Prison System

Masculinity is a vital and important role in correctional facilities. The role of masculinity in the male correctional system affects both prisoners, guards, and largely dictates the way in which prison facilities are socially constructed. When men are convicted of a crime the sentence is usually to enter the corrections system. Traditional ways for asserting masculinity, such as the victimization of women, are no longer available for inmates. The deconstruction of traditional masculinities is filled by the practice of men victimizing other men, rather than women, in order to prove their masculinity and dominance. Additionally, Security guards wield power over the prisoners, and in so doing are required to be even more masculine than the most masculine and toughest of the prison inmates. Such demonstrations of hyper-masculinity by prison guards can lead to the use of excessive violence. Shawshank Redemption (movie) provides an excellent example of the excessive force used by the guards in order to assert their hyper-masculinity in an effort to maintain order and establish their power over the prisoners. For survival sake, men are required to act tough, weight lift, and be willing to fight and settle disputes. Any sign of femininity leads to inmates being labeled as a victim for whom many are subjected to beatings and sodomy. The nature of masculinities within the confines of male prisons is broken down into a hierarchy of domination in which the toughest and most dominant men rule the less dominant.