Describe How Can Prisons Replicate Social Institutions?

How Can Prisons Replicate Social Institutions?
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How Can Prisons Replicate Social Institutions?
Introduction
A social institution can be defined as complex social forms that function and reproduce themselves such as the hospitals, governments, family, universities, and legal systems among others. A social institution performs functions such as reproduction of new products, socialization of members to preserve the norms, fulfilment of a given purpose, and preservation of social order and transmission of culture from one generation to another. On the other hand, prisons are institutions set up initially for the purposes that include incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation and deterrence. However, there has been a failure in maintaining a prison standard that ensures the prisons serves its original purposes. Prisons present pathetic living conditions to the inmates. The prisons have lacked proper management that would enable them to serve the intended functions. As a result, the inmates have resorted into organizing themselves in what is referred to as prison gangs. Prison gangs are organizations within the prison which serve as a social institution since it engages in activities of reproduction, preservation of norms and transmission of culture. Therefore, this paper is going to argue that prisons replicate the social institutions in the sense that prison gangs within the prisons have organized themselves to function as a social institution such as a family would do.
As the prisons are increasingly crowded and congested due to the large inmate population, management problems start to pop in from the administrative governance. This is marked by a shortage of personnel. As a result, the inmates form their organizations to substitute the failed administrative system. Through the organizations, the inmates provide protection to themselves against predators while preying on themselves. A typical case is seen in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). The management body, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), of the prison seems to have unofficially allowed and endorsed the formation of the gangs which are well organized and seems to be controlling the prison. The gang groups are led by the gang leaders who are the elders commonly known as the bosyos. The role of the gang leaders is to control the gang members in a more less the same way a father controls the family members. The gang leaders use their position to stabilize order within the prisons.
The gang groups play the role of reproducing themselves through recruiting new members, generating income and distribution of powers amongst the members just as a formal social institution would. Gang groups in NBP engage the members in various activities such as drug trafficking, loan sharking, prostitution, gambling, murder, robbery/theft, rape, kidnapping, and extortion with the aim of generating ...