Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in prison can relate to the concept of prison rituals and routines. This was discussed by the anonymous author of “Trapped by Rituals: How to Avoid the Monotony of Prison”, published in the February edition of About Time. I would like to present an alternative to the negative perspective he/she has of this phenomenon.
The article states that being incarcerated means having to adjust to a “host of rules, regulations and formalised processes” and that this requires inmates knowing “what is expected of them”. This is accurate, and, while I am most certainly on team green and don’t agree with much regarding how the Australian system of incarceration operates, the prison system is designed this way for a couple of reasons. Firstly, order and control is required in prisons to ensure the safe housing of large numbers of people (many of them volatile and violent) in confined space. Secondly, it resembles the structure of society, which, whether we like it or not, is based on rules, regulations and formalised processes. The logic being that prisoners following rules and formalised processes and knowing what is expected of them provides them with direction and purpose and instils structure and order in them, things that (if employed) help them not to transgress not only prison’s but society’s rules and regulations once released – the very thing that lands people in prison to begin with.
The author argues that life outside prison is chaotic and random and that those released from prison often can’t function properly due to having become institutionalised. The suggestion that some forms of prison ritualisation cause institutionalisation is fair. However, I would argue that institutionalisation does not always have to be viewed negatively and that rituals or structure don’t necessarily have to be seen as “surrendering to the system”. In fact, I suggest they be harnessed to benefit the individual – not to the point that one becomes an automaton or slave but to the point that (as the author acknowledges) they provide order, comfort and a sense of control. While we can’t control everything around us, we can control how we respond to things – that is, how we act and what we say – and this is what allows us to retain a sense of control regardless of the situation. This sense of comfort, including control, can be transferred to the outside world through the employment of routine in everyday life. Surely this is the best way to combat randomness and chaos.
I accept that not everyone is suited to routine. Some people work better just winging it or taking things as they come. However, for many, especially many of us incarcerated, routine provides a sense of order in our lives. I thoroughly enjoy my prison routine for that very reason. It gives me a sense of control in an otherwise largely powerless situation. As the author of the article suggests, I can control when I eat, wash and sleep, when and what I read and write, and when and how I train. I incorporate those things into my daily routine, just as I would in the outside world if I had a job to attend, a family to look after or various other responsibilities. I agree that if routine is disrupted it can be frustrating and discombobulating. However, this is where our response to things comes into play. If things don’t go as planned, we can spit the dummy, play up and let everything go to shit (which is a form of victimhood and achieves nothing) or we can retain control by employing patience, flexibility and mastery of our emotions – there is nothing more empowering. As the enigmatic Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “the highest form of mastery on earth is self-control.” And this ability is equally applicable and beneficial to the incarcerated and those in the outside world.
I say: Don’t view routine as “surrendering to the system”. Instead, embrace the rituals/routines that work for you and use them to benefit you and to create order in your life. And then take that ethos with you into the outside world.
Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in prison can relate to the concept of prison rituals and routines. This was discussed by the anonymous author of “Trapped by Rituals: How to Avoid the Monotony of Prison”, published in the February edition of About Time. I would like to present an alternative to the negative perspective he/she has of this phenomenon.
The article states that being incarcerated means having to adjust to a “host of rules, regulations and formalised processes” and that this requires inmates knowing “what is expected of them”. This is accurate, and, while I am most certainly on team green and don’t agree with much regarding how the Australian system of incarceration operates, the prison system is designed this way for a couple of reasons. Firstly, order and control is required in prisons to ensure the safe housing of large numbers of people (many of them volatile and violent) in confined space. Secondly, it resembles the structure of society, which, whether we like it or not, is based on rules, regulations and formalised processes. The logic being that prisoners following rules and formalised processes and knowing what is expected of them provides them with direction and purpose and instils structure and order in them, things that (if employed) help them not to transgress not only prison’s but society’s rules and regulations once released – the very thing that lands people in prison to begin with.
The author argues that life outside prison is chaotic and random and that those released from prison often can’t function properly due to having become institutionalised. The suggestion that some forms of prison ritualisation cause institutionalisation is fair. However, I would argue that institutionalisation does not always have to be viewed negatively and that rituals or structure don’t necessarily have to be seen as “surrendering to the system”. In fact, I suggest they be harnessed to benefit the individual – not to the point that one becomes an automaton or slave but to the point that (as the author acknowledges) they provide order, comfort and a sense of control. While we can’t control everything around us, we can control how we respond to things – that is, how we act and what we say – and this is what allows us to retain a sense of control regardless of the situation. This sense of comfort, including control, can be transferred to the outside world through the employment of routine in everyday life. Surely this is the best way to combat randomness and chaos.
I accept that not everyone is suited to routine. Some people work better just winging it or taking things as they come. However, for many, especially many of us incarcerated, routine provides a sense of order in our lives. I thoroughly enjoy my prison routine for that very reason. It gives me a sense of control in an otherwise largely powerless situation. As the author of the article suggests, I can control when I eat, wash and sleep, when and what I read and write, and when and how I train. I incorporate those things into my daily routine, just as I would in the outside world if I had a job to attend, a family to look after or various other responsibilities. I agree that if routine is disrupted it can be frustrating and discombobulating. However, this is where our response to things comes into play. If things don’t go as planned, we can spit the dummy, play up and let everything go to shit (which is a form of victimhood and achieves nothing) or we can retain control by employing patience, flexibility and mastery of our emotions – there is nothing more empowering. As the enigmatic Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “the highest form of mastery on earth is self-control.” And this ability is equally applicable and beneficial to the incarcerated and those in the outside world.
I say: Don’t view routine as “surrendering to the system”. Instead, embrace the rituals/routines that work for you and use them to benefit you and to create order in your life. And then take that ethos with you into the outside world.
