The purpose of this study is to compare the depiction of the US justice and prison systems in film and television across different decades and to compare scripted vs. unscripted depictions. This study is exploratory to determine which variables are prominent in the depictions. Key variables that will initially be under investigation are the guard to prisoner interactions, the depiction of segregation, gender roles, and the way the prison system is shown in general.
The debates about the justice system being unjust are growing now more than ever. Television shows and articles in the media about prison and the incarceration system before it has become seemingly more popular. Television shows such as “60 Days In” on A&E, “Orange is the New Black” …show more content…
It is a part of the prison that prisoners go to if they assault an officer, murder another inmate, or uncontrollably act out. It is a small, individual cell where the prisoner is locked up for 23 hours out of the day. According to the ASCA-Liman 2014 survey of Administrative Segregation in Prison, the size of the cell ranges depending on the prison from 45 to 128 square feet. Punishing someone that acts out is a way of deterring prisoners from doing bad things during their time in prison, but most of the time it makes the inmates worse. As shown in the PBS documentary “Solitary Nation.” This documentary shows the real-life occurrences of a day to day basis as to what goes on behind closed doors. The inmates are shown cutting themselves, clogging toilets and flooding the unit, all the way to just screaming and banging on the windows and doors. In the first episode of season two in “Orange is the New Black,” the main character Piper Chapman is released from “the Shu.” The way it is shown is very graceful. The guard knocks on the door and opens it, even though she does not respond. She is then only hand cuffed on her hands in front of her. What is shown in the documentary on PBS is all the inmates in solitary confinement are treated as hostile so their hands and feet are cuffed then cuffed together. If the corrections officer knocks on the door and the inmate does not answer they do not just walk into the cell lightly and greet the inmate as a friend. (Schilling,
The debates about the justice system being unjust are growing now more than ever. Television shows and articles in the media about prison and the incarceration system before it has become seemingly more popular. Television shows such as “60 Days In” on A&E, “Orange is the New Black” …show more content…
It is a part of the prison that prisoners go to if they assault an officer, murder another inmate, or uncontrollably act out. It is a small, individual cell where the prisoner is locked up for 23 hours out of the day. According to the ASCA-Liman 2014 survey of Administrative Segregation in Prison, the size of the cell ranges depending on the prison from 45 to 128 square feet. Punishing someone that acts out is a way of deterring prisoners from doing bad things during their time in prison, but most of the time it makes the inmates worse. As shown in the PBS documentary “Solitary Nation.” This documentary shows the real-life occurrences of a day to day basis as to what goes on behind closed doors. The inmates are shown cutting themselves, clogging toilets and flooding the unit, all the way to just screaming and banging on the windows and doors. In the first episode of season two in “Orange is the New Black,” the main character Piper Chapman is released from “the Shu.” The way it is shown is very graceful. The guard knocks on the door and opens it, even though she does not respond. She is then only hand cuffed on her hands in front of her. What is shown in the documentary on PBS is all the inmates in solitary confinement are treated as hostile so their hands and feet are cuffed then cuffed together. If the corrections officer knocks on the door and the inmate does not answer they do not just walk into the cell lightly and greet the inmate as a friend. (Schilling,