Behaviour and adaptation in a total institution

Walls of Water, life in a Mexican prison without bars

Abstract

In this article we will try to recognize the main needs of the inmates and the adaptation strategies they carry out during their stay in this prison. The research corpus was formed with 30 semi-directed open interviews (approximately 45 hours recorded). The field work lasted 11 months, 5 of which were in a punishment camp in isolation conditions and together with the inmates. The main needs were obtaining resources and security. Colonization was the most frequent adaptive practice. These interactions take place within the framework of the Prison Subculture. To the extent that the situations that generate conflict are not resolved: inhibition -> frustration -> aggression and violence; fostering division among inmates; the lack of sufficient food; the lack of sources of employment; and creating alternatives consistent with Knowing How to Spend Time that leads to the Colonization strategy; The conditions that generate violence will continue. An ethnological study of this penal colony had not been carried out; and the results are fundamentally based on the field work carried out. Worth. The different adaptation strategies observed were related using flow charts. These results may be applicable to other detention centers. Inmate adaptation strategies tend toward colonization as the most common form of behavior, since this strategy is congruent with Security and Resource Obtaining, through relaxed relationships between inmates and inmates and staff.