Donald Cressey and the Sociology of the Prison

Abstract

In his foreword to my book, Prisons in Turmoil, Donald Cressey listed me as one of his “known sociological children.” Looking back on our relationship and my career in sociology, it is apparent to me now that he drew me into the area of prison research, got me started, and then, in a sense, passed it on to me and later to other students. In reviewing the sociology of the prison here, I will attempt to describe Cressey's early direct contribution and his continued influence on me and the field. But in order to accomplish this, I must fill in some details about his character and our relationship.

The Depth of Imprisonment and Prisonization: Levels of Security and Prisoners' Anticipation of Future Violence

“…However, prison environments have changed enormously, and due to those changes, prison society has changed too, 'interactives' argue. Irwin's ( 1988) perspective typifies those changes:…”

“…Thus, these advocates suggest that indigenous and imported theories inadequately explain the social systems found in prisons (Irwin 1988). Irwin argues that Clemmer's cultural assimilation perspective suggested that an inmate society was an accommodative system that emerged, in part, to 'solve the pains of imprisonment and the administration's need to maintain control with limited direct or formal means'.…”

Aproximaciones teóricas para una explicación de la violencia carcelaria interpersonal: un debate pendiente en el sistema penitenciario chileno

“…Este sociólogo trabajó en la unidad de salud mental de la prisión estatal de Illinois y estudió las relaciones entre los internos; el lenguaje carcelario; los criterios y surgimiento del liderazgo y el uso de tiempo dentro de la cárcel. Este fenómeno lo denominó «prisionización» (Irwin, 1988;Shalloo, 1941;Wooldredge, 2020).…”

“…La sociología carcelaria desarrollada por Donald Cressey tuvo una incidencia preponderante para que John Irwin (expresidiario) comenzara sus estudios de sociología en la Universidad de California (Irwin, 1988). El trabajo conjunto de ambos autores dio lugar al «modelo de importación», orientado a tomar elementos de la subcultura criminal y de la teoría de la asociación diferencial (Cressey, 1964).…”

Toward an Anthropology of Prisons

“…By the 1970s it had become clear that prisons were in a state of flux and less at the "margins" than these accounts suggest (Irwin 1988). Jacobs, a member of the next generation of Chicago sociologists, approached Stateville through a combination of archival research and participant observation with inmates.…”