Response # 14

Britton uses theory to frame her questions to help better understand how prisons came about. She dates back to the earliest form of prisons that existed within the United States to find that the first prison to be formed was in 1785. From this point there were many types of prisons. One of the statements that Britton makes in her book is “organizations are gendered at the level of structure,” Britton is trying to convey the message of prisons being organized at the gender level within the prison structure. The prisons were mostly guarded with white males who were paid very little. The inmates were predominantly immigrants. Mostly African Americans were incarcerated into the prison system. White females were part of the inmate population and mostly were in there for lurking or “waywarding.” Men were the guards and they also guarded the women within the prisons. As the industrialization period exploded, inmates were used to construct roads and railroad lines. These were soon to be called chain gangs. The chain gangs were worked nearly to death do to the incentive the guards would receive on the side for getting the inmates to complete more work in the day. Women did no play a role in the prison system unless they were inmates of the prison. Britton explains how the culture and agencies all developed the gender gap of prisons. Women were looked at for “mothering” other women who were accused of lurking from traditional roles. The men were the peoples who were in charge of keeping order within the system. Britton’s research and theory helps lay out the map to how the prisons have changed throughout time. We can see from the start of prisons to now how the prisons are ran with in the United States. As the scope narrows to today, we can see that the changes are enormous.