Avoiding Offender Manipulation

Chapter 3 of the book The Art of the Con: Avoiding Offender Manipulation does a great job of describing the ways in which inmates spend their time during their prison sentences. Inmates use this time much differently. They adapt, cope, and meet their needs much differently as well. They are so accustomed to their lifestyles out of prison so they must do these things to stay sane. Inmates must quickly decide how they are going to spend their time in prison. This depends on what their goals are and who they interact with in prison. Also the acclimation process is important because other inmates and officers can make your time in prison a living hell if you do not succumb to what these people want of you. Prisoners will do anything to adapt to their surroundings. Cravings from the outside world force inmates to do whatever they can to satisfy their needs. It is extremely difficult for them to adapt to their prison surroundings because it Is so much different from the outside world. This extreme difference in reality shows some inmates that their mindset needs to change or they will spend the rest of their lives in prison. Others will not use their time wisely and simply do whatever it takes to get out of the system while not changing at all. The difficulty …show more content…
Mature copers will use their time in prison to better themselves with the resources that are available to them. If the improvement is evident to the judges and the courts, then they can receive reduced sentences. Immature copers will blame the system for their shortcomings, even though they were given every opportunity to better themselves with resources that were right in front of them. Procrastination in this case can lead to them never getting the chance to return to the community because they do not show the system that they are trying to improve themselves or are willing to change to become a productive part of