Culture Of Incarceration

The Culture of IncarcerationIntroduction to Museums and Social Issues: Re-thinking Incarceration, Volume 6:Issue 1 (December 2012).Marjorie Schwarzer Consider these sobering statistics. Americans comprise five percent of theworld‟s population. Yet, the U.S. incarcerates nearly twenty-five percent of theworld‟s prisoners (Herivel & Wright, 2007). As of 2010, the nation was holdingunder lock and key over1.5 million inmates, with an additional 5.7 million adultscomprising probation and parolee counts. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010; Rossand Richards, 2002). And these numbers do not include juvenile offenders nor thespouses and children impacted when a family member is behind bars.According to research conducted by the Amnesty International, the majority ofthose caught in the corrections system are first-time offenders; over 50 percentwere convicted for possession or sale of narcotics(www.prisonpolicy.org). Sincethe War on Drugs and enactment of habitual offender (three strikes) laws in 1

twenty-five states, the number of American prisons has grown at an alarming rate,especially in rural communities enticed by promises of jobs. During the 1990s andearly 2000s, spending in the U.S. for incarceration increased by over 500%, withlarge contracts going to private suppliers of all manner of bedding, clothing, food,concertina wire. (Herivel and Wright, 2007) Despite the influx of money,conditions in American jails and prisons are generally deplorable. Overcrowding,rancid food, minimal exposure to the natural light, insufficient health care, andrelentless loud noise are common even in minimum security situations. Gangviolence, hunger strikes and constant surveillance add to the stress. To makematters worse, rehabilitation programs like college courses and vocational traininghave been cut in favor of “get-tough-lock‟em-up-and-throw away the key” penalpolicies and practices touted by vote-seeking politicians. (Greene, 2006; Hunter &Wagner, 2007). As justice policy analyst Judith Greene explains: “The astonishingupward shift in our incarceration rate has swept this country into the unchartedterritory of mass incarceration.” (p. 26).Economists, sociologists and criminologists largely agree: the current U.S. penalsystem is inefficient and ineffective at deterring crime and making society safer. Itis also inequitable. Harvard University sociologist Bruce Western hascharacterized the gargantuan American penal system as a “novel institution in a 2

uniquely American system of social inequality. (Western, p. 11).” A look at who isbehind bars not only reflects American politics and economics, but a legacy ofracism as well as discrimination against its poorest and least educated citizens.Over 40 percent of inmates are Black; 20 percent are Hispanic. Forty percent didnot complete high school.“Amazingly,” writes former inmate Paul Wright, “American pop culture haslargely succeeded in … ensuring that the general population of non-prisoners doesnot believe that what occurs in prisons affects them.” (Wright, 2000) Now editor-in-chief of Prison Legal News based in Vermont, Wright has written extensivelyabout the media‟s role in promoting and exploiting prison as a ghastly underworldculture, far from the realities of “normal” day-to-day life. Through sensationalistreality TV shows like COPS, LockUp and Inside, law enforcement professionalsand prisoners provide nightly entertainment to millions of viewers. Switch thechannel to MTV, and watch entertainers sporting orange jumpsuits and rappingabout life in prison (Wright, personal communication, 2011) These popular showsare so skewed that, in the words of sociologist John Leveille, “they tell us moreabout the values of mass media than they present factual information aboutprisons.” (personal communication, 2011) 3

Wright has also documented how the clothingindustry grossly exploits prisonculture. “The baggy ill fitting clothes of the prison yard are sold as cool fashionstatement,” he reports. In Wright‟s opinion, ”the most blatant, and successful,example is the Prison Blues line of clothing, made by the Oregon prison systemusing prisoner slave labor.” He goes on to explain that“Oregon prison officialsmarket the clothes with catchy slogans like „Made on the inside to be worn on theoutside.‟ One ad shows a picture of the jeans next to an electric chair with thecaption „Sometimes our jeans last longer than the guys who make them.” (Wright,2000)What does America‟s culture of incarceration have to do with museums? Agreat deal, it turns out.San Francisco‟s notorious former federal penitentiaryAlcatraz Island (reviewed in this issue) – is one of the nation‟s most visitedmuseums.As Wright has observed: “Chambers of commerce inLeavenworth, Kansas and Canon City, Colorado, market their many prisonsas must see sites for tourists. Expensive ad campaigns use catchy sloganslike „How about doin some time in Leavenworth?‟ … Tours of actualprisons are not offered. Instead, tourists can see prison museums and prisonsthat were closed due to their age.” (Wright, 2000) Over 100 prison museumsoperate in the world; two-thirds are in the United States. This does not 4

include the ubiquitous historical society displays of prison-related materialculture like shackles, handcuffs, and correctional officer badges, popular(and money-making) museum-prison souvenirs like whiskey shot glassesbearing prison logos orprograms like “Halloween Behind Bars,” and “TerrorBeyond the Walls.”What kinds of messages do these museums and exhibitions communicate? Arethey copacetic with our field‟s educational values? Or, do they glorify and titillatein the name of entertainment and voyeurism? This issue of Museums & SocialIssues asks the museum field to think more deeply about the connections betweenmuseums and prisons.Since the 1970s, post-modern theorists have likened museums‟ fortress-likearchitecture and closed-off and guarded collections of sequestered objects toimprisonment. The French philosopher Michel Foucault‟s Discipline and Punish(1974) and subsequent analysis within the museological literature (Bennett, 1990;Lord, 2006) pushes this metaphor further, analyzing prisons‟ mechanisms ofpower, control and classification and then implicating museums in participatingwith and manifesting these values. Some of these dense assertions have not stoodthe test of time – after all, museums now strive toward discourse and access while 5

prisons do their utmost to remain authoritative and intimidating. What role canmuseums play in promoting thoughtful discourse about our culture ofincarceration?Since the 1970s many museums have reached out to inmates throughprogramming. Art museums, for example, sponsor programs where educators workwith prison populations, providing materials and art instruction to inmates. Weknow that art-making has therapeutic value and can be helpful and healing toinmates and their families. As Shawna Meiser, who recently curated an exhibit ofart created by Pennsylvania prisoners for the Samek Gallery at BucknellUniversity, explains: “the inmates who participate in art programs maintain betterbehavior while serving their sentences, and that engagement with the arts helpsinmates transition more successfully back into society.” (Meiser, 2011) Yet,thesekinds of educational programs are extremely challenging to implement. Museumeducators are often unprepared for the procedural as well as emotional factors theymust deal with when they work with the prison system. These concerns echothroughout this issue. Museums are to be applauded for their programming efforts.Yet is there an even larger role that we can play? Can museums help to enlightenthe public and serve as a call to action for prison reform, compassion and debate 6

about justice? Can they give voice to the marginalized population behind bars andallow them to share their stories directly with the public?This issue offers no easy answers to the above questions. Rather its purpose is toopen a dialogue about the role of museums within the American culture ofincarceration. The subjects of criminology, violence, law enforcement and thejustice system are extraordinarily complex; this issue only begins to touch onquestions that need a great deal more study and consideration.The opening contribution to this issue is a call to action from a former inmate.Alan Mobley, now a professor of criminal justice at San Diego State University,presents his vision for the Prisoners Center For Reentry And Reconciliation, aplace of healing, reflection and action. He calls on the museum field to getinvolved.We next turn to the perspectives of educators and artists who have recently createdprograms and exhibitions within museums that reflect and respond to the issue ofprison culture in the United States. The institutions discussed are the Eastern StatePenitentiary Museum in Philadelphia, the Hull House Museum in Chicago, theRubin Museum of Art in New York City and Arizona State University Museum ofArt in Tempe (ASUMA). 7

Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) in Philadelphia, one of the most historic prisons inthe world, is known for its architecture and rehabilitation programs designed toinspire penitence (the root of the term “penitentiary”). After it opened in 1829, theFrench reformer Alexis de Tocqueville visited and viewed it as an indication ofAmerica‟s advanced understanding of criminology. It remained in operation until1971, and is now a historic site and museum. In his articleThe Jury Is Out:Programming at Eastern State Penitentiary, Sean Kelley, ESP‟s director ofexhibitions and education, describes how conceptual artists‟ on-site installationsinvestigate racism, homophobia, victims‟ rights and other social issues associatedwith incarceration. Kelley wonders how the field can measure the impact of suchexhibitions on the public. Are artists better equipped to explore touchy topics thanhistorians? By closing with a description of his own efforts to organize a historyexhibition about two inmates (one is still alive and serving a life sentence formurder in another facility), he concludes that the “jury is out” as to how to use themedium of exhibition to explore deeply disturbing topics.In 2011, the Hull House Museum in Chicago developed a participatory exhibitionabout the history and present day realities of Cook County juvenile justice system.As Lisa Yun Lee, Ryan Lugalia-Hollon and Teresa Silva discuss in their article,Making Incarceration Visible: The Unfinished Business of Hull-HouseReformers, the exhibition‟s goal was not only to “critique the prison industrial 8

complex,” but to give visitors tools to carry on the activist legacy of the museum‟sfounding social reformers and “do something about it.”What happens when educators offer programs for those incarcerated at jails and/orprisons? InThe Emotional World of Museum Educators: Teaching HimalayanArt at Riker’s Island, Marcos Stafner and Becky Utech Gaugler describe aninteractive art class offered by Rubin Art Museum staff during 2008 and 2009 forjuveniles offenders housed at New York City‟s main jail complex. Entries fromGaugler‟s journal document her feelings of “stress, anger, fear and frustration”each time she delivered the program and her “guilt” at being able to leave thecomplex when the class was over, while her students remained jailed. The authorssuggest that museums need to better prepare educators for their on-site experienceswhen working with non-traditional audiences.Curator John Spiakintroduces the final articles in this section which discuss theexhibition, performance and educational program It’s Not Just Black and Whiteheld at Arizona State University Museum of Art. A centerpiece of this effort wasPhoenix-based artist Gregory Sale‟s two-pronged work, intended to turn bothprison and museum culture inside-out. In early 2011, Sale brought prisoners fromMaricopa County‟s jail to the museum to paint black and white stripes on its walls. 9

From there, he brought museum visitors into the local “tent city jail” to exposethem to “life on the inside.” This innovative project broke down bothinstitutions‟ “surveillant mechanisms of disciplinary power,” according toChema Salinas, a doctoral student in Performance Studies and Rhetoric atArizona State University. (Salinas, 2011) In his article, Museums and New Aesthetic Practices, Arthur J. Sabatinianalyses the political and institutional significance of It’s Not Just Black andWhiteby discussing its“relational boundary-setting aesthetics.” Among theimportant questions Sabatini raises about the project are: “What aesthetics areinvolved? What is represented in such a project? What is the “position” of the museum,politically, in such a context?” Sabatini‟s piece is followed by choreographer ElizabethJohnson‟sessay Mother/Daughter Distance Dance. Johnson used platforms (likeSkype) to engage four inmate mothers at Phoenix‟s Estrella Jail in a virtual danceat the Arizona State University Museum with their daughters. While Sabatini‟sperspective is political and aesthetic, Johnson‟s is personal. Her project wasfraught with risk and emotion: “this experience has had a profound effect on meprofessionally and personally, the extent of which I have not fully processed.” 10

In theReviewsection, our reviewers look at three radically-different museums andtwo books. Paul M. Farber analyzes the National Museum of Crime andPunishment, complete with a crime lab and shooting range and located just blocksfrom the White House in Washington DC. Lexie Waite takes the boat to SanFrancisco‟s Alcatraz, known as “the Rock” and the most visited prison museum inthe US. Anne E. Parsons visits the Rotary Jail Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana,which was recently converted to an art center.Myriad books and studies exist about the sociology and politics of prisons. Wehighlight two award-winning volumes that approach the topic from theperspectives of memoire and poetry. The first, reviewed by Margaret Kadoyama,is a first-person memoire by Sue Ellen Allen of her seven years behind bars. Thesecond, One Big Self, reviewed by Shin Yu Pai, presents a poet‟s response to acollaboration between inmates at the Angola State Prison in Louisiana and aphotographer.Diana Falchuk concludes the issue with reflections on her experiences, and sheends where we began: with a call to action. In 2003, working with the Museum ofGlass: International Center for Contemporary Art in Tacoma, Falchuk helpedto develop a series of workshops between artists and young womenincarcerated at Remann Hall, the Pierce County youth detention center. 11

Although the Tacoma project, like all of the programs discussed in this issue,was laced with internal and external politics and emotions, Falchuk believes thatmuseums have much to offer both the public and those who are incarcerated: “Theneed is there,” she concludes, “So what are museums waiting for?”When we distributed the call for papers for this issue, we received enormousinterest in this topic. Clearly we have tapped into an area of concern that deservesfar more discussion and analysis than we can offer here. We were not able toinclude perspectives on prisons and prison museums in other nations, prisoners ofwar, police museums, gender issues, the history of prisons, and other veryimportant topics that merit further attention in the museum field.The voices of those who are currently incarcerated are missing from this issue. Intheopening article Alan Mobley reminds us that “prisoners, former prisoners, theirfamilies and victims of crime” are among the most marginalized people in theUnited States. Museums & Social Issues does not seek to perpetuate or participatein this historic oppression. We call readers‟ attention to the resources below, aswell as the numerous citations in each article, which provide ways to directlycommunicate with prisoners and/or access their perspectives. 12

About the AuthorMarjorie Schwarzer served as Professor and Chair of Museum Studies at John F.Kennedy University from 1996 to 2011. She is currently on the faculty of theBank Street College Museum Leadership Program and California College of theArts. A second edition of her award-winning book, Riches, Rivals and Radicals:100 Years of Museums in America (2006: American Association of Museums) willbe released in May 2012.ReferencesBureau of Justice Statistics (2010), Retrieved August 16, 2011 fromhttp://bjs.ojp.usdog.gov.Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (www.easternstate.org), accessed 17August 2011.Greene, J. (2006). Banking on the Prison Boom. In Herivel, T., & Wright, P. (Eds.)(2007). Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration. (pp. 3 –26). New York: The New Press.Herivel, T., & Wright, P. (Eds.) (2007). Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Moneyfrom Mass Incarceration. New York: The New Press. 13

Hunter, G. & Wagner, P. (2007). Prisons, Politics and the Census. In Herivel, T., &Wright, P. (Eds.) (2007). Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from MassIncarceration. (pp. 80 - 89). New York: The New Press.Lord, B. (2006). Foucault‟s museum: difference, representation and geneology.Rathbone, C. (2005). A World Apart: Women, Prison, and Life Behind Bars. NewYork: Random House.Meiser, S. (2011), Accessed on www.bucknell.edu/samek (1 November 2011).Prison Policy Initiative. (www.prisonpolicy.org) (accessed 23 November 2011).Ross, J. I., & Richards, S. C. (2002). Behind Bars: Surviving Prison. Indianapolis:Alpha Books.Salinas, C. (2011). Penalizing the Museum; Museumizing the Penal. (unpublishedmanuscript).Western, B. (2006). Punishment and Inequity in America. Russell SageFoundation.Wright, P. (2000). The Cultural Commodification of Prisons. Social Justice.Accessed on http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3427/is_3_27/ai_n28811188/(26 October 2011). 14

Other Recommended Resources:A large volume of research exists on the topic of incarceration and severalexcellent sources are listed below each article in this issue. This list providesadditional information to those who wish to research this topic further:Website:American Civil Liberties Union National Prison ProjectThis comprehensive site lists legal and other informational sources that supportthose advocating that prisoners are treated in accordance with human rightsprinciples.http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rightsCenter for Rational Correctional PolicyJournal of Prisoners on PrisonA forum for research by convicts, ex-convicts and scholarswww.cspi.org/books/p/prisoners.htmPrison Legal NewsThis independent 56-page monthly magazine provides up-to-date analysis ofprisoner rights, court rulings and news about prison issues.https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/FAQ.aspx 15

Prison Visitation and SupportPVS trains and coordinates motivated volunteers to visit with inmates in maximumand medium security federal prisons.www.prisonervisitation.org/ 16

Culture Of Incarceration

by MarjorieSchwarzer

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