Did COVID-19 Affect News Media Representations of Prisons, Inmates, and Correctional Officers? A Look Prior and Postpandemic

• Published date: 01 June 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00328855241240138
• Author: Jennifer Weger,Michael Weinrath,Steven Kohm
• Date: 01 June 2024

Did COVID-19 Affect

News Media

Representations of

Prisons, Inmates, and

Correctional Off‌icers?

A Look Prior and

Postpandemic

Jennifer Weger

1

, Michael Weinrath

2

,

and Steven Kohm

2

Abstract

This study examines news media representations of Canadian prisons pre

and post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Of interest was how

media framed coverage of punishment and prisons with respect to discrete,

event-driven traditional myths (prisons are dangerous, inmates are violent,

correctional off‌icers are cruel) versus more systemic, reform-oriented sto-

ries (more rehabilitation needed, racialized peoples over-represented, prison

conditions harsh). In a pre-post COVID-19 content analysis of 182 stories,

prison articles actually declined. Some traditional prison myths were still pre-

sent and reinforced, but other myths were challenged and some were rarely

seen. Discussions of prison reform were also frequently observed and grew

during the pandemic.

Keywords

prisons, news media, prison myths, COVID-19, content analysis

1

Off‌ice of the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

2

University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Michael Weinrath, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Ave.,

Winnipeg, MB R2N 3R8, Canada.

Email: m.weinrath@uwinnipeg.ca

Article

The Prison Journal

2024, Vol. 104(3) 318–343

© 2024 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855241240138

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Introduction

The public’s knowledge of the criminal justice system is most often garnered

through news media and popular culture (Surette, 2015). There is substantial lit-

erature on media and crime generally, but the representation of prison in the

news is less often studied, especially when compared to the police or courts

(Ross, 2012; see also Saavedra et al., 2019). Discussion in the media is important

because it can shape public opinion on correctional problems (Jewkes, 2011).

The news media may present stories on issues such as the purpose of punish-

ment, fairness, severity, and potential reform. Public opinion in turn can

impact correctional policy and our use of custody or its alternatives. Thus,

news media accounts of prisons are important to study, particularly in their pre-

sentation of myths or negative stereotypes about day-to-day prison life.

In an effortto add to the limited literature,this article f‌irst examinesnewspaper

media coverage of Canadian prisons, exploring the presence of traditional

stories, prison myths, systemic issues, and possible reform-oriented articles.

The article secondly assesses the possible impact of the coronavirus disease

2019 (COVID-19) virus on prison news coverage. COVID-19 has had a great

impact on the world, limiting day-to-day activity and interaction because of

the threat of deadly infection (WHO, 2020a). COVID-19 and commensurate

health-related measures impacted correctional institutions and their operation

(Iftene et al., 2020). Therefore, it is logical to think this may have impacted

news coverage of the prison. While news media coverage of COVID-19 and

its impact on other domains of the criminal justice system has been a focus of

scholarly studies (for policing, see Schneider, 2021), the present study specif‌i-

callyexamines news media coverageof COVID-19 and correctionalinstitutions.

Three centralquestions of interest include: whether or notthere has been greater

overall visibility of prisons postpandemic by way of more newsstories on cor-

rectionalfacilities generally,particularly becauseof the threat of the virusin con-

gregate living situations in institutional settings; whether traditional prison and

punishment myths and stereotypes (e.g. prison as ‘country club”)werechal-

lenged or reinforced during the pandemic,, and; whether coverage of traditional

newsworthyprison discreteevents (e.g., riot, escape,deaths) persist–or was there

a shift to a focus on systemic and reform-related stories?

Literature Review

Prisons and the News Media

The news media disseminates information to the general public through news-

papers, radio and televised news broadcasts, and the internet (Jewkes, 2011).

Weger et al. 319