The Modern Prison as Total Institution? Public Perception Versus Objective Reality

Abstract

Building on an earlier work (Farrington 1990) that argued that the modern American correctional facility should be viewed as a “somewhat-less-than-total,” as opposed to a truly “total,” institution (Goffman 1961), this article discusses the specific reasons why the contemporary prison is not more fully, more totally, and more effectively separated from the larger social world(s) in which it is situated. It then examines the extent to which the image of the prison as a total institution remains a predominant part of American thinking about prisons and their functions. Finally, it considers the possible ramifications of this apparent disjuncture between objective prison reality and “the myth of the prison as a total institution.”