: It is argued that the modern prison (or penitentiary) is a site for the transformation or “correction” of prisoners. However, research suggests that prison leads to stigmatization and disrupts family and community relationships (Clear, 2007). The concept of mass imprisonment explains that the sheer number of prisoners has increased but also that the effects of incarceration are increasingly concentrated amongst particular communities and particular groups. Prison workers and communities face the same processes of prisonization (Galloway & Hutchins, 2006; Hassine, 2009; Huling, 2002) as do prisoners. The depersonalization of prisoners may be a means for officers to remain detached (Crawley, 2004) and negotiate their status as dirty workers (Tracy & Scott, 2006), nonetheless ensuring that prisons remain dehumanizing institutions. Rural communities see prisons as economic recovery schemes yet face the possibility of “soul death” (Galloway & Hutchins, 2006; Huling, 2002). Marginalized communities find themselves caught in a nexus whereby they cycle between homelessness and incarceration (Gowan, 2002) or the ghetto and prison (Wacquant, 2003). However, Wacquant (2003) suggests that the carceral continuum is merely the latest “peculiar institution” to target people of colour. Simmons (2009) contends that increasingly a school-to-prison pipeline exists for the youth in these communities. Imprisonment (and punishment more generally) are being transformed as they come to be entertainment commodities rather than mechanisms for deterrence or rehabilitation (Lynch, 2004). Discuss the possibility that the persistence of prison is due to its functionality in society.
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