The Politicized Prisoner Phenomenon
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PRISONER ATTITUDES TOWARD CRIME, POLITICS, AND THE SOCIOECONOMIC SYSTEM: THE POLITICIZED PRISONER PHENOMENON By BARRY EDWARD CARTWRIGHT •A. (honours), Simon Fraser University, 1975 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRE• MENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 1983 fc^Barry Edward Cartwright, 1983 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Anthropology & Semiology The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1WS Date 14 October 1983 ABSTRACT This study was designed to measure the degree of prisoner politicization in federal prisons in British Columbia, and to measure the association between prisoner politicization and exposure to the criminal justice system. A random sample of sixty prisoners was obtained at three federal prisons in British Columbia. The interview results were codified, analyzed by an SPSS computer program, and then reviewed extensively by the writer and the thesis supervisor before making a final de• termination of the degree of prisoner politicization. Seventeen (28 percent) of the prisoners were found to be either moderately or extremely politicized. There also was evidence of nascent politicization among some prisoners who were not found to be significantly politicized. There was sup• port for the hypothesis that prisoner politicization is related to exposure to the criminal justice system, although not as strong as expected. Politicization appears to be related to both quantity of exposure (as measured by frequency of incar• ceration) and quality of exposure (as measured by usual level of security and length of sentence). - iii - TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 2. CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW A. Introduction 14 B. Property Relations and Crime 19 C. The New Sociology of Law 22 D. The State and the Criminal Justice System 25 E. A Brief Critical Perspective 28 Chapter 3. THE POLITICIZED PRISONER PHENOMENON: A BRIEF SOCIO-HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 43 A. The Politicized Prisoner: A Brief History 43 B. Racism and Prisoner Politicization 51 C. The Current Situation 54 D. Politicization and the Prison Environment 58 E. Summary 62 Chapter 4. CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY AND THE POLITICIZED PRISONER 67 A. Introduction 67 B. Attitudes Toward the Socioeconomic System 69 C. Attitudes Toward the Criminal Justice System 73 D. Attitudes Toward Predominant Cultural Values 75 E. Attitudes Toward the Power Structure 84 F. Attitudes Toward the Sociology of Law 87 G. Prisoner Programs for Change 93 H. Summary 99 Chapter 5. METHODOLOGY 107 A. Introduction 107 B. Studies on Prisoner Attitudes 108 [ - iv - C. The Fairchild Study 112 D. Entry to the Field 118 E. Sampling Procedures 122 F. The Interview Schedule 129 G. Interviewing Techniques 139 H. Interpreting the Results 143 I. Summary 148 Chapter 6. SURVEY FINDINGS 154 A. The Sample 154 B. Prisoner Perspectives on Crime, Politics and the Socioeconomic System 163 C. Overall Degree of Politicization 181 D. Politicization and Exposure to the Criminal Justice System 190 E. Summary 197 Chapter 7. CONCLUSION 200 A. Introduction 200 B. The Significance of the Findings 201 C. The Future Impact on Prisons 210 D. Other Related issues 215 E. Summary 222 BIBLIOGRAPHY 228 Appendix A - Interview Schedule 236 i - v - LIST OF TABLES Page Table 5.1 Offence Categories for Prisoners in the Pacific Region Between the Ages of 20 and 30 127 Table 5.2 Present Offence(s) 128 Table 5.3 Politicization Indicators 145 Table 6.1 Age of Prisoners 155 Table 6.2 Present Offence(s) 156 Table 6.3 Length of Current Sentence 157 Table 6.4 Estimated Total Time Served in 158 Prison Table 6.5 Usual level of Security 159 Table 6.6 Education level Attained 159 Table 6.7 Prisoners 1 Socioeconomic Status 161 Table 6.8 Parents 1 Socioeconomic Status 162 Table 6.9 Overall Degree of Politicization 182 Table 6.10 Prisoner Programs for Social 187 Change Table 6.11 Prisoner Methods for Achieving 188 Change Table 6.12 Degree of Exposure to the Criminal 193 Justice System Table 6.13 Degree of Exposure vs. Overall 194 Degree of Politicization Table 6.14 Length of Sentence vs. Overall 195 Degree of Politicization Table 6.15 Usual Institutional Placement vs. 196 Overall Degree of Politicization ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor R.S. Ratner, for all the time and energy he dedicated to this the• sis. Without his constant encouragement and constructive ideas, this thesis would never have been completed. The other members of my graduate committee were also instrumental in this regard. Professor David Schweitzer introduced me to critical criminology, and was the first to encourage my interest in pol• iticized prisoners. Professor J.R. 0'Conner showed a keen in• terest in the project, and made many valuable suggestions which were incorporated into the thesis. It is impossible to mention all the people in the Penitentiary Service (now known as the Correctional Service of Canada) who helped with this study. The entire service was ex• tremely cooperative. I was given permission to conduct the re• search, allowed to interview prisoners in conjunction with my work-related activities, and given time off with pay to com• plete some of the research. I specifically wish to thank Brian Murphy, the Chairman of the Regional Research Committee, whose advice and assistance were greatly appreciated. I must also thank my Aunt, Ruth Fisher, who typed the preliminary drafts of the thesis, and Edda Vick, who typed the thesis into the word processor at my office. Without their as• sistance, the thesis would have been unmanageable. Finally, I must thank my wife, Rosa Cartwright, for all her patience, un• derstanding, and encouragement. - 1 - CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION During the last decade, the phenomenon of the radi- calization or politicization of prisoners in the United States has attracted the attention of an increasing number of crimin• ologists and sociologists. Interest in this topic has gained impetus through the proliferation of relevant publications by social scientists, the publication of the writings of well- known "politicized prisoners" such as Eldridge Cleaver and George Jackson, the findings of the New York State's Commission on Attica (1), and the development of left-wing criminology, known as the "new criminology" or "critical criminology." The intention of this thesis is to provide an historical and con• ceptual review of the politicized prisoner phenomenon, and to present the findings of my recent study, which was designed to assess the degree of politicization among a sample of Canadian federal prisoners, and to determine to what extent this polit• icization is related to recurring exposure to the criminal jus• tice system. My attention was drawn to this subject by Erika Fair- child's paper entitled "Politicization of the Criminal Offen• der." On the basis of her dissertation research in three Wash• ington State prisons, she found that prisoners were becoming increasingly politicized, seeing themselves more as victims of an exploitive social order than as deviants, and that this poi- - 2 - iticization resulted largely from the prisoners' exposure to various aspects of the criminal justice system (2). Her find• ings lend support to the claims made by Pallas and Barber in "From Riot to Revolution," wherein they argue that prisoner un• rest in the United States is becoming more politically motivat• ed (3). Being a correctional caseworker in a Canadian maximum security prison at the time of reading Fairchild's paper, I was somewhat surprised by her statements about the perceptions of the U.S. prisoners regarding the political and socioeconomic system. My opinion, formed through extensive contact with Can• adian prisoners, was that prisoners generally tended to be a- political, or certainly not as politicized as she was suggest• ing. At the same time I had started reading some of the wri• tings of the new criminologists, although this was at that time unrelated to either my employment or my interest in the politi• cization of the criminal offender. With further study of crit- tical criminolgy and examination of writings by, or on, polit• icized prisoners, the research began to take shape, eventually resulting in this present thesis. It is important to note that the thesis topic in• volves "politicized" prisoners, rather than "political" pris• oners. There are various definitions of a political prisoner or political criminal. Two relatively recent articles, one by Minor and the other by Schafer, offer some useful definitions. Minor emphasizes that a political crime must be "motivated by - 3 - political intent", and that it must be directed toward altering either the power relations or the public policy of the society (4). Schafer refers to political criminals as "convictional criminals," who are convinced of the correctness of their pol• itical convictions, and are willing to transform those convic• tions into social action, regardless of the consequences in terms of criminal sanctioning (5). Most definitions of polit• ical criminals include the elements of public dissent, social action, appeals to a higher ideal or morality, lack of desire for personal gain, and a view of political crime only as a means to a political end (6). One might suggest that these definitions of political crime are not sufficiently concise.