Corrections_Today_September_October_2023_Vol.85_No.5

■ E XPERIENCES

non-placating mechanisms. An apt example is participa tory management. Participatory management embraces a cross pollination of ideas and viable solutions to insti tutional problems that are determined by institutional actors — correctional administrators, correctional staff and the inmates themselves. Within academic circles scholars misunderstand the principal distinction between order and stability, whereas order and stability are seen as analogous and interchangeable constructs. The tenuous and paradoxi cal bi-directional relationships that inmate appeasement prescription have with order and instability are also deeply misunderstood. Within the murky sphere of an ordered focus environment that is endemic to unstable correctional institutions, inmate appeasement neutralizes instabil ity. However, instead of curbing instability and aligning inmates’ compliance with prison values, its intended purpose, a slippery slope develops. Inmate appeasement becomes pivotal but paradoxical, violating the very condi tions they were expected to remedy — instability. Moreover, scholars preoccupied with the notion of punitiveness often maintain the harsh pains inmates en dure while imprisoned are purported to stem from prison overcrowding (e.g., the lack of inmate privacy along with the ensuing stresses and deprivations), as well as the

However, this opportunity to express their sentiments manifested following the brutal death of a correction of ficer during the riot at the Vaughn Correctional Facility, Delaware’s largest prison. It was the testimonials of past and current correctional officers to the state’s legislature that undermined the integrity of their prison’s administra tion, and their concern for the safety and well-being of correctional staff (Cherry, 2017). Correctional officers recognize the problematic impact of administrative missteps and are often at odds with the hierarchical logic of their administration. This hidden reality was recognized by Professor Robert Barrington who provided the intellectual foundation that gave correc tion officers a viable platform to present the true nature of carceral affairs for public review (e.g., Professor Bar rington was instrumental in choreographing the grass root activities of Michigan State Correctional Officers). Since correctional officers play a marginal role informing the public of the daily occurrences of prison life, the social space of the prison becomes accessible through the lens of outsiders (e.g., underinformed academics and the medi ated visions of prison events). As such, general depictions of penal events set in motion misinterpretations of fact and fiction that become the perceived reality, rather than the reality itself.

resurgence of past humiliations as depicted in renewed interest in the infamous chain-gangs. 1, 2 A vastly different and unmis takable picture emerges calling into question iterations on the harsh pains of incarcera tion. One that arises from the monopolization of academic scholarship and their resulting myths not aligned with and run counter to correctional realities. The real experts on penology are the correctional officers themselves. Correc tional officers have become marginalized and devalued by correctional authorities, and seldom have the chance to articulate their immediate con cerns within a proper forum.

Adobe Stock/iushakovsky

28 — September/October 2023 Corrections Today