running their organizations from inside prison resembles a war more than a conventional law enforcement challenge (Walsh & Hemmens, 2011).

A prison sentence alone is already a significant burden for an inmate to bear. But to be sentenced to prison and then spend extended periods in solitary confinement is an additional and profound hardship. Inmates subjected to solitary confinement often undergo a fundamental psychological transformation that affects them for the rest of their lives. This is particularly true when the rehabilitation programs available fail to meet a meaningful threshold or do not genuinely support the inmate's ability to reform and reintegrate into society. The combination of imprisonment and solitary confinement pushes inmates deeper into a psychological state that makes it extremely difficult to abandon criminal behavior (Stanley & Smith, 2011).

Social Issues Raised in the Documentary

According to the film, the gang problem would be even worse if the SHU did not exist. However, after nearly two decades of operation, the number of prisoners in solitary confinement has grown, and the gang problem has intensified rather than diminished. Violence rates at Pelican Bay have risen at an alarming pace. The film raises concerns that segregation causes inmates to behave worse. It is difficult to dispute that solitary confinement affects prisoners in some way — at minimum, it can make them volatile for a period. Nevertheless, the purpose of security housing units is to remove the most dangerous individuals from the general prison population, allowing the facility to function more safely for everyone, including other inmates (Walsh & Hemmens, 2011).

Prisoners are also consistently excluded from social redistribution programs and public assistance. This happens at a time when economic instability makes such programs critical for individuals living on the margins. Federal rules deny welfare payments, veterans' benefits, and food stamps to anyone detained for more than 60 days. The Work Opportunity and Personal Responsibility Act further bars most ex-convicts from state Medicaid programs, public housing, and related forms of support. Governments have also deployed sophisticated tracking systems to identify and remove any inmates who continue to receive benefits, including paying bounties to jurisdictions that report their incarcerated residents to the Social Security Administration (Stanley & Smith, 2011).

Nearly 95% of the prisoners held in Pelican Bay's SHU are eventually scheduled for release into the general public (Stanley & Smith, 2011). Many will spend only a few weeks in local jails before rejoining society with little or no preparation for life outside. And for every inmate who leaves, another is waiting to take his place.

There are two primary sociological principles addressed in this documentary. The first is the absence of a healthy home environment during childhood; the second is that gang life has become the only sense of home these prisoners have ever known. The inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison have never experienced any other way of life. Gang violence establishes a familiar structure inside prison. The gang leader even directs killings when the group feels threatened, and both leaders and members know where they belong — and are willing to sacrifice their lives for the group (Stanley & Smith, 2011).

An individual's failure to complete education is often rooted in a lack of family support. Family involvement is enormously beneficial, but when families break apart, children suffer most. A child affected by family breakdown will often seek support elsewhere. The support that such children find is frequently harmful. While organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters can offer positive guidance, many at-risk youth end up seeking belonging in gangs and are eventually drawn into the criminal justice system. Society bears primary responsibility for who becomes a criminal, because it has failed to reach out to young people who lack family support (Decker, Alarid & Katz, 2013).

Conclusion