Prisons and Military, Essay Example

Initiation Programs in Prisons and Military Facilities

The initiation procedures and rituals within the military and prisons are similar in many aspects. The below paper will review some of the rituals for initiation within prisons and army setting, in order to highlight the similarities between the two.

Kaminski (1) states that the purpose of the prison initiation is to separate the newcomer from old inmates, while making him worthy to join the group. Through – often cruel – humiliation, the inmates re-set the “rookie’s” frame of mind. In turn, when a new member comes, the recently initiated member will take revenge. As the author (Kaminski, 2) concludes, “it is in the rookie’s best interest to convince the old inmates that he is both tough and smart

Military rituals (often called “hazing”) have a similar purpose. Separation and drawing the line between the inside and outside world is the main purpose of rituals. As Adams (4) quotes states, the new arrivals are considered to be inferiors to those who are already a part of the community, they are “the lowest form of life… but still higher than anything outside. They need to prove themselves to be worthy of being taken in and stop being “rats”.

In both environments, there is a social order, and those who belong to the highest “caste” organize the initiation and create the rules. In prisons, as Kaminski states, these are called Grypsmen, and they define the norms of behavior and rules. In the army setting, the role of initiation rituals, assigning roles to members, and making decision about the status of newcomers is assigned to senior military members with authority.

Both systems have the mechanism of reproducing themselves. Today’s rookies can become tomorrow’s torturers, and leaders of the community constantly train new people to – according to their description – look after the people inside.

Works Cited

Adams, A. Dyke to Dyke: Ritual Reproduction at the U.S. Men’s Military College. Anthropology Today. Vol. 9. Issue 5. 1993. Print.

Kaminski, M. Games Prisoners Play: Allocation of Social Roles in a Total Institution. 2013. Web.  <https://webfiles.uci.edu/mkaminsk/www/articles/gamespri/paper.pdf>