Applied Functional Behavioural Analysis in Prison Essay

Introduction

A prisoner is a person incarcerated in jail or prison. People go to jail so that they can correct their behaviour and at the same time get punishment for the crimes committed. Life in incarceration is different from life outside prison. Basic freedom is a taken away and the prisoner has to abide by new rules and regulations. The treatment that prisoners get from prison warden once they arrive in jail often becomes the root of prisoners’ problematic behaviour. This paper will endeavour to discuss the effectiveness of applied functional behavioural analysis in dealing with problematic behaviour in prison.

Problematic prisoners’ behaviour

Guards in prisons are not given “specific training on how to be guards” (Stanford Prison Experiment, Enforcing law, para. 1). Instead, they are free to do whatever they think is necessary to maintain law and order. The wardens stipulate their own rules that prisoners are expected to follow. The wardens use the rules to command respect from the prisoners. When the prisoners arrive in prison, they are subjected to an inhuman treatment. They are forced to strip naked as well as have their hair shaved. Their hair is shaved to take away their individuality. They are given prison identity numbers by which they come to be known by therefore making them anonymous. In some prisons such as Stanford, prisoners are sprayed to ensure that they do not bring germs into the prison through this degrading procedure. The basic rights of the prisoners are taken away and conflict between wardens and prisoners kick in when the wardens try to assert their authority. The wardens use physical punishment to demand respect and obedience from prisoners. On the other hand, the prisoners rebel the kind of treatment they get from the wardens and the real conflict starts (Stanford Prison Experiment, Enforcing law, para. 1

When the physical tactics fail to work wardens use psychological tactics to divide the solidarity of prisoners. Solidarity means an organized attempt by the prisoners to force staff to do what they want. Solidarity is based on race, religion, gang membership, or geographic origin. Prisoners form gangs so that they can have control of the prison. They want to feel that they have more control of the prison than the prison staff (Wood, 2006, p. 613). To break the solidarity some prisoners get privileges and the rest of the prisoners take this as a sign of disloyalty, thus capable of being informers thus, mistrust develops, and the gangs are weakened.

Dealing with prisoners’ behaviour

To change the behaviour of offenders is a challenge that many correctional professionals face. Many programmes are designed to help the offenders correct their behaviour such as educational programmes, job opportunities and so on. On the contrary, not all offenders are interested in such programmes. Such offenders are often problematic and exhibit violent behaviour towards wardens and other inmates. The behaviour of such prisoners needs to be modified (Webb, 2001, p.3).

To deal with the problematic prisoners’ behaviour the wardens take some steps. It is important to note that both the wardens and prisoners modify their behaviour through their interactions. To deal with prisoners’ behaviour two contingencies are applied in the correctional settings- positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement refers to the “application of stimuli as a consequence for targeted behaviour that results in increasing or maintaining the rate, magnitude or duration of that targeted behaviour” (Webb, 2001, p.3). In prison, the staff reinforces good prisoner behaviour with positive stimuli such as privilege rooms or visitations. This method of altering behaviour can also be called coercive persuasion. This is because the prisoners are “induced to behave in a prescribed way” by the offer of a reward for compliance or “severe punishment for non compliance” (Azjen, 1992, p. 2). Positive reinforcement takes two dimensions positive punishment and negative punishment.

Punishment

Punishment is used in correctional settings to discourage bad behaviour. Positive punishment involves application of stimuli that reduces the rate of targeted behaviour for example, placing a prisoner in solitary confinement for assaulting a staff or fellow prisoner. On the other hand, negative punishment involves removal of a “stimuli to reduce the rate of targeted behaviour” (Webb, 2001, p. 3). For instance, a prisoner who had acquired some privileges has them taken away to reduce the occurrence of a bad behaviour in the future. In many correctional settings, application of behavioural analysis has been effective in dealing with problematic behaviour in prison. However, the effectiveness of this method once prisoners are realised is hard to know because the attitude change often fades after release from correctional institutions (Azjen, 1992, p. 2).

Power in prison

Elliot says that during his correctional mental health career he has worked with both male and female inmates and discovered that some have a sole mission of “domination, exploitation and/or humiliation of staff members” (Elliot, 2006, p. 1). Inmates aim to dominate prison staff because of power orientation, which is an underlying characteristic of criminals. Two things cause this cognitive pattern in criminals. One “when criminals are not in control of events and people in their immediate environment, they experience a zero state” and feel like losers (Elliot, 2006, p.1). Two, to free themselves, inmates “engage in a power thrust through which they reassert their sense of omnipotence and control, often at the expense of others” (Elliot, 2006, p. 1)

Analysis of prisoners’ manipulation tactics

Many prison staff have fallen victim to the manipulative behaviour of inmates, some have lost their jobs, and others suffered severe personal losses. Inmates strive to manipulate and con staff due to power orientation. It is therefore imperative to study the behaviour of inmates to understand how manipulation occurs. Analysing prisoner’s behaviour will help the staff to identify any manipulative behaviour and know how to avoid it. Inmates use may ploys to manipulate staff. They have mastered the ploys that always end up manipulating the staff. Elliot lists twelve ploys used by inmates- testing, diversion, extortion, disreputation, negotiation, rumour clinic, revenge, ingratiation, splitting, boundary intrusion, sphere influence and solidarity (2006, p.1).

Conclusion

Prison wardens’ attitudes and behaviour towards inmates in correctional settings has been claimed to affect the way inmates behave during their stay in prison. Not only does the attitude of wardens affect inmates while in prison, but also in their life after incarceration. This has been a stereotype believed for so long and studying the behaviour of prisoners given a wide berth. However, it is important to study problematic behaviour in prisons because the prison staffs has also suffered under the hands of inmates. Studying the behaviour of inmates will help the staff to exercise more control and maintain order in prisons without being held at ransom by prisoners. On the other hand, prison staff should be trained on how to be guards so that they do not provoke conflicts in prisons due to their high handiness in dealing with prisoners.

References

Azjen, I., 1992. Persuasive Communication Theory in Social Psychology (From J. Manfredo (Ed) Influencing Human Behaviour: Theory and Applications in Recreation and Tourism (pp 1-27). Web.

Elliott, W., 2006. Power and control tactics employed by prison inmates−A case study. Federal Probation, Vol. 70 Issue 1, p45−48. Web.

Stanford Prison experiment. Web.

Web, LR., 2001. Dealing with the Problematic Inmate: Applying Effective Strategies in a Correctional Setting. Web.

Wood, J., 2006. Gang activity in English prisons: The prisoners’ perspective. Psychology, Crime & Law, 12(6), pp.605−617. Web.