I tried letting inmates pick their own bunkmate and got a riot instead

Last month I convinced the volunteer coordinator at county to let me run a trial where six guys could choose cell partners based on a survey. Within 48 hours, two of the matched pairs ganged up on a third guy and stole his commissary. Learned that unstructured choice just reinforces the existing power hierarchy instead of reducing tension, so maybe we need more guard intervention upfront.

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_craig2816d ago

Reinforcing the existing power hierarchy, huh? So basically you just gave the bullies a formal application process.

the_fiona16d agoTop Commenter

Fair point, but I think it played out a bit more balanced than that. The survey asked about leadership structures and conflicts, and we got data from people who actually wanted to be heard, not just the loudest guys. The existing power players did try to game it, sure, but we also flagged some groups of inmates who had no voice before. One dude wrote a whole page about how the officers ignored the under-table rules he and a few others worked out to keep peace in the laundry crew. That kind of info would've been buried without the formal process. So yeah, the bullies got a chance to flex, but so did the quiet ones who knew how things really run.

anna49116d ago

Wow, that's insane. So you basically handed them a permission slip to form gangs... I can't believe nobody saw that coming from the jump. In county lockup, the guys who run the pods already have everything figured out, so a survey is just a way for them to recruit muscle. Did you at least get any data on how fast the alliances formed?