to properly identify students’ affiliations in order to keep them away from any potential rivals. Even though the students I took out had never given me any problems and had not been involved in any fights at the school, they were still seen as likely to attack others based on which side of the divided student body they associated with. However, the criminalizing associations that supposedly made these students likely to fight were structured, in some cases even forced, by the divisive context imposed by the school—one in which students’ race and class identities, and where in Fresno they were from, shaped how they were subsequently divided and categorized in the institution. Much like the juvenile hall and the prison, the school then relied on the labels it institutionalized to establish a social frame for understanding the young people it managed, creating a “knowledge” of youth criminality that was removed from the actual threat posed by these individuals. The school’s systematic division of students and the relationships it imposed between them actually generated the very threats staff were scared of, as it reinforced students’ identifications with particular affiliations, their fears of other groups, and the institutionalization of the carceral social order.
THE CARCERAL SOCIAL ORDER AS COMMON SENSE
At the beginning of this chapter Javier describes his fear that his incarceration could embroil him in “gang life.” Because he sees most of those around him in JDF as gang affiliated, he worries that acclimating to being locked up will require him to become part of the gang conflicts that shape everyday life in the pod. Javier feels that this is especially true because he sees these gang-involved peers as a surrogate family within a context in which he is removed from his real family. But his real concern is that the consequence of his inability to access substance abuse treatment could keep him cycling though punitive facilities for a long time:
If my mom could have found a rehab that was in-patient, but was out there, she would have sent me to that, but they couldn’t find one. The judge said I needed rehab for my addiction, so he sent me to [JDF’s substance abuse program]. . . . I dunno, I feel like instead of helping me they’re just punishing me by putting me in here. I know I need help with my addiction but I don’t know if the programs in here can really help, I mean taking everyone away from their families, everybody’s always all depressed in there. I wouldn’t care so much if it was just me and I didn’t have a family, but I do have a family, so I don’t belong in here. I feel like I’m just gonna get used to being locked up, like I’ll probably be back in here.
The dearth of resources for poor youth in Fresno and the role of punishment in managing local social problems make the only drug treatment option accessible to Javier one inside the juvenile hall. But in addition to feeling that he is being punished rather than helped, he also senses that this may expose him to a far more permanent penalty; Javier’s adjustment to what is supposed to be a temporary circumstance entails a much more persistent criminalization. Said another way, he knows that adapting to being locked up could very well lead him to continue to get locked up.
Positioning oneself within the carceral social order is a big part of the adjustment and socialization Javier is describing. But it is important to recognize that beyond a set of institutionally defined collective identities, this social order also becomes a common sense framework for understanding who one does and does not get along with within punitive settings. The assumption that different racial groups represented threats to each other was a fundamental underpinning in the day-to-day management of WSP, JDF, and SJEA, and the subsequent segregation of prisoners and students engrained this belief into the individuals held in these facilities. Consequently, the groups that individuals are divided into become strong identities inside the institution that individuals are socialized to appropriate; the policing of spatial boundaries and the constructed threat of the other teach incarcerated residents to see these identities as necessary, ultimately conditioning individuals to position themselves into this social order. In this context, the carceral social order provides a logic for how individuals navigating these institutions come to see themselves, their peers, and what is best for them while incarcerated.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
