Asserting independence

Day1

The first day passed without any incident, but experimenters became astonished and totally unprepared for the rebellion which broke out on the morning of the second day.

Prisoners removed the stocking caps, ripped off their numbers, and barricade themselves inside the cells by putting their beds against the door. This is the same thing I heard from girl travellers who feared of the door in hotels being broken in by strangers. The guards are not real guards who can assert authority by deterrence like weapons. How could they be confronted with taunt and curse by prisoners?

When the morning shift of guards came on, they thought the night shift must have been way too lenient.The two shifts of guards started to work together to handle the rebellion themselves and what they did was fascinating for the staff to behold.

First they insisted that reinforcement be called in. They called in another three guards who were waiting at home and ended up with a decision to treat force with force.

The first weapon they could rely on was a fire distinguisher which could shoot a stream of skin-chilling carbon dioxide. They forced prionsers away from the door and broke into the cells, stripping the prisoners naked, taking the beds out , forcing the ringleader into solidary confinement and in the same time , beginning to harass and intimidate the prisoners.  I have talked about how I felt being locked in solidary confinement and experimenters would have never thought it went to work on the second day.

By force, the rebellion had been temporarily crushed. But a new problem came to face the guards. Nine guards with clubs could put down a rebellion by nine prisoners, but you can't have nine guards on duty at all times and it was apparent that experimenters could not afford such a ratio of staff to inmates. so they refer to another solution: psychological tactics.

What kinda psychological tactics can you work out to break the solidarity of prisoners?

They chose the tactics that amounted to setting up a privilege cell. They have one of the three cells designed as a privilege cell. Three prisoners least invovled in the rebellion were given special privilege like getting uniforms back , getting beds back and most important were allowed to wash and brush their teeth. Privileged prisoners also got to eat special food in the present of the other prisoners who had temporarily los the privilege of eating. It all aimed at break the solidarity among prisoners. After half a day of this treatment, the guards then exchanged the prisoners in good and bad cells, which thoroughly confused all the prisoners. The ringleaders thought the prisoners from priviledged cells are informers and suddenly the prisoners became distrustful of each other. The ex-convict consultants said a similar tactic is used by real guards in real prisons to break prisoner alliances. Racism, undoubtedly the No.1 tactic to pit Black，Chicanos and Anglos against each other. By dividing and conquering in this way, guards promote aggression among inmates, thereby deflecting it from themselves.

Prisoners' rebellion reversely played an important role in producing greater solidarity among the guards. When guards saw the prisoners as troublemakers, they began stepping up control, surveillance and aggression.

Every aspect of prisoner's behavior fell under the total and arbitrary control of the guards. Even going to the toilet became a privilege which a guard coud grant or deny at his whim.After lights out lock-up, prisoners were forced to urinate or defecate in a bucket that was left in their cell. On occasion the prisones were not allowed to empty the buckets, they soon smelled of urine and feces , further adding to the degrading quality of the environment.

Guards chosed to be more tough on the ringleader of the rebellion. Since he was a heavy smoker, guards controlled him by regulating his opportunity to smoke.