Behind Bars

- Season 1

(2011)

Life for 2 million convicts (6/10 re-offenders) is US jails is mainly monotony, daily routine, essentially waiting in a cramped cell. The intake process in Joliet, Illinois Correctional center demonstrates how they are literally stripped of their personality into uniform and strict rules. Fresh meat needs to learn the ropes, hopefully from a cell-mate, and find the right attitude to neither provoke nor seem easy prey. Although an illegal health risk, 'locally improvised' prison tattoos are very common, especially among prison gangs. Some effeminate queer cons practice...

Although sex is strictly banned in Anglosaxon jails (hard to enforce), physical love exists as well as platonic forms. wards or prisons being unisex, gay sex is practiced frequently, often even cross-dressed as a substitute for a 'hungry' heterosexual, even despite homophobia. Some siblings or other relatives serve time together. Also emotional are conjugal & family visits, despite the hassle of gift -and strip searches. pets.

In US prisons, the presence of many violent criminals means armed staff nor convicts (some of whom fabricate their own, 'shanks') are ever quite safe, especially as some rebels never learn, regardless of internal punishments such as isolation and restraints. Sometimes riots lead to a bloodbath. So preventive (such as searches) and even repressive procedures become routine, while the hardest operations may be confided to specialist teams. Frustration sometimes leads to self-mutilation or suicide attempts.

American prisoners are subject to two set of rules. Besides the legal ones enforced by staff, and courts in extreme cases, operates the officiously self-enforced 'convict code', which impacts their daily lives as much, especially social interaction. Newbies are quickly recruited to race-segregated gangs, which use concealed arms for violent enforcement of such rules an an omerta. Murders rank highest, sex-offenders lowest. Gay people have an ambiguous status, death row convicts have a good behavior-version to apply for clemency.

Interviews and background facts probe the pathological psychology of major criminals, mainly the 7% lifers among the US prison population. Many are openly proud of their vicious violence, however detrimental that be to any parole prospect, and hope to commit more bloody crimes, some indeed manage to gravely hurt prison staff or cell-mates, not to mention vandalism. Some original crimes are crazy enough, such as unprovoked patricide, yet legal qualification as un-accountable often seems inept.

The combination of criminal tempers and stressed life often leads to inmates going wild, which may mean violence to staff, each-other or themselves. Motives may vary from grudges, revenge, status or boredom to 'arranging' solitary confinement to avoid others. It's so common there are regularly trained 'extraction teams' and visiting administrative judges. Those and searches must also try to restrain various contraband, which isn't just weapons and drugs or moonshine but under rules anything not marked as approved in advance.

A hardcore minority of jailed US prisoners is subjected to a tough regime, 'hard time', either in special wards, specialized prisons or isolation cells in 'special housing unit's (SHU). The reasons can be the original sentence or misbehavior within prison, such as abuse of staff and/or other prisoners. Some prisons still practice hard labor, even some prison farms, despite the additional risks for staff. temporary hard time often results from interventions by restraining-equipped intervention teams, which may involve overpowering, mace, stripping. Even during hard ...

Some hardened criminals show no remorse and don't even learn to avoid further punishment by acceptable behavior. They usually remain in maximum security prisons, ditto wards and even isolation cells, often for life, after repeated abuse of staff and/or fellow convicts. Some actually keep provoking when the intervention team is ready with pepper spray and shock-shields.

Know what this is about? Be the first one to add a plot.