A large majority of the population would not have any knowledge of what prisons are like if it was not for the movies and television shows. The population understands the prison system through movies, documentaries, drama, and action series involving actual prisons around the world as made available through these media. The movie The Shawshank Redemption is an excellent model of this. The director, Frank Darabont did not want to engage in the race card and allowed Andy Dufresne and Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding to become friends (Boucher, 2019). Depending on what real-life prison you look at; this probably would not occur. This paper will explore the various qualities of prison life, using the movie The Shawshank Redemption to show the various aspects of prison life.
In the prison system, inmates have established particular names for the different roles each inmate may have. The term created for this set of roles is prison argot rules. These are the roles that were found in The Shawshank Redemption movie. The first prison argot role seen is ‘fish.’ A fish suggests the weakness of the new inmate who has yet to learn to adjust to the prison environment, in other words, to sink or swim within the prison. The movie illustrates this role when Andy and the other new inmates are being unloaded from the bus and the older and current inmates are calling the new inmates names and making motions about reeling a fish in. The movie also shows the current inmates betting on which new inmate would be the first to cry after lights out. Once the lights go out the current inmates start trying to make any new inmate cry by whooping and hollering at the new fish. Another role seen in the movie is ‘Merchant.’ A merchant is an inmate who sells when he is in the position to give or has ways to get items into the prison for a price (Sykes, 1971). An example of a merchant in the movie The Shawshank Redemption is Red. He can get whatever you want if you are prepared to pay a price for it (Darabont, 1994). The third major role seen in the movie is ‘Center Man.’ Center Men are inmates that attempt to befriend the warden and officers or supports the opinion, attitudes, and beliefs of the prison staff (Sykes, 1971). The two characters in the movie are Andy and Brooks, an old lifer. Andy helps Warden Samuel Norton and the correctional officers with their tax forms and investments and Brooks maintains the prison library and deliverers books to the other inmates, never causing any problems for the correctional officers. Both men are popular with the other inmates, so they are not true centermen because the other inmates are friendly to them throughout the movie.
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The last two argot rules seen in the movie are wolves and rats. A wolf is an inmate who takes on the male role of a sexual encounter and is very aggressive while forcing a “punk” into the female role (Sykes, 1971). The wolves seen in The Shawshank Redemption are the prison gang known as “the sisters.” The leader of the gang is Bogs Diamond. Bogs and ‘The Sisters are seen sexually attacking Andy at various times throughout the movie (Darabont, 1994). The most common prison term heard outside the walls in real life is probably a rat. A rat gives information to the prison staff or police in exchange for their own personal gain and treatment (Sykes, 1971). Rats are usually the lowest of the low within the prison, being on the same level as a rapist or child murderers. While there was not an active rat in the movie The Shawshank Redemption, it is still active in real prison systems today.
In conclusion, The Shawshank Redemption is one of the closest movies that depict what prison is really like. Prison is a terrible place to live separated from the real world. The movie also proves that not all correction officers are the same. Some have a tendency to be power-crazy while others prefer to be loners working as prison officers or keeping to themselves. Inmate culture is also dealt with by the movie showing the different the various types of roles each prisoner has in prison. Lastly, the movie shows the prison system as a form of punishment. The Shawshank Redemption is a movie that should be watched by any student studying criminology or who wants to work within the field of corrections.
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