Authoritarianism,creativity, and other aspects of a prison organization

Conclusion This analysis shows that no simple explanation will do when trying to understand a prison. The authoritarian aspects were very negative to me as a professional working there. I did not like being blamed for things I did not do, or being sent to numerous required training programs, almost all of which were worthless for me, telling me thing 1 already knew or could not use. However, there were positive sides to the prison, especially in the treatment aspect. In 1972 Messinger wrote “I must take the position that prisons and custodial mental hospitals should be abolished” (Messinger, 1972, P. 6). His position was that these institutions are so inhumane that society would be better served by their abolition. We probably need more analyses like the present one, and other studies which rely more heavily on more gathering of quantitative data in order to understand what prisons are really like. Only then can we make informed choices, without depending on stereotypes.