Blog Post #13

The media images of prison guards generally portray them as big, tall, strong, dominant men, or the stereotypical masculine man. They generally carry a weapon of some sort and look men, and like they can handle any unruly prisoner with violence. When I think of prison guards I think of the ones in the Shawshank Redemption. Those guards were brutal; they continually beat the prisoners and killed some of the prisoners from beating them so badly. In that movie, it seemed that they guards beat the prisoners to prove that they were more dominant then them, and to belittle them and make them know they were inferior and useless. I am not sure that images of female guards in male prisons exist; if so, I haven’t seen any. Regardless, I still do have an image in my head of a very masculine woman who is strong and rather emotional as a prison guard in a male facility. It is actually really sad that that image is what I think of because not only do I know that it is a stereotype, and an incorrect one at that, but I actually visit a prison rather often so I know that female guards are not like that at all. From my personal experience, they only difference I see between female guards and our stereotypical female is that they seem a little less sweet, and a little more blunt and to the point but I feel that is because their job calls for them to behave in that manor, and they probably only behave that way at work.

There are definitely difference in the images that portray correctional officers in female prisons and male prisons. The officers in male prisons are portrayed as strong, harsh, dominant, and using brute force to settle all problems. This is mainly because it is assumed that male prisons are always violent, and therefore the officers need to be able to control this in whatever way they can. The truth is that the prisons are rarely that violent because the prisoners keep each other in check. The officers in female prisons are not portrayed so harshly because people assume that female prisons are not violent because it is not in the nature of women to act aggressively. However, this is a stereotype of women, and is not true. The only films I have ever seen with guards in a female prison are in a juvenile female prison. The guards were not mean, they were more understanding, and they did not carry weapons, or use force. It seems that guards trained in female prisons are trained not to use force or dominance, while guards trained in male prisons are.