Power and Control Tactics Employed by Prison Inmates-a Case Study*

Summary

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THROUGHOUT THE COURSE of my 31-year career as a correctional mental health professional, I have worked with countless prison inmates, both male and female, whose sole mission in life appeared to be the domination, exploitation, and/or humiliation of staff members.

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Power and Control Tactics Employed by Prison Inmates-a Case Study*

THROUGHOUT THE COURSE of my 31-year career as a correctional mental health professional, I have worked with countless prison inmates, both male and female, whose sole mission in life appeared to be the domination, exploitation, and/or humiliation of staff members. The tactics employed by inmates in the service of these objectives have ranged from the primitive and overt to the sophisticated and subtle. Sadly, many correctional employees have been victimized by such predation, and have incurred severe personal and professional losses in the process.

Elliott and Verdeyen (2002) suggested that inmates' efforts to con and manipulate staff are motivated by the power orientation (Walters, 1990), one of the eight primary thinking patterns underlying the criminal lifestyle. The power orientation is best described as the criminal's preoccupation with attaining a sense of dominion over others and absolute control over his or her environment (Elliott & Walters, 1997). This cognitive pattern consists of two crucial elements, first identified by Yochelson and Samenow (1976). When criminals are not in control of events and people in their immediate environment, they experience a zero state, in which they...

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