Jail booking procedures

[mimimikria]

Нашла отличнейшую, подробную статью (на английском) про все процедуры при заселении в тюрьму, написанную преподавателем социологии в Иллинойсе. Репощу фрагмент, интересовавший меня, ниже ссылка на статью целиком.


New arrivals (arrestees, transfers, etc.) are usually transported to Metro County Jail by means of fully emblazoned police vehicles. The prisoner entrance consists of a high security sallyport or garage area that is isolated from the "outdoors." Defendants or perpetrators are escorted by staff into the booking area for admission to the institution-- the individual is not allowed to move at will as he or she is usually restrained by shackles or handcuffs. The physical structure of an institution [jail, prison, etc.] may present what Meisenhelder (1981) refers to as a rhetorical atmosphere or device (pp.52-53): the exterior face of the building, as well as, the internal "cells", thick glass and/or metal doors communicate to the new participant a sense of isolation and authority.

Goffman (1961) informs us that the mortification of the self associated with admission includes a contaminative exposure:

On the outside the individual can hold objects of self-feeling -- such as body, his immediate actions, his thoughts, and some of his possessions -- clear of contact with alien and contaminating things. But in total institutions these territories of the self are violated; the boundary that the individual places between his being and the environment is invaded and the embodiments of self are profaned (p.23).

The initial physical pat-down or frisk when entering the jail is just such a contamination: facing the wall with arms and legs spread apart, the new arrival is vulnerably positioned and physically touched and handled by staff. Although such a search is designed to locate potential weapons or contraband, it also produces an invasion and contamination of an inmate's physical body. Consequently, most extraneous personal belongings (jewelry, loose change, wallet, purse, hats, coats, etc.) are removed from the body/clothing, and are generally kept in inaccessible storage. Personal belongings are costumes and equipment used by the individual to control the guise in which he or she appears before others on the "outside" (p.20). Removal of property further strips the self of ties to the civilian world.

After the frisk search, laces are removed from the inmate's personal shoes and he or she is placed in a large holding cell with others awaiting booking(1). Female inmates are generally held in holding tanks separate from male holding areas. Contamination of self also takes place by forced interpersonal contacts and social relationships (p.28). New inmates may spend hours enclosed in a holding cell exposed to a variety of personalities.

Holding cells (or cells in general) at Metro County Jail consist of cinderblock and glass construction -- there are no metal "bars" at the facility. Thus, all areas are enclosed, with the exception of metal doors, producing isolation within an already sequestered facility. Once inside the closed cell a lone inmate is confronted with silence as he or she is shut off from communication with others in the facility(2). In addition, lavatories are not separate from the cell(s); stainless steel toilet bowls (without comfortable seats) and sinks are located in open areas without partitions. Relieving oneself must often be done in the presence of other inmates or staff, as is the case in large holding cells, further contaminating the self.

Mortification continues by means of a violation of one's informational preserve regarding self (p.23). After waiting for a period of time, an inmate is escorted from a holding cell to the booking desk where he or she is compelled to provide personal information to institutional staff. Information such as an inmate's home address, occupation, date of birth, and number of dependents may be considered trivial, however providing such information can be, at times, embarrassing and revealing for an individual. Medical conditions and past attempts at suicide are among the probing questions and forced disclosure associated with intake. Questions are very direct giving an inmate no time to elaborate. For instance, during initial intake, inmates are asked "Do you have any of the following: aidsasthmabronchitisdiabetesinfluenzarupturetetnus-venerealdisease?" Due to the frequency of its recitation, the list of conditions have become a single word. Staff members are very proficient at asking speedy questions to which new inmates have little opportunity to respond. After the list of medical conditions, the inmate merely shakes his or her head indicating denial of symptoms. Moreover, body tattoos are to be identified and categorized and, therefore, must be shown to staff. Displaying tattoos located in intimate areas is another example of privacy contamination.

While disclosure of personal information is undertaken primarily by means of verbal interaction, problems arise when a new inmate is unable to effectively communicate with staff. Barriers are created (in an already isolated environment) by a lack of verbal understanding of one's situation and the procedures associated with it. For example, on one occasion, a bilingual guard was not present when a Hispanic male, who was unable to speak English, was to be processed. The booking officer on duty, rather than wait for a bilingual staff member, created a fictitious personal history for the inmate. Birthplace, marital status, number of children, and personal health were quickly invented by the officer as a representative history of the defendant. Place of employment was randomly chosen from many different business cards found in the inmate's wallet. Such degradation may be said to exist due to the cold, efficient processing procedure and the lack of explanation as to the inmate's situation. The Hispanic man was observed to be very frustrated with his "entrance" to the institution.

A photographic record of an inmate's admission is then made. For the booking photo the inmate is required to stand on a specific marking on the floor while posing for the event. Posing or positioning the body can reflect humiliating postures and responses associated with institutional intake (p.23).

Additionally, new inmates are required to sign several booking documents pertaining to their stay "inside." For example, near the end of the information disbursement (booking), the inmate must sign two forms directed to the Metro County Sheriff -- one reads as follows:

I hereby authorize you or your designated officer to open and inspect all mail addressed to me in your custody. Same to be given to me after such inspection.
Signature _______________

The other form carries with it a sense of finality:

I do hereby resolve, discharge, and forever hold harmless the Sheriff of [Metro] County, and any of his employees, agents, solicitor, or anyone acting in his behalf, from any causes of action which now exist as a result of my arrest and/or incarceration.
Signature _______________

These documents exemplify mortification and contamination of the self. Personal mail and correspondences will be actively inspected and the inmate's signature is needed for purposes of notification of such intrusion. Personal and private ties to the civilian world, by means of mail, are forfeited or infringed upon by the required signature. Moreover, in signing the 'hold harmless' agreement, the inmate limits his or her future actions (litigation), even beyond his or her stay at the institution(3).

After providing personal, and at times, intimate information to staff members, the new inmate is escorted to an isolated room where he or she is required to submit to several sets of finger prints. Institutional retrieval of inmate histories, photographs, and fingerprints create an environment whereby the new inmate is shaped and coded into an object that can be fed into the administrative machinery of the establishment (Goffman, 1961p.16). Fingerprinting is one example of the coding process; by identifying an individual on the basis of technical characteristics, his or her self identification (name, social class, etc.) is limited or ignored.

During inmate fingerprinting, staff members don rubber gloves and physically manipulate the hands and fingers of the individual. According to staff, the use of gloves is generally due to the risk of exposure to the HIV virus. However, gloves symbolically communicate and demonstrate a barrier against filth, illness, and disease. Dramaturgically, the expressive/rhetorical use of gloves by staff can be interpreted as representing a barrier against the inmate's physical body and self.

Upon completion of fingerprinting, the inmate is again escorted to another area where he or she is secured, alone, in a small cell containing only a shower fixture on the wall; the shower area has no partitions for privacy. Staff members enter the adjacent cell where they can communicate with the inmate through a glass, "bank teller"-like window. The jail staff member (still wearing rubber gloves) commands the inmate to disrobe to nakedness and to push his or her clothing through the teller window. Staff will usually place a plastic garbage bag over the window opening, into which the personal clothing is discarded(4). The new inmate is left standing alone and naked before a staff member. His or her personal belongings (pants, shirts, socks, underwear, and shoes) have been disposed of in a plastic bag normally associated with, and used for, garbage/refuse. Relinquishing clothing reinforces the dispossession of property which is associated with immersion into an institutional domain. During one particular strip search, a senior guard was training a new staff member and while placing the plastic bag over the shower-room window opening, explained (in the inmate's presence) that such a procedure prevented the escape of offensive odors associated with inmate clothing. Verbal explanations/innuendo regarding body odor and the use of garbage bags for storage further degrades the inmate's civilian and personal self through expressive rhetoric and/or actions.

Perhaps the most obvious defacement and mortification occurs during the strip search and rectal examination of the inmate. Still naked in the shower cell, the new arrival is instructed by staff (observing through teller-like window) to pose his or her body in what may be considered humiliating positions. The inmate must perform before the guard by presenting intimate areas of the body for visual inspection. The primary objective of strip-searching is to prevent importation of contraband such as illegal drugs and/or currency that may be secreted in or on the inmate's body. Although institutional safety appears to be the primary reason for physical exams, such activities also act in creating extreme defilement and degradation of the unaccustomed inmate. The guard instructs the naked individual to raise both arms exposing the armpits, to bend the ears forward, to spread the fingers and toes, and in the case of male prisoners, to manipulate the penis in such a way as to expose hidden, prohibited, materials(5). The inmate is then instructed to turn away from the guard, exposing his or her backside. The prisoner must bend over and spread the buttocks so as to reveal any materials hidden in the rectum. Additionally, staff members command the inmate to cough while bent over in the hope of dislodging or ejecting secreted objects in the anus. Female prisoners, in addition to a rectal examination, must submit to visual inspection of the vaginal area. For both male and female inmates, the visual scrutiny of the body and its intimate areas may be said to create the most dramatic debasement of self. Such revealing performances, while providing an institutional requirement for safety, produce actions that aid in the mortification of the civilian self.

Upon completion of the strip search, the inmate is handed a small bar of soap and is instructed to shower, usually in plain view of staff members. When finished, he or she is handed an aerosol can of delousing spray and is instructed to apply the material to pubic areas. Again, activities that are usually considered private and personal are made public before staff resulting in an interpersonal contamination (p.28).

Admission procedures involving extended periods of nakedness and visual examination are, as Goffman explained, the " leaving off and taking on" process of the institutional "welcome." The midpoint between "leaving off" and "taking on" is marked by physical nakedness. Dispossession of belongings and clothing, and eventual nakedness, exemplifies the leaving or stripping off of the civilian self (pp.18-19). "Taking on" the inmate self occurs after nakedness, when the prisoner is assigned institutional clothing and toiletries.

After his or her visual inspection and shower, the inmate is given clothing provided by the institution: two sets of nondescript, blue colored uniforms which hold no distinguishing features which could identify "self." Underwear is also given to the inmate, however these items are not new and are soiled with numerous stains from previous wearers(6). The inmate, faced with having to wear undergarments which may have been worn by countless others, is contaminated, physically, by stained and pre-worn clothing (p.28).

Cloth and rubber shoes are also distributed to new arrivals. Institutional shoes were observed to be somewhat threadbare -- some with broken seams and worn rubber soles. In one instance the inmate was given a pair of shoes which lacked a normal, padded insole. The prisoner was left to walk on the rough rubber sole inside his worn shoe.

Staff members would often determine clothing sizes for the new inmate rather that ask for his or her proper size. Rough estimations were made and the inmate was often left with ill fitting clothes and shoes. Although most staff members were accommodating so as to properly fit an inmate with clothes, others would hand out clothing with little interest in whether they fit.

After having received their allotted uniforms, each inmate is provided with one pillow, one blanket, and one mattress cover. The inmate is then escorted from the shower facility and secured in a large holding cell (with other nondescript, similarly dressed others) where he or she awaits transfer to a final residence cell or pod(7).


Целиком: Welcome to Jail: Some Dramaturgical Notes on Admission to a Total Institution © David Asma
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