' The deprivations of the prison culture (as described by Sykes) intensify the effects of immersion. These losses include the "loss or deprivation of liberty, the loss or deprivation of goods and services, the loss or deprivation of heterosexual relationships, the loss or deprivation of autonomy, and the loss or deprivation of security." Conclusion: The possibility of redemption for the redeemable; redeeming the incorrigibles -- and managing the unredeemable

Prisons have three main goals: to redeem the redeemables; to manage the incorrigibles (the unredeemable, such as those serving life terms) and convert at least some incorrigibles into being redeemable (through rehabilitation). To aid in the process of redeeming those who are redeemable, many prisons today have half-way houses and offer opportunities for prisoners to learn meaningful trades, so when they return to life on the outside they are more, rather than less acclimated to the norms of daily society. However, particularly from the point-of-view of a corrections officers, managing incorrigible prisoners and limiting the physical harms prisoners can do to others is paramount, and this goal cannot be subsumed to the rehabilitative function of prison....

A final goal, that of converting the apparently unredeemable, may be achieved through psychologically supportive programs such as therapy or encouraging the prisoners to make amends to the community, by doing public works or engaging in charitable efforts that teach prisoners a skill yet help the community as a whole.
The threat of punishment is one of the primary ways in which correctional staff enforces order amongst the unredeemables. Behavior modifaction through offering incentives for good behavior is extended to almost all inmates. However, programs that allows inmates opportunities for self-reflection and charity and socializes the inmates to behaviors that have use beyond that of the environment of the prison are likely to be the most successful for the groups of prisoners who will eventually be released from the totalizing atmosphere of prizonization.

References

Clemmer, D. (1940). The prison community. Boston: The Christopher Publishing House.

Goffman, E. (1960). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. New York: Anchor.

Sykes, G.M. (1958). The society of captives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.