Navigating Protective Custody Classification: Examining the Lived Experiences of PC Inmates

• Author / Creator

  Kyle, Ashley

• Classification systems in prisons have consequences in both formal and informal ways for inmates. Protective custody (PC) units are especially unique spaces in which traditionally the most vilified populations – informally often referred to as “skinners, rats, and scaredy cats” – have been housed. Increasingly, inmates with alternative reasons for seeking protection, such as first-time offending or exiting a gang are requesting protective custody placement and are granted such placement with relative ease. This has significantly altered the composition of protective custody units. Related to those compositional shifts, my research asked four questions: 1. How do inmates on protective custody units navigate their day to day lives? 2. How do inmates perceive the social dynamics and larger governance structure to be different in protective custody units in comparison to general population units? 3.Does protective custody serve a protective purpose? 4. How does the PC classification shape the institution and the lived experiences of inmates? To explore these questions, I conducted 23 interviews with protective custody inmates at a provincial prison in Western Canada. I found inmates request PC placement for various reasons ranging from perceiving it as a safer space for ex-gang members to simply wanting to socialize with other inmates they know on a different unit. As a second finding, I demonstrate that the protective custody classification is not fulfilling any protective function and protective custody units run similarly to general population units, especially with respect to violence among inmates and prison politics that shape everyday life inside. Once an inmate is placed on the protective custody unit it becomes clear that the politics and violence they aimed to escape on general population units are present on protective custody units as well. In addition, they have to navigate the added stigma of being labeled a PC inmate. As a result, inmates must navigate the discreditability of PC through consistent and vigilant boundary work to prevent the permanent stain of the protective custody classification.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Criminology
  • Prison
  • Protective Custody
  • Classification
  • Qualitative Research

• Graduation date

  Spring 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-r9px-md43

• License

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