Correction Facilities Officers Unorthodox Methods of Control
Corrections officers are tasked with maintaining control of the prisoners they supervise. Prison populations disproportionately consist of people of color. Even intimidating corrections officers may feel uncertain at times. The threat of an officer ignoring the actions of fellow convicts might cower some inmates. Sometimes, the threat of allowing a riot to take place or ignoring the possession of contraband is used to control or outright eliminate prisoners.
Volume 32, Number 1, January 1974
This article highlights the means of intimidation used by corrections officers at Angola State Prison in Louisiana, particularly by invoking threats of prisoner rape or shootings. Most inmates are African American, and many corrections officers are thought to be part of the KKK. The prison is built on the grounds of an antebellum plantation. The implications of asserting White Supremacy here are very clear.
Volume 30, Number 10, December 1972
The key in this article seems to be the implication of at least neglect on the part of prison authorities. The result was a black man was murdered in his cell by two white men in possession of contraband. Undoubtedly word of this incident would have spread through the prison and could be interpreted as a silent warning to what can happen if you are African American and not submitting to corrections officers.
Volume 30, Number 10, December 1972
This article highlights the poor conditions in which prisoners are kept the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond, VA. Both black and white prisoners are affected, all of whom believe that a calculated effort began in October 1971 to instigate a race riot. This follows the Attica Prison uprising from September, which ended with the deaths of forty-three inmates and corrections officers, with thirty-nine of those deaths occurring from police gunfire.
