Constant Suspicion Discourages Positive Behavior Changes in Prisoners

"Hey!" the officer said, pointing at me. "Come here and get a shakedown." I pulled my prison ID out as I said, "I have a name, and it's not 'Hey.'" The officer responded that she did not normally work my housing unit, so she didn't know who I was. I assured her I was simply giving her a hard time. 

After my routine shakedown, the officer looked at my ID and said, "Huh. Noonan. I've heard that name before. What are you into? Drugs? Spud juice?" 

"No," I responded. "I've had one class-three ticket in over thirteen years." My misconduct ticket was for cutting another prisoner's hair, which is prohibited in the housing units, though it is regularly done. 

"Well, I recognize your name," she insisted, as if she could only have heard my name in connection to something negative. 

"Maybe you've heard my name for good reasons," I replied, taking my ID back from the officer. I turned and left, shaking my head. No matter what I do, no matter how positive my behavior is in prison, as long as I'm wearing prison clothing, and likely long after, some people will only view me negatively. 

In the officer's defense, custody staff are routinely alerted to disciplinary problems. They rarely hear about the good things prisoners do. Naturally, she would think her familiarity with my name was because of a negative behavior. But this reality is a symptom of a systemic problem in prison administration. 

Prison administration, particularly custody, is so focused on "corrections," that is managing security problems, that it fails to acknowledge, or even notice, the positive behavior of some of its charges. Positive behavior is not only ignored, but it's not even expected or encouraged! We set the bar far, far too low in corrections. 

Behaviorists often claim that past behavior is a good indicator of future likely behavior. While true, this truism fails to acknowledge the caveat built into this truth. Change is an interrupter. Changed thinking often changes behavior. Yet, while the Michigan Department of Corrections requires prisoners to take "thinking modification" classes (including some prisoners taking a class titled, "Thinking for a Change"), administrators and especially corrections officers are slow to acknowledge that some prisoners change. 

It's difficult living under constant suspicion. I don't like being seen as just another prisoner looking to get one over on the administration. Yes, that's common for many prisoners, but it's not my aim. I've worked hard to change my thinking, and subsequently my behavior, and that work continues. It'd be nice to have those efforts at least acknowledged, even though the results are a reward in themselves.

The officer who shook me down didn't know anything about me, so she gets a pass. But the corrections industry (and the Michigan legislature!) could learn a few things from behavioral science. Positive reinforcement, which means reinforcing positive behavior, is much more effective at affecting changed behaviors than is punishment. Even something as simple as a word of praise or encouragement, instead of being treated with suspicion, goes a long way