When Is a Prison Not a Prison, an Inmate Not an Inmate, and a Guard Not a Guard?

摘要

Language can be used to bias or distort information, and thus influence how people think about something. Take the case of the California Youth Authority prison I worked in for close to two years, as Senior Clinical Psychologist, and Director of the Substance Abuse Program. It was clearly a prison. When I interviewed for the job, I was asked "Have you ever worked in a prison before?" It was surrounded by fences with razor wire. And, the state's worst youthful offenders (under age 25) were sent there. Most were youths whose previous incarcerations had not deterred them from committing more crimes. However, a few were sent to a Youth Authority prison because they committed a serious crime, such as murder, attempted murder, rape, etc., even if they had no previous record. The way the language was used at this prison was nothing short of amazing.