UNIVERS I TY OF CAL I FORNIA
Los Ange les
The Convict Code: A Study of a Moral Order
as a Persuas ive Activity
A d i s s ertation submitted in partial sati s faction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Phi losophy
in Socio logy
by
Donald Lawrence Wieder
Committee in charge:
Profe s s or Harold Garf inkel, Chairman
Professor Jack D. Douglas
Profes sor John E . Horton
Profes s or �1urray J. Leaf
Profes sor Jerome Rabow
1969
The d i s s ertation of Donald Lawrence Wieder i s approved, and
i t i s acceptab l e in qua l i ty and form
for pub l ication on micro fi lm:
? /
Chairman
univers ity o f Cali forn ia, Los Angeles
1969
ii
To Meryl, for everything
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS • v i i i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . ix
VITA AND PUBLICATIONS • . . . x i
ABS'I'RACT OF THE DISSERTATION . . x i i
Chapter I . INTRODUCTION 1
Formal Structures of Everyday Activitie s 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Theory of Normative Culture i n Contemporary Sociology: The Tradition of Weber and Durkhe im • • • • • • • • •
Weber's "Correct Causa l Interpretation of Soc ial Action " • • • • • • • . • •
Norms and Adequate Explanation • • •
Durkhe im and Soc ial Facts • • • • . • • •
Summary 0 1) 6 0 $> e 0 G !b • \'!l • <& e ,611 9 'ill
The U s e s of the Theory of Normative Culture in Studi e s of Devi ant Behavior • • • • • • • • . . •
The P lan of the Study • • • • . •
II. HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION OF HALFWAY HOUSE
. .
2
4
6 10 11 14
16 19
Features of Halfway Hous e s in General • • 22 The Practioners5 Demand for Halfway
Houses for Addicts • • • • • • • • • • 27 The Practioners' Demand for Halfway
Houses for Addicts in California • • • 2 8 The Origin and Original Rationale of the
East Los Angeles Halfway House • • • • 3 0 The Neighborhood and Bui lding • • • • • • 3 3 The P lan of the Early Program • • • • • • 3 5 The Re sults of the Experiment:
Off ic ia l ly Acknowledged Fai lure • • • • 41
iv
Chapter
Surmnary of the H i s tory of the Early Period • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The P lan o f the Later Program • • • • 0 •
The Committee System . • • • • •
Supportive Supervi s ion • •
The Programatic Ide a l s and Ho�es of Hal fway House • • • • • • • • • • •
The D a i ly Working Concerns of the Staf f • •
The Speci f i c s of Superv i sion • • • • • • •
The Routine s of the Hal fway House • • • •
Staf f U s e s of the Routines • • • • • • • •
Staf f ' s Accounted Al arm for Notable Reportable Deviance • • • • • • • • • •
The T ime and Appearance Structure of Deviant Activities Under the Auspices of the Six Doctrine s • • • • • • • • • •
Concluding Remarks • • • • • • • • • • • •
Page
4 4 4 7 4 9 5 4
5 5 5 7 5 8 6 2 6 5
6 7
7 8 7 9
III. PATTERN S OF RESIDENT BEHAVIOR 8 2
Doing D i s tance • • • • •
Doing D i s interest and Doing Di srespect • • • • • • • • • • • •
Pas s ive Compliance • • • • • • • • •
Doing Reque sts and Demands 9 • • • • • •
Doing Unrel iabi l i ty a s Informants • • •
Doing Violations • • • • • • • • • • • •
Routine Survei l lance for Rule Violations • • • • • • • • • • • •
Excur s i s Pertaining to Talk about Actua l Rates of Drug U s e • • • • • • • • • •
Deviance Vis ible through the Demeanor and Response of Individual s • • • • •
Deviance Evidenced through a.Search of the Phys ical Envi ronment 0 • • • • • $
Deviance Evidenced through an Inspection of Persons • • • • • • • • • • • •
Summary � 1;5 Q @ $ e <:; � t) ., GI � $ e 9
IV . T HE CONVICT CODE AS AN EXPLANATION OF DEVIANT BEllA VIOR • • • • • • • • 0 •
8 6
9 6 1 0 4 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 1 9
1 2 1
1 2 4
12 7
1 2 9
1 3 2 1 4 2
1 4 4
Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 4 4 The Code as an Explic itly Verb a l i zed
Moral Order • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 4 4 The Code and Explic itly Verba l i zed
Sanctions • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 4 5 The Spec i fi c s o f the C ode a t Hal f way
Hous e • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 4 6
v
Chapter
Above a l l E l se Do Not Snitch •
Do Not Cop Out . • • • • • • . • . • . •
Do Not Take Advantage of Other Res idents • . • • • • • • • .
He lp Other Res idents . • • • • • • . • •
Do Not Me s s with Other Res ident s ' Intere s t s . • • • • . . . • . • • • •
Do Not Tru s t Sta f f, Sta f f i s Heat • • •
Show Your Loyalty to the Res idents • • •
The Code as an Explanation of Res ident Behavior • . • . • . • • . • • •
The Soc iological Literature on the Convict Code &> II $' • g • Ct ", g .. 1,11 � 1II e _ e
Contemporary Interes t s in the Convict Code • • • • • • • . •
Studies which Employ the Code to Analyze and Account for Inmate Behavior
Summary and Impl ications • •
Page
1 4 7 1 4 7
1 48 1 4 8
1 4 9 1 4 9 1 5 0
1 5 1
1 5 4
1 5 5
1 5 7 1 6 5
V . THE RESEARCHER ' S EXPERIENCE WITH AND O F THE CODE . • • • • G • . 0 0
Introduction to an Ethnomethodological Ana ly s i s of the Convict Code • • • • • •
The Data • • • • • • • • • . • • •
Initial Ha lfway House Experience •
. . .
First Encounters wi th the Code • • • • . •
The Code a s Res idents' Advice to the Researcher • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Code as Res idents' D e scriptions and Explanations • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Code a s an Active Consequential Obj ect in the Researcher's Environment • • • • • • • • •
The Analysi s • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Code a s Exege s i s • • • • • • • • • • •
The " Interes ted " Interac tion-Guiding Character of "Tel l i ng the Code" • •
The Code a s a Ref lexive Sel f and Setting E l aborating Device • • • • • • • " . •
Summary and Conc lus ions • • 0 • • • • • •
VI. THE CODE IN STAFF RES IDENT I NTERACTIONS
" Te l l ing the Code" as a Re s ident ' s
. . .
1 68
1 6 8 1 6 9 1 6 9 1 7 1
1 7 7
18 4
188 1 9 2 1 9 2
1 9 5
20 0 2 18
2 2 6
Adequate Explanation for Sta f f • • • • � 2 2 6 I nteractional Condi tions which Made the
Code Persuas ive: Staf f's Respons ibi l i ty • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 3 0
vi
Chapter
Interactional Conditions which Made Code Persuasive: Reputational Sanctions • • • • . • • • • • • •
Interactional Conditions which Made Code Persuasive: Conversational
the
. .
the Code
Page
231
Sanctions • • • • • • • • • • • • 233 Summary of the Interactional C onditions
which Made the Code Persuas ive Account c! ;I � eo It 8 it & 0& Gl G CI e O' ... 0 •
Sta f f Use o f the Code in Generating the Sense of Events • • . . • . • • • • • • •
Staff Accounts Employing the C ode D e l ivered to the Re searcher • . • . • • • • • • • •
Summary o f Sta f f Use of the Code to C lari fy the Setting to the Res e archer
The Use s of the Code in Sta f f-Sta f f Interactions • • • • • • • • • •
The Situated and Occ a s s ioned Use of the Code by Sta f f • • • • • • • • • •
The Code a s an Explana tion of Trouble •
S ta f f Use of the Code for Identif i c ation and Anticipation of Behaviors • • • . • •
Staff Use o f the Code in Advising Each Other and in Urging Strategies • . • • •
Staf f Use of the Code in Sta f f -Re sident
233
235
236
248
250
251 254
259
260
Interactions • • • • • • . . • •
Summary • • • • • • • • . . .
263 • .265
VII . CONCLUSION AND SU��RY 267
BIBLIOGRAPHY 279
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chart Page
II-I. Lines of Authority . • • • • • • . • • • . • • 47
Figure
III-I. Seating Patterns at Dinner Time • • e • 4 Q 8
1I1-2. Seating Sequences
1II-3. Conversational Units at One Table
1II-4. Seating Sequence Resulting in "Getting Stuck U • 0 e o . 0 <iI $' � '"
III-5� A Typical Seating Pattern at Dinner Time . iC '" I§ • " 4> e $ .., • f8I • \II 0
viii
. .
8 8
8 9
89
90
91
ACKNm'l1LEDGEMENTS
The materials for thi s dis sertation were col lected
whi le I was employed as a res earch analyst by the Research
Divis ion of the Cal i fornia Department of Correction s . The
work was made pos s ible by the support and interest of John
Conrad, the Chief of the Research Divis ion at that time . I
received much counsel, s t imulation, and support f rom Al
Himel son and Don rJIiller I my immediate supervi sors in the
Re search D iv i s ion. I am e spec ially indebted to Don Mil ler
who was a l s o doing research at the East Los Ange les Hal fway
House, where the research was carried outo The patterns o f
res ident behavior reported in chapter three were , i n many
instances, j ointly observed and c lari f ied in d i scus s ions
between the two of us. The survey materi a l s reported in
that chapter are based on a schedule that we j o intly des igned
and both of us carried out the interviewing.
I a l s o owe a particular debt to the staff o f the Eas t
Los Ange le s Hal fway House. Thi s s tudy cou ld not have been
done without their fre e ly given and uns tinted cooperation.
They not only made the various scenes of hal fway hou s e and
the ir own meetings and conference s ava i lable to me , but they
a l s o spent many patient hours explaining the character o f
i x
their work to me.
r wish to acknowledge my considerable intellectual debt
to Professor Harold Garfinkel. Those familiar with his work
will recognize in the present research the full extent of
this indebtedness. Professor GarfInkel gave me considerable
advice and warm encouragement in carrying out this work.
He also made typing funds available to me through the project
"Decision Making in Common Sense Situations of Choice" being
carried out by Drs. Garfinkel, Churchill, and Sacks, sponsored
by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Office of
Aerospace Research, United States Air Force, under grant
number AF-AFOSR-757-67$
Professors Thomas Wilson and Don Zimmerman, University
of California, Santa Barbara read and commented on the work.
I am indebted to them for their encouragement and criticisms.
Miss Phyllis Bennis made editorial suggestions and
typed the draft copy of this work. Her diligent and speedy
work helped to further the completion of the dissertation.
While many have contributed to this effortg the author
alone bears the responsibility for the study.
x
VITA
May 4, 1938 - Born - Mason City, Iowa
1960 - B. A., University of California, Santa Barbara
1960 -1961 - University Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles
1961-1963 - Research Assistant, Department of J'vlental Hygiene, State of California and Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles
1963 - M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
1963-1964 - Teaching Assistant, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles and National Science Foundation, Summer Fellow
1964-1965 - National Institute of General Medical Science, Training Fellow and National Science Foundation, Summer Fellow
1965 - Research Assistant, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
1966-1967 - Assistant Social Research Analyst, California Department of Corrections Research Division
1967-1968 - Lecturer in Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
1968 -1969 - Acting Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
PUBLICATIONS
"On Naming by Rule, " appearing as a chapter in Existential soci010iY ' edited by Jack Douglas, Appleton, forthcoming 97 0 .
"Ethnomethodology and the Problem of Order: Comment on Denzin, " (with Don He Zimmerman) , appearing as a chapter in Existential SOCiOlOiY' edited by Jack Douglas, Appleton, forthcoming 97 0 .
xi
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION
The Convict Code: A Study of a Moral Order
as a Persuasive Activity
by
Donald Lawrence Wieder
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology
University of California, Los Angeles, 1969
Professor Harold Garfinkel, Chairman
Sociologists working in the tradition of Durkheim,
Weber, and Parsons frequently undertake the task of explain
ing observable, regular, repetitive patterns of behavior by
locating norms, compliance with which, are said to produce
the observed patterns of behavioro This study, following
the lead of the ethnomethodological work of Harold Garfinkel,
is directed to exploring the phenomena of "actions governed
by rule" as matters that members of a society make observable
to each other and incidentally to sociologists as objectively
real structures. That is, the study is concerned with the
ways in which societal members, through their interactions,
make it apparent that their actions are "parts of a pattern"
and "produced by rule."
The study was done in the setting of a halfway house
for parolled narcotic addicts which was operated by the
xii
California Department of Corrections . As in other penal
organizations , the inmates? cal led re sidents, were observed
by means of participant observation to engage in systematic
patterns of behavior which were deviant with respect to the
formal program of the organization . Moreover , the residents
were obs erved to have a code of proper conduct which was
indistinguishable from the "convict code" that has been
reported in the c la s sic a l s tudies of the prison as an ex
planation for patterns of deviant behavior .
When attention was turned to the activity of ethnographic
observation and analysis itse l f , the phenomena of the convict
code and the behaviors it was observed to produc e , ioeo, the
phenomena of "actions governed by rule,1I became a ltered in
its sense. It was seen that the work of ob serving the code
and the re sident behaviors as regular , repetitive behaviors ,
was heavily dependent on matters made observable through
interactions between the s ta f f , residents, and researcher.
The phenomena lIactions governed by rule" were observabl e
through the ways that residents persuasive ly ins tructed the
staff and the researcher on how to " see " the behavior of
re sidents through the ways that they cited the re levance of
the convic t code to any residents circumstance s .
An analysis of interaction between the various parties
to the s etting showed that the whol e range of s ociologica l
explanation ( the identification of observable , regular ,
repetitive patterns of behavior; doing analys e s of members'
xiii
definitions of their situations; explaining patterns of be
havior by referring their production to normative definitions
of the situation which would require any reasonable and
rational person to act in the observed fashion) is work that
members routinely do in getting through interactions in
which responsibilities are being assigned, choices are being
defined and made, and in which demands for action are being
asserted.
The practices involved in giving motivational explana
tions were analyzed as methods whereby concrete here and now
events are seen and named as parts of a pattern which tem
porally and spatially extends beyond the here and now and
are practices whereby the necessary or inevitable character
of those events are asserted and socially demonstrated.
Through their accounting practices members make their conduct
and the conduct of others recognizable as events in a social
order. Just what those events are socially recognized as
depends on the production and acceptance of such accounting
work. Thus, such devices as the convict code are not ex
planations of events of conduct, but instead are devices
whereby the sense of events are socially constituted.
xiv
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCT ION
In the pre face to Studies in Ethnomethod010gy, Garfinkel
contrasts much of trad itional soc iology with ethnomethodology.
I wi l l take that contrast as a point of departure for the
study of a moral order and the behavior undertaken in com
pliance with it. In the c ase of this study , the moral order
is a deviant sub-culture, known in the l iterature as the
"convict code."
Garf inke l (1967 , vii) characterizes most, i f not a l l , o f
contemporary soc iology a s fol lowing certain versions o f
Durkheim which teach that the obj ective rea l i ty of soc ial
facts is soc i010gy1s fundamental princ iple. Ethnomethodolo
gists take it instead that the obj ective-re a l i ty-of soc ial
facts are phenomena for investigation bec ause that objective
reality-of-soc ial- facts is an ongoing accomp l i shment of the
concerted activities of daily l i fe be ing accomp l i shed with
ordinary artful ways which are known , used, and taken for
granted by members "doing soc iologYrft i . eo by members ob
serving and reporting on the ir own and others ' a f fairs .
These "ways" of accomplishing the obj ective-re a l i ty-of-
1
social-facts for members "doing sociology" is the prevailing
topic of ethnomethodological study.
In this particular ethnomethodological study I shall
examine a particular sector of the social world, the deviant
sub-culture of the inmate and the deviant behaviors that
result from compliance with its deviant moral order, the
convict code. I shall first examine these matters as ob
jectively real social facts, as they are understood in the
contemporary traditional or classical sociological litera
ture. I shall then examine some of the ordinary artful ways
that members know, use, and take for granted in their
accounting behavior, i. e. their folk sociology or their
observing and reporting. It will be seen that through these
artful ways of accounting (observing and reporting) that
both the convict code and behaviors seen as in compliance
with that code obtain the status of objectively real social
facts. That is, the code and behaviors in compliance with
it are made factual for peers and p�ofessional sociologists
alike through the ways that members look at and talk about
the convict code.
Formal Structures of Everyday Activities
Prominent among the tasks of traditional or classical
sociological theory is the discovery, description, and
explanation of the formal structures of everyday activities
as social facts. By formal structures I borrow from
Garfinkel and Sacks ( 1 9 6 9 , p. 11 ) who write of those analyzed
2
actions which s how • • • "the properties of uniformity,
reproducibi l ity , repetitivenes s , standardi zation typicality
and so on ; , • • • independent ( ly) 'of particular production
cohorts." To say that thes e forma l s tructure s are soc i a l
facts, I mean , though Garf inke l and Sacks d o not , that they
have the further feature s pec i f ied by Durkheim ( 1 9 3 8 ) that
they are produced as a matter of cons traint , typically the
cons traint of normative requirement .
I n thi s s tudy I sha l l di splay some formal s tructures
of daily l i fe as understood in the above termso I sha l l
examine some " patterns of everyday activity, " s peci f ic a l ly
patterns o f deviant behavior, which show the formal properties
of regular i ty and independence of particular production
cohorts . I shall also examine some " patterns of normat ive
culture, " s pec i f ically the convict code, the normative order
of a deviant sub-culture , which shows the same formal prop
ertie s . Further , the ways that the patterns of normative
culture ( c onvict code ) constitute an explanation of the
patterns of activity (deviant behavior ) wil l be described.
Hopefully , the analys i s wil l be recogni z able to readers as
a c lear instance of a tradi tional sub-cultural analys i s .
Then I shall examine two further properties of thes e
patterns that Garfinkel and Sacks ( 1 9 6 9 , p . 1 1 ) have de
scribed as d istinctive to ethnomethodology . That members
recogn i z e the formal properties and the soc i a l factual
properties and the fact that members ( and profes s ional
3
sociologists) recognize these properties is a practical
accomplishment of members in the setting. That is, members
make it happen that their activity will be seen as regular,
independent of their particular doingv and, I am adding,
are done as a matter of normative requirement. Members'
methods of describing and explaining their activity as part
of the mundane business of interaction make their activity
seeable and describable as regular, independent of their
particular doing, and matters of normative requirement.
Members' methods of describing and explaining their activities
make the traditional subject matter of sociology possible as
a matter of empirical factual investigation.
The Theory of Normative Culture in Contemporary
Sociology: The Tradition of Weber and Durkheim
That normative orders are both observable social facts
in themselves and are productive of other observable social
facts is a cornerstone of contemporary sociological theory
and method. As demonstrated in Parsons' monumental study of
social order (Parsons, 1937 ) , normative orders are essential
components of the study of action. In that work Parsons
shows that it is logically impossible to account for the
observed regularities of the behavior of man in society with-
out providing for a normative order. Norms are essential
features of the conception of social phenomena. The central
place of norms and normative culture in contemporary
sociological analysis can be seen by considering that most,
4
if not a l l, traditiona l sociology is concerned with some
aspect of the fol lowing explanatory problem and solution.
The problem is "how shal l we account for the formal struc
tures of everyday activities? " , i.e. , how shal l we account
for those actions which , upon observation and analysis , show
the features of uniformity , reproduc ibil ity , repetitiveness,
standard ization, and typic a l ity , and which show these
features independently of particular production cohorts i.e . ,
the problem o f order as formulated by Gar f inkel ( 1 9 6 0 ) in his
d iscussion o f Parsons . Or , in Robin Will iam's terms ( 19 6 1 ) I
how do we account for the soc ial structures which he char
acterizes as those soc ial phenomena which are patterned,
recurrent , and persistent over a considerable time. Or,
in Inkles� ( 1 9 6 4 ) characterization of the aims of soc iology,
we f ind that sociologyis basic problem is the d iscovery,
description , and explanation of soc ial events which occ ur in
a more or l ess regular sequence of pattern.
Although there is certa inly debate over how soc iology
shal l account for the formal struc tures of everyday activi
ties ( Romans , 1 9 6 4 ) ( Blumer , 1 9 6 2 ) ( Turner , 1 9 6 2) (Wrong ,
1 9 6 1 ) , the very prevalence of the explanatory uses of the
concepts role, norm , value , attitude, def inition of the
situation, stereotype, orientation, culture , sub-culture,
and any other l isting of soc iology's fundamenta l concepts,
show where sociology locates the sourc e or cause of its
formal struc tures. All o f these explanatory concepts refer
5
to the e lements of the actor's situation as he knows or
perceives i t . In one fashion or another, soc iologists pro-
vide for the uniform , reproduc ible , repetitive, standardized ,
typical features of action whi ch are independent of particular
production cohorts by d i scovering or pos iting regularities
in the s i tuations of act ion as perce ived by the actors and
toward which their regular , e tc . action is directedo "Reg-
ularitie s " in observed actions are thereby accounted for by
" regularities" in perceived s ituation s . One set of formal
s tructures, the observed patterns of regular action , i s
accounted for i n terms of another s e t of formal s truc tures ,
regularitie s in perceived s ituations.
Weber ' s "Correct Causa l Interpretation of
Social Action "
It can be said that a problem of sociolog ical explana-
tion, if not the problem, i s the explanation of regu1ar ly
occurring-patterns-of-behavior-that-can-be-described-without-
reference-to-the-subjective- s tate s -of-the-actor s in terms of
the-motivated-character-of-those-same - actions-from-the-point-
of-view-of-the -acting-actors, that i s, what Weber ( 194 7 )
has cal led the prob lem of providing a correc t causal inter-
pretation of action and Garfinkel ( l 9 6 0 ) has c a l led the
problem of order and the terms of a theory of adequate
d . t' 1
e scr�p �on$
lIn the unpublished Parson's Primer ( 1 9 6 0 ) and in many
lectures Garfinke l has d i s cussed this matter a s the problem of order wherein the analyst faces the task of reconc il ing
6
tveber's requirements for the correct c ausal inter-
pretation of action are cogent for soc iology today, and are
to be seen again in the writings of Thomas ( 1923 ) and Blumer
( 1962 ) . For WeberG a correct causal interpretation of action
would involve the investigator in a two-fold task. First,
the detection of uniform patterns of behavior that can be
described without re ference to the ir sub j ective sense for
the actors. Second? the investigator must describe and
appreciate the meaning of the action in its context for the
a ctor in such a way that the investigator "sees" that the
repetitive, uni form way of acting follows from a " typical "
or "correct" course of " reasoning . " Norms or rules provide
for the possibi lity of this form of explanation while re-
specting the factual status of a set of cond itions that
soc iologists regard as demonstratedf name ly that:
1. T here are regular patterns of behavior that can
be described without re ference to the subj ective states of
the actors doing the behavior.
2. These behaviors are motivated or goal-d irected be-
haviors.
3. Patterns of behavior vary from soc iety to soc iety
two domains of data. Garf inkel c a l ls these two domains, which I have roughly described above as "regu larities in observed actions" and "regularities in perce ived situations," as type one and type two structures� respectively. The reconc i l i ation of these blO doma ins is the problem of order. In Garf inkel's discussiong which has since been heavily revised, Qny theory of organ ization provides for such a reconciliation and a lso provides a theory of �dequate description.
7
and from group to group in ways not a s soc iated with the
material s i tuations of those soc ieties and groups, such that
the patterns of behavior c annot be attr ibuted to facts about
the human organism and its adaptation to its material environ-
ment.
4 . Patterns �f behavior i n society are d ifferentiated ,
and when person s move from one pos it ion in soc iety to another
the ir behavi or changes. Thus, pattern s of behavior c annot
be attributed s imply to c haracter s tructure or some other
structure of stable internal di spo s i tions that are laid down
in early soc i a l ization�
5� Propos itions (3) and ( 4 ) above and the fact of
deviance s hows that persons can do other than they do do,
i . e. , they are not compe l led by " human nature " to act in the
spe cific ways they do act& The s e bas ic ass e rt ions of soc i o l -
ogy make the concept o f norm a near neces sity for sociology .
Or, put another waYi there must be norms or something e l s e
doing the s ame work if thes e "fact s " are t o be part o f a
stable system of " propo s i tions. "2
.
That i s so because the facts of l ife about action in
society , tha t s oc io logi sts count as findings they mus t
2The log ical s tatus o f 1-5 above i s mixed� Some are
factual ass ertions whi l e others are a s sumption s . Some, e . g . ( 2 ) are both as sumptions and finding s .
8
provide for, yield the fol lowing model .3
There i s a popula-
t ion of actors who , in the course of lead ing out their l i ves ,
do actions that can be described as regular and repetitive.
These patte rns are d i fferentiated such that a l l ac tors pro-
duce some of the patterns and only some produc e actions that
are part o f other patterns. These d ifferentiated patterns
o f action are assoc i ated with named soc ial positions. Actions
of persons in soci a l positions are such that any member o f
the population , o n assumption of the soci a l posit ion , d isplays
the associated pattern of action .
Thus, the soc iologist is faced with the theoretical task
of d istributing motives around a theoretical ly conceived
soc iety in such a way that:
a. those mot ives typically but only typica l ly produce regul ar patterns of action;
b. those motives are typical of any member o f the popu lation who assumes a particular position;
c. those motives are not a matter of biology, character structure, or rational adaptation to material c ircumstances .
Norms and the associated concept roles wi l l do this j ob of
d istributing motives and definitions of the situation.
3The d i scussion of the model of explanation typical ly
employed i n soc iology and the discussion t i t led Norms and Ad81uate Explanation draws heav i ly though ind irectly on Gar inkel1s P arsons Primer ( 19 6 0 ) . The d iscussion a lso dra,'ls on S chutz! s (I9 6 4 , pp . 8 1- 8 8) description o f the use o f rational-typic a l construct ions by socia l sc ientists .
9
Norms and Adequate Explanation
The attempt to account for the formal structures of
everyday activities by a search for an appropriate normative
culture sets the sociolog i s t with the task for searching for
norms, values, and cultural categories . The very way in
which norms and normative culture are conce ived provides for
counting them as formal structures. The cultural categories
provide the ob j ects that the actor whos e action i s being
explained c an perceive in the s ituation of action. The norms
and values are instruction s for how the actor i s to act and
how he i s to choose the obj ects of h i s act ion . The actor's
motivation to comply with the norms and value s is a l so a
matter of s earch for the sociolog i s t. These mot ives are
found in the demons tration that the actor has interna l i z ed
the normative e lements, and therefore comp liance with them
i s a cond i tion of h i s capacity to count his own action a s
morally correct , and/or the actor c a n b e found to comply
with norma-eive elements as a condi tion of h i s pos ition with-
in h i s community, i.eol a condition of retaining the respect
4 of other s and a condition of rece iving rewards.
4The explanation which employs rul e s as an account of
motives employs the notion of motive at two l eve l s of analys i s . There i s the motive contained in the rule i tsel f, ( e.g . , he was motivated to step to the rear of the l ine
because there i s a rul e which s ays tha t ) and the motive to comply (e.g . I he was mot ivated to comply tATith the " re ar of the l ine" rule because he wished to retain the re spect of the others s tanding in the l ine ) .
1 0
Durkheim and Social Facts
Durkheim�s analysis of social facts in The Rules of the
�ociological Method (1938 ) provides for all the characteristics
of sociological explanation that I have just examined. That
is, his analysis of social facts provides for the ways in which
norms explain activities. In fact, for Durkheim, social
facts are regular-patterns-of-action-which-are-produced-by
compliance-to-a-normative-order. It is not the case that
there are social facts which are regualr patterns of action
which are produced by something other than a normative order.
Which is to say that, for Durkheim, the identification of
social facts parallels Weber's problem of doing correct
causal interpretations of action. For Durkheim, social
facts exhaustively constitute the proper domain of sociologyo
Social facts are, above all, objective as opposed to sub
jective phenomena. They are, in Durkheim's terms, objective
ways of acting, thinking, and feeling. To say that these
occurrences are objective means that they are observable
events in the external real world, and that they display
three properties: exteriority, constraint, and typicality.
To say that a way of acting, thinking, or feeling has
the property of exteriority is to say that the individual I
members' particular way of acting, thinking, or feeling was
not that member's creation (19 3 8 , p. 1 ) . The whole meaning of
exteriority is that the patterned ways of acting are not
developed by ourselves, but come to us from without (p. 4 ) .
11
They are ways that one cou ld not have arrived at in onegs
own s ingular spontenaity ( p . 6 ) . They are the s ources o f
our habitual patterns of action, thought , and fee ling ( po 6 ) .
C l e arly enough, the meaning of exteriority i s that the pat
tern which each member�s action fo l lows is not the doing or
f e lt responsib i l ity of each and every member. Th i s holds
for every member , so that while each member might see that
h i s own action fol lows the patterned way of acting , thinking ,
or feel ing, he would s ee and claim that the fact of the
pattern had nothing in particular to do with h im. Another
way of putting it i s to say that the regularity o f action
d i splayed by a collection of actors i s independent of the
particular men�ership of that particular col lection , i.eo,
Anyman in the pos ition o f any member of that col lection
would behave in the fashion they do .
To s ay that a pattern of acting, thinking, or feel ing
has the property of constraint is to say that , by reason of
the actor ' s membership in the soc iety or some partial group
with in it ( p. 7 ) , the pattern of acting, thinking , or feel ing
i s "endowed with coercive power" ( p . 2)0 Although the in
dividua l may acede to the pattern , and thereby not feel or
recogn i z e the constraint of it , it is neverthe les s there
a s he wou l d d i scover if he were to res i st the pattern ( p . 7 ) .
The only sense of coercive power for Durkhe im and the who l e
meaning o f constraint i s that the individua l can not change
them , and they of fer res i stance to the se who make such
12
e f fort. The res istance i s manife sted in the var iety of ways
that other members can negative ly s anction the innovator,
and/or the inability for the fol lower of some new pattern
to gear ,hi s activity to those following the typical pattern
(p. 3 ) , that i s , e f forts to do it otherwi se wi ll be recog-
ni zed by others and impre s s ed on the innovator as either
immoral , impol ite , etc* , or unre a l i stic .•
To s ay that a pattern of acting, thinking, or fee l ing
has the property of typical ity is to say that it is d i s t inct
from individual manifestations in two senses ( p . 7) . First,
every observable occurrence which expres se s a soc ia l fact
is j ointly the product of the individual psyche in adapta
t ion to it s particular concre te c ircumstanc e s and the pro
duct of a soc i a l fact (p. 8 ) . I t i s the typical pattern or
average pattern that expres s e s the social fact for in the
typicality the ind ividual contributions c ance l each other
out (p . 8, pp. 4 4- 4 5 ) . Durkheim a l so speaks of them a s
repetitive ( p. 7 ) and con s i s tent and regular ( p. 28) � Thu s ,
social facts are " expres sed " in those a spect s of the ob
servable activities of daily life which s how the feature s
o f typic a l i ty, con s i stency , regularity or s tandardization,
and repet i t ivene s s . However , there is a s econd sense of
independence from individual man i f e stations, and thi s s econd
sense is why Durkhe im speaks of regular activities " expre s s ing"
social facts . An obs ervable pattern of regular, typical ,
con s istent, repetitive acting, thinking , or feeling i s a
1 3
nece ssary , though not sufficient , criteria o f a social fact.
It must a l so be shown that the observed pattern i s produced
because it i s more or l e s s ob ligatory for the members (00 9 ) 9
The soci a l f act i s repeated in the action o f individual s
because i t i s "imposed on them" i n the sense o f exteriority
and constraint as def ined above.
Soci a l facts , then , are those a s pects of the obs ervable
activity of d a i ly l i fe ( which includ e s ways o f acting , think
ing, and fee l ing) which have the propertie s of typic a l ity ,
etc . , independence of particular production cohorts (ex
terniality) i and which show thos e two s ets of properties
by reason of the fact that activitie s with thos e properties
are produced a s a matter of motivated compl iance to a norma
tive order .
The construction " social fact" i s at lea st one s olution
to Weber's problem of adequate c au s a l analys i s and a solu
tion to the general s oc iological tasks of conceiving of a
soc iety whos e members produce regular patterns of motivated
action whi c h conforms to the constraints mentioned on page 8 .
Summary
In summary, prominent among the theoretica l tasks o f
traditional o r c la s s ic a l s oc iology i s the d i scovery, descrip
tion , and explanation o f the formal structures o f everyday
activities a s social facts. By formal structures ( Garf i nkel
and Sacks, 19 6 9 , pe 11) i s meant thos e analyzed actions
which show the properties of uni formity, reproducibi l ity,
14
repetitive ne s s, standard i z ation, typicality , and so on ,
independently of part icular production cohorts. In s aying
that thes e s tructures are social facts I mean that the ir
features are produced because members are cons trained to
produce them ( typically normative constraint ) . In thi s
study I sha l l d isplay some formal structures o f daily l ife
as understood in the above terms . I shall examine some
"pattern s of everyday activitytt which show the formal pro
perties of regularity and independence of particu l ar pro
duction cohorts , and some " patterns of normative culture"
which show the same propertie s . Further, I s ha l l show the
ways that the patterns of normative culture con s titute an
explanation of the patterns of activity, i.e., the ways
that a normat ive culture makes those patterns of activity
a requirement.
Then I shall examine the ways that two further pro
perties of patterns of every day a ct ivity and patterns of
normative culture provided by Garfinke l and Sacks ( 19 6 9,
p. 11) as d i s tinctive to ethnomethodology obta in . First ,
there i s the feature of everyday activities and normative
culture that one might c a l l recogni tional, i . e. , members
recogn i z e the formal properties and soc i a l factual properties
of everyday actions and culture . Secondly, there i s the
additional feature of everyday activities and everyday
normative culture which is that the fact that the formal and
social factual properties are recogn i z ed i s itself a practical
15
accompl ishment of members in the setting. That is, members
not only recogn i ze but also make it happen that their activity
wi l l be seen as regu l ar , independent of their particular
doing , and , in my treatment in the present work, a result of
constraint. Members' methods of describing and explaining
their activity as part of the mundance business of inter-
action make their activity seeab le and describable as regular ,
independent of their particular doing , and, in this treat-
ment, a result of constraint (Cf . , Garfinkel and Sacks,
1969, p. 6).
The Use of the Theory of Normative Culture in
Studies of Deviant Behavior
The most common sociological analyses of criminal
deviant behavior depict such behavior as a formal structure
of objective a ctivities , and locate the source of deviance
in the formal structure of the deviant ' s perceived environ-
ment, cal led a deviant or contra-normative sub-culture . In
brief , deviance is conceived as a uniform , reproducible ,
repetitive , standardi z ed , typical pattern of departures from
an authorized , establ ishment, formal, soc ietal , legitimate ,
normative order whi ch occurs with such regularity that it
c an be conceived of as independent of the particular actors
producing the deviance ( and thereby cannot be attributed to
their biography as it would be psychiatrical ly conceived ) ,
as , for example, one sees in various crime rates . The
analyst then locates a sub-culture or contra-normative
16
culture which can be conce ived a s a set of legit imate
instructions for produc ing these same actions which are
counted as deviant from the perspective of the s oc ietal or
e s tablishment order . With in thes e theories deviance i s the
result of a del inquent sub-culture. (Cohen , 1955) (C loward
and Ohlin, 1961) (Finestone , 1957), or " d i f ferential a s socia-
tion with a del inquent sub-culture" ( Suther land and Cre s sy ,
1955, pp. 74-81), or "culture con f li ct" between a legi timate
culture and an imported d i fferent culture , or an indigenous
deviant s ub-culture ( Se l l in, 1938) (Miller , 1958) I or a
cultural tran smi s sion of a deviant sub-culture ( Shaw and
McCay , 1942). All of the se ways of talk ing about the
source s of deviance are e ssentia l ly the same .
For example , as Miller (1958) characteri z ed his task
o f selecting one particular kind of del inquency:
. . • l aw violating acts committed by members of adolescent street corner groups in lower c la s s commun ities - and attempts to s how that the dominant component of motivation underlying thes e acts con s i s ts in a d irected attempt by the actor to adhere to forms of behavior , and to achieve standards of value a s they a r e defined within that community. ( pe 5)
Thi s i s not to say that the task of locating , describing ,
and analyz ing a sub-culture, comp l i ance with which wi l l
produce the observed patterns o f deviance , is the only task
that the traditional theori s t undertake s , s ince many of
them (e.g. Cloward and Ohl in , Cohen, Finestone ) I undertake
to account for the exi stence of that sub-culture as we l l.
The point i s s imply that in every c a s e of tradit ional
17
sociological analys i s of regular deviant action s , thos e
actions are portrayed a s the product s of motivated compl iance
to patterns of normative culture as maxims of conduct .
Deviance in the soc iety i s then analyzable by means o f:
a. the use of commonly accepted rules to detect it ,
e.g . the law , or the use of members who are accepted in the
society as competent to detect it, e.g. the pol ice , psy
chiatri s t s , etc.:
b . the detection of some set o f contrary rul e s which
is produc ing that deviant behavior .
Within this scheme of analys i s , the theoretical que s
tions become the fol lowing:
1 . h�at set of rules are some persons fol lowing such
that following those rul e s will produce acts which mos t
other members of the community wi l l c a l l deviant? Thi s is,
e.g. , the task of Miller's work .
2 . What are the conditions under which a soc ieta l
member wi l l start following deviant rules ? Sutherland's
analysis would illustrate this form of analys i s .
3. What are the conditions under which societal members
wil l give up their motivated compliance to the dominant
normative order? Merton ' s work is a prime example of this
form of analy s is.
4. What accounts for the thematic content o f delinquent
norms? C ohen and Finestone d irect themselves to this
que stion .
18
5. Final ly, how i s the theor ist to account for the
joint occurrence o f 1-4 above in such a way that deviant
motives are d i s tributed around the s oc i ety in ways corre s pon
d ing to the d i stributional characte r i stics and types of
deviance? C loward and Ohlin ' s work would be one of the few
examples of thi s complex form of ana ly s i s .
The Plan o f the Stud�
The s tudy wi ll focus on the s implest of the traditional
concerns enumerated above . That i s , I wi l l begin by a sking,
i n the context of a halfway house for paroled narcotic
addict fe lons , " what set of rules are res idents fol lowing
and enforcing such that the ir behavior will be c a l led deviant
by the sta f f and a sociological observe r " ? This que stion i s
a sked s o a s to prepare for the more intere s ting questions
about thei r deviant behavior as rule-governed conduct .
Spe c i fica l ly , how i s the behavior of res idents recogn i z able
and reportab le by lay and profess ional sociologists (my s e l f
and the sta f f ) as deviant behavior that i s produced by rule;
how is it that res ident behavior as deviant behavior has the
observabl e and reportable propertie s o f formal structures
and social facts that have been enumerated above ; how i s it
that the res idents' deviant rules have the observable and
reportabl e properties of formal structures and social f acts .
The I1how" o f these questions pertains to how the res idents ,
in their interactions with staf f and researcher , make it
happen that their behavior is observab le and reportab le as
19
deviantly rule -governed conduct having the status of forma l
structure a n d soc ial fact , i.e . , what Garf inkel and Sacks
( 196 9 , p . 6 ) formulate as a ccountable phenomena as practical
accompli shments.
In l ight of thes e interests the plan of study i s a s
fol l ows: The second chapter examines the h i s tory and
organizationa l structure of halfway houses in general and
the speci f i c hal fway hous e in whi ch the actual observat ional
study was c a rried out . Thi s chapter serve s two purpos e s.
It provides the reader with neces sary background materi a l
and i t serves a s a way of characterizing the organization a l
structure of halfway house a s an e s tabl i shment or legi timate
normat ive order. That normative order will be u s ed in the
next chapter as a device for detecting and analyzing the
obs erved behavior of res idents as formal structures of
deviant behavior .
The third chapter reports obs e rvations of re s ident
behavior a s departures from the authorized normative order .
These behaviors are analyzed a s s oc i a l struc tures observable
to both s t a f f and researcher .
The fourth chapter reports obs e rvations of a normat ive
order , the "convict code" which is enforced at hal fway hous e s
by res idents and which accounts for the observed deviant
behaviors noted in chapter three. The penalogical l iterature
i s examined for identical, s imila r , and para l l e l f ind ing s
o n the " convict code" in terms of i t s produc tion o f patterns
20
of deviant behavior in the prison .
The f ifth chapter is an examination of the ways the
researcher learned about the residents ' behavior and the ir
normative order and learned about the uses of thes e struc
tures in formulating res ident behavior and its motives
through his interactions with the res idents.
Chapter s ix examines the staff ' s exper ience in learning
about res ident behavior and the convict code in the ir
interactions with res ide nts and w ith each other and the uses
of those matters in the staff's formulation ( ob serving and
reporting on ) of what the res idents were doing .
2 1
CHAPTER TWO
H ISTORY AND ORGANIZATI ON OF HALFWAY HOUSE
Features of Hal fway Houses in General
Halfway houses for f elons were originally employed by
various pri s oners ' aid societies as part of their programs
of a s s i s tance to the indigent ex-convicts ( Barnes and
Teeters , 1 9 5 9, pp. 54 9 - 5 5 1 ) . Called Hous e s of Industry ,
Homes for D i scharged Prisoners , and Halfway Houses , they
began to deve lop shortly after the C iv i l War . Such homes
typically s upplied the ex-pr isoner with food , shelter , and
often work in their own industry, e . g . , the mak ing of brooms
and brushe s . They were typically s ta f fed by a superintendent
and h i s wi f e who were supported by the Community Ches t or
some other charitab le source. Their announced intent was
s imply to g ive material aid to the ex-prisoner in poverty .
Recently , the States and Federal Government have con
s idered the uses of halfway houses , and in the past ten
years both the State of C a l iforni a and the Federal Govern
ment have i n s ti tuted halfway hou s e s ( Glaser , 1 9 64 , pp . 4 15 -
4 1 8 ) . Also during the pas t decade , pub l i c and private h a l f
way houses h ave become rationali z ed and their typical program
expanded . That i s , their personnel and supporters have
22
formulated a l ine of talk or rhetori c about the ir purpose ,
intent, and function which makes the typical halfway house
structure describable as the means to those goals . Practi
tioners and supporters have formulated why halfway houses
are needed and why they should have the organ i zation that
they do . This l ine o f talk is del ivered to congress ional
committees , through practitioners ' j ournals l ike Federa l
Probation , to newspapermen , to magaz ine writers, on radio
discussion programs , in open meetings to the pub l ic , at
practitioners' conventions , and in a less forma l i zed form
to the very population that hal fway houses s erve . It is
through thes e formulations that part of what is des ired for
parolees and ex-patients by the practitioners can be seen .
The bulk of this chapter wi l l examine the practitioners '
o f fi cial formulations . I n many places their language has
been quoted or paraphrased , for one of the interests in
these formulations are as data . Practitioners' formulations
wi l l serve as one source of the de f inition of ideal res ident
behavior 0 Such a definition of ideal res ident behavior wi l l
b e used i n the next chapter as one o f the standards against
which observed res ident behavior wi l l be compared. Use of
the programatic ideals as a s tandard is one way in which
res ident b ehavior can appropriate ly be des ignated as deviant .
Another interest in the practitioners ' formulations is that
they provide a way of del ivering the history o f and c ontext
for the East Los Angeles Halfway House.
2 3
Throughout the prac titioners ' literature on hal fway
houses and the need for halfway hous e s , f ive rationali z ing
themes are prominent .
1 . The first thirty to s ixty days after a man has been
re leased from prison is judged by correc tional workers to be
the most di f f icult .l
They describe the pris oner ' as having
been l iving in an environment which is both abnormal ly re-
s tricting and upon which the pris oner has become abnormal ly
dependent . Suddenly the prisoner f inds hims e l f out o f prison ,
free to do a s he choose s but having to provide for hims el f .
The prisoner i s described a s not knowing how to use h i s re-
gained freedom , and terror i zed by the prospect of having to
l ive an independent l i fe . Some practitioner s expres s the
fear that he wi l l become eas i ly fru s trated in h i s attempts
to hold or f ind work and wi l l quickly return to c rime to
support himse l f . His social ties are seen as having been
d i s rupted , leading him to return to thos e places where he
wi l l f ind o thers like hims e l f and thereby wi l l be led back
to his criminal ways 'by his old and new associate s .
2 . The halfway hous e i s proposed as a device for helping
the ex-pri s oner make the terrible and risky trans ition f rom
c aptivity to f reedom . The halfway hou s e i s propos ed by
correctional theori s ts as " . • • a kind of decompres s ion
lAlthough thi s is a very wide ly propos ed theme , the mos t
elaborated vers ion appears i n the tes timony o f Harris I sb e l l before the United States Senate Sub-Committee o n Improvements of the Federal Criminal Code ( Hearings , 1 4 6 1- 1 5 3 8 ) .
2 4
chamber which gradual ly prepares him ( the ex-prisoner ) for
the pres sure s of normal l i fe " (Tunley , 1 9 6 2 , pp . 5 - 6 ) . I t
i s often c a l led a " bridge to the community " where , with the
s ta f f " . • . running interference , the guests do begin to
succeed at f ind ing work , at keeping a j ob , at s o lving prob l ems
o f s e l f - s upport and independence " ; where , in the past ,
..
crime "
our men have so seldom experienced succe s s , even in
( S t . Leonard ' s Hous e , .Annual Report , 1 9 6 4 , p . 3) . As
described by Governor Brown in his s peech dedicating the East
Los Angeles Halfway Hous e , " it exists to give narcotic addicts
a cons tructive l iving environment during their initial period
on parole . In thi s fac i l i ty men wi l l receive invaluabl e help
on their way back to productive l iving " ( Ge i s , 1 9 6 6 , p . 2 ) .
3 . The halfway hous e i s described as a " norma l "
(Davidson , 1 9 6 1 , pp . 1 4 - 1 5 ) , Ilmore home - like than pri son , 1I
or a " home - l ike " environment (Tunley , 1 9 6 2 , p . 1 6 7 ) . I t i s
contrasted with other programs where fe lons l ive in conf ine
ment but work in the community as be ing a " • • • post
institutiona l procedure or at mos t a quas i-institutional
operation " ( Grupp , 1 9 6 5 , p . 9 ) . Spec ial e fforts may be
taken to increase the contrast between the pri son and the
" home life " halfway house by having l i ttle or no mandatory
program and by keeping hous e rules to a minimum (Meiners ,
1 9 6 5 ) .
4 . I n contrast to programs l ike Synanon , the hal fway
house i s portrayed as a short-term arrangement where quickly
25
increas ing responsibilities are placed on the ex-pri soner
and he quickly becomes ready to fully re ly on h i s own e fforts
(Grupp , 1 9 6 5 ) ( Sternberg , 1 9 6 3 ) (Cas rie l , 1 9 6 3 ) (Yablon s ky ,
1 9 6 2 ) . The attempt i s s een a s a s s i s ting him to withdraw
from his dependent relation on some organi z ation which pro
vides a l l h i s phys ical needs .
5 . The new parolee i s portrayed as experienc ing s evere
anxiety and frustration in his initial soj ourns into the
free world . The s ta f f of hal fway houses and the other res i
dents are portrayed as " • • . as s i s ting in the social psycho
logica l ad j us tment of the individual in making the trans ition
• • • " ( Grupp , 19 6 5 , p . I ) by providing " • . • help in a l l
problems o f living " ( Davidson , 1 9 6 1 , p . 1 5 ) . I t would b e
a place where the man would receive s o c i a l support and b e
accepted as making the trans i tion back into the community
rather than re j ected as a hopeles s delinquent ( Pearl , 1 9 6 5 ) .
I t would be a place where II • immediate help i s avai lable
if he is unab le to r e s i s t even minimal s tre s s " ( Progres s
Report o f An Ad Hoc Pane l on Drug Abuse , 1 9 6 2 , p . 5 3 ) .
Though varied in their detai l s , halfway houses display
a number o f common organi z ational features :
1 . The res idents are under some system of dual authority .
They have s ome respon s ibi li ties to the sta f f o f the organi za
tion and s ome to their parole agent or probation off icers .
2 . Res idents come from pr ison or j ai l j u s t before they
enter the hou s e .
26
3 . Res idents come into the organiz ation unemployed
and leave at s ome period after they f ind employment .
4 . Some provis ion i s made for a s s i s ting the res ident
in f inding employment . Frequently thi s i s done by an employ-
ment coun s el or .
5 . The res ident i s charged a nominal fee for board and
room after he begins working Q In s ome cases he i s required
to " work o f f " his board and room if he is unemployed .
6 . S leeping arrangements are typical ly dormitory s tyle .
7 . Mea l s are s erved in school cafeteria fashion .
8 . Some type of counseling program i s avai lable and
may be required .
9 . There are house rules whi ch seem always to inc lude
a curfew or lock-out and a restriction on the use of drugs
and alcohol in the house .
The Practitioners ' Demand for Hal fway
Hous e s for Addicts
The demand for hal fway houses i s probab ly the s tronges t
for addicts . The attempt to treat addiction has large ly been
a fai lure . Addicts return to the use of drugs after treat-
ment or incarceration at rates from 60 to 9 5 percent in the
f i r s t year a fter their release . A variety o f governmental
committe e s , commi s s ions , and experts have a s s erted that this
failure i s attr ibutable to the lack o f " adequate a fter-care "
for the re l eased addict { Spec ial S tudy Commis s ion on Nar-
cotics Report , 1 9 6 1 } (David son , 1 9 6 1 ) ( Hearings , 1 4 6 1- 1 5 3 8 )
27
(Winick , 1 9 5 7 ) (Progres s Report of an Ad Hoc Panel on Drug
Abu s e , 1 9 6 4 ) (Pres ident ' s Advisory Commis s ion on Narcotics
and Drug Abu s e , 1 9 6 3 ) . The addict at the s tate o f his re-
lease is portrayed a s a weak individu a l needing an artif i
c i a l ly structured and supportive environment i f h e i s to
avoid relapse (Progres s Report of an Ad Hoc Pane l on Drug
Abu s e , 1 9 6 4 ) . The c ircumstances are s uch that he comes out
of prison with no re sources , without s k i ll s , and when he
turns to publ i c and private agenc ies for support , he finds
that they do not accept addicts . Thrus t back into his old
environment , the addict i s said to quickly return to crime
and narcoti c s use ( Hearing s , l 4 6 1- l 5 3 8 ) ( David s on , 1 9 6 1 ) .
The Practitioners ' Demand for Halfway
Hou s e s for Addicts in C a l i fornia
In C a l i fornia , the Governor ' s Spec ial Study Commis s ion
reported that " the disappointing lack of succes s in the re-
hab i litation of narcotic addicts • • • is due to the lack of
any follow-up treatment and mandatory s uperv i s ion and control "
( Special S tudy Commiss ion on Narcotics Report , 1 9 6 1 ) . At that
time , 1 9 6 1 , Cali fornia a lready had a s pecial narcotics treat
ment program for parolee addicts .2
Parole agents working in
thi s program were given special training in working with
addicts and had case loads of thirty men a s c ompared with
the usual s eventy to s eventy-five . Agents in thi s program
2The program is known as the Narcotic Treatment Control
Program and was initiated on October 1 , 1 9 5 9 ( Pearl , 1 9 6 0 ; Burkhart and Sathmary , 1 9 6 4 ) .
28
were grouped into special parole d i s tricts and were directed
to give larger amounts of individual and group couns e l ing .
On relaps e , the parolee could be sent to a spe c i a l short
term (ninety days ) treatment unit located at the California
Institution for Men at Chino or at San Quentin . Prior to
thi s time , the only legitimate alternative actions ava ilable
to parole agents were to send the man who had relapsed to
j ai l for s everal weeks or to return him to pri son as a parole
violator , usually for e ighteen months .3
I n the treatment
unit , the man is given intens ive group couns e l ing and " pre-
pared for reintroduction into the community . "
Another part o f the program i s detection of drug u s e by
N a l l ine testing ( c f . Ge i s , 1966 , p . 24 ) (We inberg , 196 0 ) .
The use of this chemical tes t , two to four times a month , i s
intended t o inhibit the parolees ' return to the u s e of drugs
by increa s ing the certainty that they would be c aught i f
they did u s e drugs . It i s a l so proposed by practitioners
that if the use of the tes t f a i l s to inhibit the return to
drug use , i t wil l at lea s t fac i l i tate the early apprehension
of the addict and permit h i s short-term incarceration before
he becomes truly addicted and before the s i z e of h i s habit
pres s e s h im into criminal pursuits to support it .
With a l l this program and e ffort , the Narcotic Treat-
ment Control Program was recogn i z ed by practitioners a s a
3The parole agent does not actual ly s end the parolee to
j ai l for three weeks or to prison for eighteen months but recommends those actions to the adult authority ( parol e board ) . Typica l ly , the Adult Authority does a s the agent recommends .
29
notable fai lure . For the f irst cohort of cases ,4
f ifty-
eight percent were detected in the use of drugs within s ix
months after release from the institution . I t was proposed
that the weak point in the Narcotic Treatment Control P rogram
was in the period immediately following relea se .
Gei s s ummari z ed the l ine of displayed reason ing of thos e
who officia l ly reviewed the Narcotic Treatment Control Pro-
gram experience . " Abrupt immers ion into free soc iety s eemed
to be too overwhelming an experience for a one-time addict
to absorb without rather rapid recours e to re-u s e of
narcotics . @ • • (A) More gradual reintroduction into the
community seemed to be an obvious requirement o f a narcotics
control program hoping to achieve a degree o f succe s s ll ( Ge i s ,
1 9 6 6 , p . 27 ) .
The Origin and Original Rationale of the
East Los Ange les Halfway Hous e
It w a s largely o n the initiative of Arthur Pear l , a
research s pe cialist who had evaluated the Narcoti c s Treatment
Control Program and who had been on loan from the Department
of Correct ions to the Governor ' s Special Study C ommis s ion on
Narcotics , that the East Los Angel e s Halfway House was
funded by the National Institute of Mental Health o Pearl ,
in a letter to Gei s , described the addict as engu l fed in a
deviant society . He argued that a " bridge " back into a
40ne hundred and twenty-one cases were in the cohort .
3 0
legitimate s oc iety was required to enable the addict to
avoid relap s e . He fore saw a halfway hou s e which would pro-
vide channe l s into legitimate occupations and which wou ld be
a means whereby " social integration " into other domains of
the legitimate world could be accompl i shed . It could b e a
place where leaders of the church , and social and fraternal
organization s , would introduce the addict into new social
mi lieus . " It wa s intended that the halfway hous e be a de-
compress ion chamber , and as the addict was abl e to s ecure
his existence both socially and economical ly in nonaddict
univers e s , the control and influence of the hal fway hous e
upon the addict would decrease , although i t would continue
to serve a s a haven for person s running into d i f f iculty "
{ Pear l , 1 9 6 5 ) .
Pearl proposed that a halfway hous e would provide a
better s e tt ing for treatment than e i ther regular parol e or
the prison e His reas oning , which i s remarkably s imilar to
the rational e proposed by other prac t itioners and supporters
of halfway house s ,S
was sketched in his succ es s fu l propos a l
t o the National Institute o f Mental Health . Pearl proposed
that :
1 . The halfway hou s e would c losely resemble a normal
s oc ial s etting , with a reduced l ikel ihood o f the old environ-
ment and a ssociates disrupting the addict ' s treatment a s
5As I have s ummari zed i n the section " Features o f
Hal fway Hou s e s i n Genera l . "
3 1
they frequently do on ordinary parole .
2 . Treatment would be fac ilitated by the pos sibility
of " working on ll the parolee ' s experienc e s with his fellow
res idents and his attitude and behavior at the halfway hous e .
The s e would be II normal l i fe experience s " a s contrasted with
the prison , yet more observable than on regular parole .
3 . Halfway house would provide greater acc e s s to
community s ervices and fac i litie s .
4 . Whi le a t halfway hous e , the parolee ' s respon s ib i l i ties
could be gradua lly increased unt i l he terminated his res idency ,
in contras t to immediate release from pri son .
5 . Pearl a l so proposed that the halfway house would
protect society by g iving the parolee more complete super-
vis ion by identifying troubles the parolee is experiencing
earlier , and by gradual ly releas ing h im from controlled
supervis ion as he demons trated his capab i lities .
Thus , arguing on the basis of the disappointing experi-
ence of the Narcotics Treatment Control Program and the
stated b e l i e f that the period immediately fol lowing re lease
from trea tment and incarceration was the weakes t l ink in
the chain of treatmen t and supervis ion , Pearl , in coopera
tion with the California D epartment of correc tion s ,6
made
application to the National Institute of Mental Health for
6The application was made under the auspices of the
Institute for the S tudy of Crime and D e l inquency , a research institute a f f i liated with the California Departmen t o f Correction s .
3 2
partial funding of a halfway house for parolee-addicts and
support for a research program . The halfway hous e was to be
operated under the auspices of the Department of Correc t ions
and staffed by the department ' s pers onnel s The Department
of Corrections was also to share in the f inancing o f the
operation .
A spe c i a l parole d i s trict under the Narcoti c s Treatment
Control Program was formed to service the parolees as s igned
to the hal fway house ,7
and to s erve as part of the s ta f f o f
the hal fway hou s e . By October , 1 9 6 2 , a building in Eas t Los
Ange les was leased to the s tate for the hou s e and parol e
d istrict o ff ice , and the f i r s t res idents were accepted .
The Neighborhood and Bui lding
The Eas t Los Angel e s Hal fway Hous e was8
located on
Breed Street near Brooklyn and Soto in Boyle Heights , in the
eastern s ec t ion of Los Angeles . The neighborhood was once
a Jewish communi ty , but is now a Mexican-American ghetto ,
with a few remnants of the Jewish community remaining in the
form of synagogues and delicate s s ens o The area i s the
7The parole d i s tr i c t also s erviced other addict parolees
who were l iving in the area but not a s s igned to residence in the halfway hou s e .
8The h a lfway hous e a s such was c lo sed i n 1 9 6 7 as one
of the moves the Cal i fornia Department of Corrections made in compliance with Governor Reagan ' s ten percent budget cut for a l l departments . The demis e of the halfway hous e may a l s o be related to its demons trated fai lure in treating add icts . Whether or not this is the case , and i f it i s , to what extent , is not known by me and in any c a s e , has no particular relevance to the research reported here .
3 3
largest debarcation point in the s tate for Mex i cans coming
to thi s country . Mexican foods are prominent in the markets .
Few restaurants that are not Mexican are avai lable . One
is often f ir s t spoken to in Spanish when in a s tore or
restaurant , and only if that attempt fai ls i s Engl i sh tried .
Papers and l iterature in Spanish are avai lable on the s treet
corners . Both men and women dre s s " typically chicano , " with
many , perhap s most , o f the men s porting ful l mus tache s . Al
though many non-Mexicans l ive in the neighborhood , people
v i s ible on the street are almo s t exc lus ive ly Mexican e The
area is reputed , by the pol i ce and correctiona l workers ,
to be one o f the highes t narcot i c s tra f f ic area s in the s tate .
During the day , on Brooklyn Avenue , one s ee s the " harnes s
bull s " or " b lack and whites " (motorcyc le pol ice and pol i ce
crui sers ) pas s by once every ten minute s . At night , the
police pas s by perhaps once every three minutes .
East Los Angeles was chosen a s the location for the
halfway hous e , at lea s t in par t , in respons e to a community
reque st tha t a program o f this type be p laced in thi s high
narcotics traf f i c area .
The hal fway house was located in a thirty year o ld
s tucco bui lding that was previous ly used a s a chi ldren ' s
day care center . A portion of the bui lding a l s o housed the
Ha lfway Hous e Parole D i strict O f f ic e . The remainder o f the
bui lding was used as the res idential area . I t contained
f ive dormitories , each hous ing a maximum of s ix men , a
34
kitchen , a spacious dining room , a large recreation-meeting
room , and a s i tting or reception room .
The P lan o f the Early program9
In the s ta f f ' s and consultant ' s formulations o f the
halfway hous e it was not s imply to be a place of refuge and
a s s i s tance for the firs t period that an addict parolee was
on parole . I t was also to be an experiment d e s i gned around
a therapeutic program . The therapeutic inspiration was pro-
vided by Maxwel l Jone s ' notion of the therapeutic community
( Jone s , 1 9 5 3 , pp . 3 3- 6 2 ) modi f ied by hal fway hous e sta f f
and consultants for u s e with addicts o n parole . After the
program got under way , Jones attended a conference held by
the Department of Corrections at the halfway hous e to d i scuss
the application of his idea s to thi s type o f seeting .
The announced intent o f the program was " • • • to
develop a cohesive nonde1inquent1y oriented peer group "
( P rogram S tatement , 1 9 6 4 ) . This was to be accomp l i shed
through a program of mandatory group couns el ing held for one
hour , five nights a ,week . The program was des igned to force
the deve lopment of a nondelinquent peer group by puni shing
the group a s a whole for what the s ta f f viewed a s an irre-
spon s ib1e b ehavior o f one of the group ' s members . For
9Thi s account of the plan of the early program i s
based large ly o n official hal fway hous e documents and partly on reconstructions of the early h i s tory that I received f rom those s ta f f who were present at that time .
3 5
example , the whole group might be restricted to the house
on a weekend for the two time absence from the group of one
of the members . In thi s way , the group was suppos ed to be-
come concerned about the behavior o f its members , and nega-
t ive ly sanc tion its members for behavior that the sta f f would
ultimately punish . The controls thereby , hopefully exerci s ed
by the peer-group , were seen to be more e f fe ctive than those
directly u t i l i zed by the s ta f f on an ind ividual deviant .10
After the parolee had s tayed a minimum of thirty days ,
he could be cons idered for release . He was to have demon-
strated his s trength and readines s to lead a nondelinquent
l i fe . The group was to have the right to re lease one man
each week , sub j ec t to s ta f f review . In the rational e o f the
program , thi s right was cons idered a reward and was revoked
for the foll owing week , if the sta f f f e l t that the group
was not treating the matter of a man ' s release with due
seriousne s s and deliberation . Under thi s system , the average
stay was approximately s ixty- f ive days .
The program of group counseling and other supervis ion
was carried out by a program d irector , a house manager , and
three parol e agents whose case load cons isted of present and
former res idents o f the Hal fway House o
Bes ides the program of group counsel ing , the res idents
l OAvai l able stories indicate that It group puni shment "
was never an e f fective device for developing a nondel inquently oriented peer group (Fisher , 1 9 6 5 1 Gei s , 1 9 6 6 , pp . 2 19 -2 4 4 ) •
36
were ini t i a l ly exposed to a week o f orientation and work at
the hal fway hou s e . On the second week , they could search
for work . Unt i l they found work , they were to do work pro
j ec t s in the hous e two mornings a week and mos t of the day
Friday . They were to look for work two mornings a week and
four afternoons . They were also to a ttend hour long groups
for the unemployed , thre e a fternoons a week .
After the res ident had found work , he was charged $ 3 . 00
per day for board and room . Prior to f inding employment , i f
he fai led t o carry out a work pro j ect , he would a l so be
charged $ 3 . 0 0 per day .
The other d i s tinctive aspect o f the initial program
was that i t was part of an experimental des i gn , with control
and experime ntal group s .
The records of a l l those cases who had a h i s tory o f u s e
and who , b y reason of a n employment o ffer o f family resourc e s ,
wou ld be expected to l ive within the geographi c boundaries
o f the hal fway house d i s trict parole o f f ice were s ent to a
Soc ial Res e arch Analyst o f the Department o f Correction s o
Fol lowing the setting of a parole date by the Adult Authority ,
the Social Research Analyst a s s igned every other case to
" ha l fway hou s e exper imental group , " the rema i n ing c a s e s to
be superv i s ed by agents operating out of the halfway hous e
d i s trict but who had n o c a s e s res iding in the hou s e . The
case records were sent to the d i s trict superv isor of the
Hal fway Hous e D i s tr i c t O f f ic e for a s s i gnment o f speci f i c cases .
37
Ordinar i ly , a parolee must have a program o f employment
and res idence in order to be released from pri son . During
the operation of the experimental program , having sufficient
employment and res idence in the area did not exempt one from
hal fway house placement . On the other hand , parolees a s s igned
to the control group were released from pri s on on their date s ,
irrespective of the suffic iency of their re lease program .
One year after the program was initiated , inmates who
had been se lected to become experimental cases were sent to
the Narcotics Treatment Control Program at Chino to complete
their terms as soon as the Adult Authority had set their
parole date s . At Chino , the men were exposed to a thera
peutic community as preparation for their halfway house ex
perience . They also had contact with their parole agents to
be and with other future res idents o f the hal fway house . The
pre-re lease experience was intended to strengthen the half
way house a s a " bridge to the community . "
In June of 1 9 6 4 , the N . I . M . H . grant expired , the Depart
ment of Correction assumed complete f inancial and research
respons ibi l itie s for the halfway house program and changes
in the program were made . With the completion of the ex
perimental des ign , the s ta f f no longer had to accept every
other case and attempted instead to " s elect only those in
mates for hal fway house programming who are deemed amenable ,
as evidenced by such factors as the inmate ' s institutional
program involvement , his present atti tude as it relates to
3 8
pas t conduc t and future planning and certa in demographic
factors " ( Program Statement Revis ion , 1 9 6 4 , p . 2 ) .
The idea o f a therapeutic community was retained at
f irst but then it too was abandoned . O f f ic ia l ly recogn i zed
and stated d i f f iculties with the program a s it was then de
s igned , were formu lated in Apri l o f 1 9 6 5 . S ta f f c i ted as
d i ff i culti e s :
1 . The attempt to be high ly selective in the recruit
ment of amenable parolees released to the dis trict created
a s evere underpopulation prob lem for the hal fway house .
2 . The add ict population of the Department of Correc
tions was s een as minimally committed to change , yet high
commitment was required to make a therapeutic community work .
3 . The re latively short-term s tay at the hal fway
house ( averaging around s ixty days ) meant that members were
constantly j oining and leaving the group , producing an un
stable group .
4 . Perhaps mos t important i s the fol lowing statement :
" The legal consequenc e s of drug u s e , the primary delinquent
activity of thi s group , has prevented open and c andid com
munication between res ident and staff , forcing each to main
tain his trad i tional role , thereby impeding the e s tabl ish
ment of the Therapeutic Community group " (Proceedings , 1 9 6 5 ) .
This amounts to s ta f f ' s recognition that s ta f f and res idents
could not e a s i ly talk to one another about exi s t ing or im
pending drug u s e , i . e . , the very matter that the treatment
39
was directed toward . This was becau s e the s ta f f would have
to j a i l thos e who admitted use : res idents would be informers
i f they talked in group s e s sion about another res ident ' s
d i f ficulty in abs taining ; and res idents would draw suspic ion
and surve i l lance on themselves or others if they talked
about des ires to use .
With thes e troub1es1 1
recogni zed and stated to the
1 1 There were other troubles but they were not mentioned
in the o f f ic i a l documents and thereby are not part of thi s account o f the " of f ic ia 1 h i s tory . 1f On the bas i s o f : ( 1 ) the account o f Gei s and Fi sher ; ( 2 ) what was reconstructed for me by a few staff that were at the hal fway house during thi s period ; and ( 3 ) what res idents who had been there at that time s a id , another account o f that period is avai lable . From thes e recons tructions it i s c lear that the participants have another way of talking about that ear ly period . They said what was intended as a therapeutic community not only did not develop but turned into s omething that was exceedingly painful for both res idents and s ta f f . Res idents tended to view their recruitment as an i llegitimate extens ion of their incarceration that was happening to them and not to members o f the contro l group . After a l l , they had already been paroled . They found the proc e s s e s of group coun s e l ing , group pun i s hment , and the release procedures at best unintel l igible , and at worst , immoral . They were exceeding ly aware that to talk about drug use was dangerous , but that seemed to be what was asked of them . They found the reques t that they talk about someone e l s e ' s bad behavior incred ib le and immora l . They saw it a s incredible that they should be asked to do it and immoral that they in form or interfe re with another man l s affairs . They a l s o reported that they were often helple s s to prevent another man ' s deviance in any case s ince he might use drugs on the other s ide of town , yet they might be puni shed as a group for his doing that . They wanted to get out of ha lfway hous e yet they cou ld not c l early see what they had to do to get out . At the very least , the staff knew that the s etting was creating intens e host i l i ty toward them � One agent reported to me that he found the hos t i l ity s o intense that when he met h i s group he would do a lmos t anything to avoid talking about the house and problems in it . He gave paper and penci l p sychological tes t s and tried to d irect the goup to talk about abs tract psycholog ical themes s o as to avoid the hostility . Thi s " other accoun t " i n i t s s ituated practical u s e s i s the topic o f thi s report .
40
re levant o f f ic ials in the Department of Corrections , a new
program of " outward orientation into the community and local
neighborhood " was proposed and ultimately initiated .
The Results of the Experiment : O f f i c ia l ly
Acknowledged Fai lure
By thi s time as wel l , the f irst results of the experi-
ment were avai lable and known to s ta f f both at halfway house
and in Sacramento a Although these results were not mentioned
in the s ta f f ' s statement of a desire to abandon the thera-
peutic community , by thi s t ime they were painfu l ly aware
that , on the bas i s of outcome s tatis tics , the therapeutic
community had failed . The research divis ion o f the Depart-
ment of Corrections had compiled the re sults of the first
year ' s experiences of the cohort going through the halfway
house and had compared it with the experienc e s of the contro l
group ( Himme lson , 1 9 6 4 ) . There was no stati s tically s igni -
f icant d i ff erence between the outcomes for those who had
gone to hal fway house and those who were not given thi s
experience . S ixty-seven percent o f the house res idents were
detected in u s ing drugs or experienced " serious d i f ficulty , " 12
within a year of their release from pri son whi l e s ixty-f ive
I t is notab le that this " other account , " an account of the res idents ' behavior formulated in terms of the convict c ode , was n ever a topic in official halfway house documents , though i t was a per s i s tent topic o f s ta f f talk .
l2Serious diff iculty means e ither being returned to
pri son or be ing sentenced on a criminal charge to more than ninety days in j ai l .
4 1
percent o f the contro l s , those who did not go to the halfway
hous e , were detected in the use o f drugs or experienced
serious d i f fi culty . This was for thirty-seven experimental
c a s e s and thirty-nine controls . The rate of relapse was the
s ame as that experienced in ear lier NTCP programs .
The experience o f the second year ' s population in half
way house ( 1 1 6 experimental s and 1 0 9 contro l s ) showed the
s ame results (Mil ler , 1 � 6 5 ) . Approximately s eventy percent
of both groups were detected in the use of opiate s or ex
perienced s erious d i f ficulty during their f i r s t year on
parole . Moreover , only f i f ty-four percent of thos e corning
to the hal fway house made it through that experience succe s s
fully and were re leased t o a n outs ide res idence in the com
muni ty . The others abs c onded from the halfway hous e , were
detected by the parole d ivis ion in the use of opiate s , or
were arrested and confined by the local pol ic e .
I c i te the results of thes e s tudie s , not s o much a s
demons trations that the earlier program o f the halfway hous e
was a fai lure , but a s documented accounts that were facts o f
l i fe t o the s ta f f and to the res idents a s wel l . They are
part of the o ff i c i a l ly recogni zed h i story of the house that
the s ta f f was party to and o f ficia l ly acknowledged . They
were part s o f the s ta f f ' s environment .
Betwee n the period that has j u s t been d e s cribed and the
one that I observed , there were s ome other s tructural changes
in hal fway house . I n i ti a l ly , intake was only from pri s on .
4 2
Months later , the arrangements were changed s o that parolees
who had been in the halfway house and who had relapsed to
use and were sent to N . T . C . U . were admitted back into the
house in addition to admis sion from prison . Then the pro
cedure was changed once more to a l s o include intake of
parolees who had relapsed and been conf ined in j ai l for one
to three weeks .
The outcomes for these recruits were even l e s s succ e s s
ful than f o r those coming out of pr i son . In the initial
period , nine men were returned to the halfway house a f ter
re lapse and a s tay at N . T . C . U . Al l nine fai led within three
months of their release from N . T . C . U . ( Himme lson , 1 9 6 4 , p .
20 ) . In the s econd period (Mi ller , 1 9 6 5 , pp . 1 4 - 1 5 ) , in
which men could be returned to the halfway house after
relapse and one to three weeks in j ai l , nine teen men returned
to halfway house for " further treatment" after having been
released to the community . Though drug use was reported as
grounds for the ir return in only f ive of the nine teen cases ,
a l l but three of the nine teen re lapsed or experienced
further d i f f iculty prior to the expiration of the first year
a f ter release from pri s on . S imi larly , twenty- four case s
who relapsed were sent t o N . T . C . U . , and returned t o the half
way house in the first year of their parole . Only thre e o f
these men completed their f irst year ( in mos t c a s e s there
were only three or four months of that f i r s t year remaining )
without further drug u s e or serious d i f f iculty . Simi larly ,
4 3
only four of the twenty-seven control s experienced no further
d i f ficulties in completing their first year on parole .
Thus , a s an o f f ic ially accounted matter , halfway house
was ab le to do nothing in preventing the further drug u s e of
a man , once he had already " de teriorated , "1 3
yet it was this
very same population that continued to grow in hal fway house .
Summary of the History of the Early Period1 4
The s ta ted goal s (which ration a l i z e the organizational
arrangement s ) of halfway hous e s , e speci a l ly thos e for addicts ,
are embedded in the practitioners ' account o f the plight of
the newly released prisoner or patient . For s ome year s ,
of ficials i n corrections have been c a l ling for some means to
deal with what they described a s the weakest l ink in the
chain of the correctional apparatus - that period immediately
following the prisoner ' s or patient ' s release from an insti-
tution . The parolee or expatient i s portrayed a s i l l -
prepared to fend for himse l f and unprepared t o deal with
the swarm o f choices that free men have . That period i s
described a s one o f terror and confus ion for the new parolee ,
i . e . , a t ime in which he may quickly return to crime , e i ther
for sheer physical survival because he is unemployed , or
1 3" De teriorated " was a term used by parole agents to
designate , typically , a s tate of parolees who had used drugs again but were not nec e s s ari ly addicted .
l 4Later in the chapter , I sha l l be concerned with other
features of thi s early period , i . e . other f eatures than their " hi s torica l import . "
4 4
merely because he f inds the prospects of his new found
f I , f ' d i k ' 1 5 freedom and s e l -re 1ance rustrat 1ng an anx ety provo 1ng .
Practitioners c ite the chronic failure o f prisoner s ,
and e speci a l ly of addicts , when they are first released as
evidence o f thi s pl ight . I n fact , the c a l l for halfway
houses occurs when that chronic fai lure i s reviewed .
With the mas s ive fai lure of both Federal and State
programs for deal ing with the fe lon-addict , the c a l l was
even stronger for programs of " aftercare " for released addicts .
In fact , the very fai lure of thes e programs was o f f ic ia l ly
attributed to the lack of " after-car e " faci l itie s . Cal i fornia
o f ficials s tated high hopes for their program of lI in-patient
rehabi litation" coupled with an a fter-care of �ntensi f ied
parole supervision and treatment , yet the program showed
nothing in terms of concrete outcome results .
Practi tioners propos e hal fway house s a s a s olution to
the d i f f icult environment faced by released men . Hal fway
hou s e s are referred to as "decompres s ion chambers " which are
" home - l ike e nvironments " that prepares the ex-pr i soner or
ex-patient for the s tres se s of normal exi s tenc e . They are
described as place s where the s ta f f II runs interferenc e " for
the gue s t s , and gives them " a s s i s tance " and " invaluabl e hel p "
o n their road back to " cons tructive l iving . "
l5I t i s perhaps notabl e that thes e o f f i c i a l s do not
describe thi s period as the time in whi ch tho s e who have intended a l l along to continue a II l i fe of crime ll f ir s t show themse lve s .
4 5
In thi s context the East Los Angeles Halfway Hou s e was
initiated . The planners o f the Hal fway Hous e d id not de
scribe thei r task as mere ly providing phy s ical and soc i a l1 6
resources for the newly paroled addict . They described h im
as in need o f further treatment . Seeing h i s del inquency as
the product o f group learning and support , they reasoned
that a '1 therapeutic community " in which a nondelinquent peer
group woul d develop would be the mos t succes s fu l program o f
rehab i l i tation . Sta f f attempts a t inducing the development
of a " re spons ible " peer group by puni shing the res ident
group as a whole for the deviance of s ingle member s was met
with d isplays of hos t i l i ty and , from the s taf f ' s s tated
point of view , showed a lack of any commi tment to change .
The ir own c a se-by�case experience , as wel l a s ava i lable
statistical evidence , was understood c learly as showing that
the ha l fway house was no more succes s fu l than ordinary
parole , which was its e l f a fai lure .
Sta f f then proposed to alter their program . They de
s igned a program which met with what they felt was pos s ible
for their population for whom a therapeutic c ommunity seemed
impo s s ib le . I t i s the halfway hous e under the regime of
thi s new program that the remainder of thi s report des c r ibe s .
However , many of the bas ic s tructure s depicted would have
been present in the earl ier phases of the organi z at ion ' s
1 6That i s a s s i s tance in finding work , providing acc e s s
t o recreat i onal fac i l i t ie s , etc .
4 6
l i fe .
The P lan o f the Later Program
In 1 9 6 5 the organi zational and treatment plan of half-
way house became crystali zed , although the treatment program
was not ful ly implemented unti l 1 9 6 6 . The l ines of authority
and superv i s ion took the form d i splayed in Chart I I - I .
D i s tr�uperv . sor
As s i stant D istrict Supervi sor
Director
I Parole Agents ( � )-
Parolees on streit ( approximately 220 )
ous e �anager
udent Pto f e s s ional As s i stants
Parolees in Res idence ( le s s than 25)
Chart I I- l . --Lines of Authority
Thus , although the parole agents were a llocated to half-
way house for the operation of the treatment program , approx-
imately four to e ight hours a week , and for s uperv i sing the
hous e in the evenings and weekend s , they were under the
d irect authority of the a s s i s tant d i s trict supervisor and
the district supervisor , not under the authority of the
program director o Wh i le parolees were in res idence , they
were under two s imultaneous systems of authority . They
were respons ible to both their parole agent and to the
4 7
hal fway hou s e s taf f . They could be ordered by both parties
and be arres ted by both partie s .
All parole agents had s ome o f their case load in res i
dence . Thi s was an alteration of the ear lier form of the
earlier form of organi z ation in which only three o f the
d i s trict ' s agents had parolees in res idence at the halfway
hous e . Tho s e s ame three agents had treatment duties in the
halfway hou s e , while the other three agents had nei ther half
way house duties nor halfway house c a se s . In the new program ,
a l l agents were uti li zed in the halfway hous e " commi ttee
system" program .
Fol lowing a seminar of correctional workers that was
held at halfway house in Apr i l , 1 9 6 5 , the hal fway hous e s ta f f
and district parole agents , " as s i s ted b y the D i s trict O f f ice
parolee population • • • " (Program Revis ion , 1 9 6 5 , p . 1 ) ,
developed and put into practice a new " treatment" program .
While the previous treatment program o f the " therapeutic
community " had as its rationale that the deviance of the
popu lation was based on the ir ties to a deviant peer group ,
the rational e of the new program propos ed that the source o f
deviance w a s i n the parolee ' s lack of involvement i n the
legitimate community . Whi l e the " therapeutic communi ty "
proposed t o alter the parolee ' s deviance by changing the
demands of h i s peer group , the new program proposed to re
hab i litate h im by getting him involved in the legitimate
community . By getting the parolee involved in nondelinquent
4 8
act iviti e s , i t was proposed that h i s pas t patterns of be
havior would change and that thi s , in turn , would change h i s
as soc iate s , h i s commitment , and other act ivities . As one
agent put it in an interview-conversation , " the intent o f
the new program i s t o develop new soc ial roles for the
parolee . II
The vehicles that were proposed to alter the kind o f
activity the parolee engaged i n were referred t o off icially
by the s ta f f as a " task-oriented program which focu s e s on
staf f -parolee-community involvement and interaction " (Pro
gram Revi s ion , 1 9 6 5 , p . 1 ) . The hal fway hou s e was to be a
center from which communi ty resources were made avai lable to
ful f i l l parolee needs , mos t particular ly paro lee needs for
adequate emp loyment , legitimate recreation , education , and
training . The center was to be operated through the j oint
e fforts o f parolees (res idents and former residents ) and
hal fway hou s e s ta f f . The parolee , ideally , was not only to
be direct ly involved in obtaining h i s own support from the
community , but he was as wel l to have II • • real responsi-
b i l i ty for the program des ign and implementation " (Program
Rev i s ion , 1 9 6 5 , p . 2) .
The Committee System
Although the whole regime of the new program was ra
tionali zed in terms of its re levance for directing the
parolee " ou tward into the commun i ty , " the focus and direc
t ion of the new program was to be achieved by a set of
4 9
committees of staff and parolees which met one evening a
week. These committees were to plan and develop the various
activities of the program which were to be executed through-
out the week. Each committee was directed to an lIarea of
need II ¥lhich had been located through discussions between
staff and residents. Through these discussions it was
"agreed " that parolees needed assistance in the areas of
employment? recreationf overcoming the public image of the
addict! education, 17 and orientation to the program and
regime of the halfway house.
The organizational structure of the committees was de-
pic ted soon after the committees were formed in the follow-
ing terms: each resident parolee was to select any committee
he wished; although he was II • • • expected to be an active
partic�pant of some committeell ( Program Revision, 1965 p. 2).
Former residents and other parolees in the district were
also invited or required to attend by their parole agents.
Two staff members were assigned to "work with" each committee .
Each committee would ,have approximately ten members and was
to elect from their own membership their own chairman who
would direct the committee�s efforts. The plan was for the
chairman to be a parolee, but possibly an agent, although
in practice parole agents were always chairmen.
The comrni ttee.s met each Wednesday evening from seven to
17The education committee was quickly dropped because of what staff members called lia lack of attendance and interest on the part of the parolees. "
50
eight p.m. After the committee meeting, a meeting of the
chairmen and other " interested,, 1 8 members gathered in the
program directorls office to discuss and coordinate that
evening's committee efforts�
Some committees focused specifically on services to the
parolee which directly engaged him in legitimate activities
of the community, while others exposed him to nondelinquent
activities of a less community involved sort� Both efforts
attempted to involve the parolee in "controlling his own
fate. "
The �Elo�ent Committee was typically the first commit
tee attended by new residents who had been in the house for
at least three days. It was also attended by unemployed
parolees from the district. Membership in the committee was
typically short-term, until the man obtained employment.
The parole agent chairman of the committee typically
spent the hour interrogating the attending parolees about
their employment preferences and financial needs. The agents
then attempted to refer them to jobs they knew about (from
newspaper advertisements, the Department of Employment,
occasional calls from prospective employers, and news of job
openings from employed parolees) which roughly matched the
parolees' requirements. Interviews with the State Department
------------------------,--=------.-,---------------�.----.-------------------
18 Parolees were given an "overnight pass" for attendance, ioe., they were not required to abide by curfew one evening�
51
of Employment and various pub lic train ing programs in the
c i ty, l ike Vocational Rehab i l i tation! were a l s o arranged.
The committee a l s o occas ional ly prepared men for employment
interviews and showed training f i lms.
The Orientation Committee was the f ir s t commi ttee
attended by new re s idents if they had arr ived at the hal fway
hou se the d ay of or the day prior to the meeting o f the
c ommi ttee. New re s idents were lIoriented to the house " by
the program director and house manager by te l l ing them o f
the hi story o f the hal fway hous e f the troub l e s e ncountered
by res identsr reviewing the ru les� and reviewing the pro-
cedures and conditions for termination� The committee had
no regular paro lee member s � When there were n o new res idents
to or ient , the two s ta f f members on the committe e worked on
revis ing h a l fway house rulesw and planned supra-commi ttee
hal fway hous e activities l ike the annual Chr i s tmas party .
The Rec reation Committee was one o f the two committe e s lI> $ �
with relative ly stab le membership from both the pool o f
r e s idents a n d nonre s ident di strict parolee s . The agents
in the commi ttee spent the ir hour s o l i c iting sugge s tions
from the parolees on pos s ible forms o f legitimate recreation
and ways the se forms might be made ava i lab le to the parolee
population., Sometime s much of the hour was spent in playing
poo l and ping pong.
The c ommittee wa s d irected toward expos ing re s idents
and district parolees to nondelinquent forms of recreation.
52
It had more active participation by the residents than the
two committees described above in that the residents them
selves were invited to suggest possible recreational activi
ties and on some occasionsy the parolees did participate in
the actual organization of the recreational activity. The
committee seasonally established a softball team. The
committee held pool and ping pong tournaments. Tickets to
sporting events (baseball� basketballi boxing ) were regularly
available through the committee at little or no cost� The
committee had some members who maintained membership after
they left the house�
The Co�unity Relations Committeey in contrast to the
othersg had a very stable membership largely composed of
parolees on the case loads of the two participating parole
agents"" Time in the coromi ttee was spent in discussing
various topics, like the life of the addict, the causes of
addiction, cultural differences bebleen Mexican and Anglo
.Americans? etc. i which were potentially relevant to public
presentation. The committee produced various programs for
the community on narcotic addiction� the nature of the
addict, the Department of Corrections$ and the halfway house�
In a period of six months it prepared two discussions for
radio? provided several panel discussions for local colleges
and 'reen Posts I and sponsored a play on Narcotics Addiction
(The Connection) at halfway house for the general public and
parolees" It met regularly as a discussion group on deviance
53
and corrections when it was not directly engaged in produc
ing a program. Its therapeutic intent was to expose members
to that form of nondelinquent activity known as "public
works."
Supportive Supervision
The committees not only provided their members with an
introduction to nondelinquent activities, but they also
provided another occasion for parole agent - parolee contact.
Requesting or demanding a parolee to come to committee meet
ings at halfway house was one way an agent could increase
contact with a parolee who was seen as requiring intensive
supervision and observation without giving the parolee the
constant feeling that his every move was being scrutinized.
Depicted as an accompaniment of Ifincreased parolee
involvement in the legitimate affairs of the community, Ii
" supportive supervision" was another focus of the program.
Described as a means of assisting the parolee in meeting the
demands of anxiety-producing situations in which the parolee
necessarily found himself involvedg close supportive super
vision was also supposed to provide a means of focusing the
parolee's attention on the importance of meeting personal
responsibili ties to himself§ his family, the program, and
his community. That is, at the very least ? the parolee
would be supervised to see that he was complying with the
conditions of parole and with the rules of the halfway house.
54
The Programmatic Ideals and HOEes of Halfway House
What has been delivered thus far is a euphemistic
history. It is stated in terms used by correctional workers
and corresponds to the ways they would tell "their story" in
publico Events in this history were also held up as pro-
grammatic ideals for and by the staff when they came to
evaluate s pecific men and specific events. The point of
going through the history is to show, in demonstrable evi-
dence? the character of these programmatic ideals� To speak
of these matters as ideals means that they would not have
been taken as factual depictions by staff or residents and
while they could be held up as goals for halfway house to
achieve, they were not enforceable as day to day demands$
The materials I have considered thus far can be treated
as containing the hopes and programmatic ideals staff held
for residents. As a list, staff hoped and held out as ideals
that residents would;
a. want to be helped;
b, want to do the work of helping others as a means
to their own rehabilitation$
c. actually do the work of the committees;
d. say what they really wanted,
e . propose steps to reach what they really wanted;
f. volunteer to lead the work of carrying out those
steps;
55
g. only use staff as a resource for accomplishing
those pieces of the work that required official intervention,
e.g. signing agreements with the parks department;
h. accept the minimal set of rules of the halfway
house as there for the residents' own good. Staff rationalized
the rules to the residents in those terms by s aying that
compliance with the rules was a sign of respect for the
residentsi own house and organiz ation, esg., Hlook what kind
of place it would be for you if you had a bunch of drunks
around herein
i. accept staff as working with residents;
j . willingly make important organiz ational decisions
together with staff;
k.. be open: i.e. f willingly talk about themselves? and
do so truthfully.
This is not to say that the staff in fact regarded these
goals or ideals as realistic� or personally took them to be
in fact desirable. Nor is it to say that they pronounced
them in so many words as "here are our goals. n Indeed, in
the halfway house staff's programmatic written statements,
the closest they came to stating these as �oa ls was to speak
of their desire to i�involve " the resident in the program and
to ".i.nvolve" him in the affairs of the legitimate communit.y.
Instead, t.hese unstat.ed goals became apparent in the variety
of ways in which the staff evaluated activities of the half
way house and the men of the halfway hOUSS0
56
The ideal of solidarity and resident self-determination
became verbalized on occasions like staff conferences in
which a dinner for the staff and residents was being planned.
Staff would say such things as, "The residents have said
they really want this� and it will give us an opportunity to
be with them and their families in nonbusiness circumstances.1t
And, for example, the success of Christmas parties was de
scribed by citing the extent to which residents undertook
the various tasks of the party (e. g.; playing Santa Claus)
and the extent to which staff and residents showed that they
enjoyed each others' companyQ
The programmatic ideals (a-k above) were also verbalized
in perhaps a less explicit form on an everyday basis, i.e.,
not requiring special occasions like evaluating or planning
for a party or even requiring the occurrence of staff meetings.
The programmatic ideals were frequently employed by staff to
characteriz e or give evaluations of the behavior of a specific
resident, e.g., "Pedro doesn!t want to be helped."
The Dai.!.;x: yqorking· ,Concerns of the SJ:;aff
The programmatic ideals of the regime of the halfway
house were overlaid with a set of day-to-day working concerns.
These working concerns are rarely noted in the literature on
halfway houses . They are alluded to be reference to the
need for giving "supportive supervision11i and "providing some
sort of structured environment,U and the like. Briefly put,
these phrases mean that the staff of this halfway house, and
57
any other halfway house operated under parole authority (and
to a lesser extent private halfway house staffs) � have as
their immediate and continuous responsibility the detection
and rectification of deviance in their midst. For the
staff, there was no forgetting that they were dealing with
parolees and that they had responsibility for the parolees
as their parole agentso That is to say� the parole agents
were continuouslYt and as a matter of requirement� making
reference in their talk to each other that that was what
they were doing. In brief, this meant that knowing what
their charges were doing� as a matter of assertable fact to
other staff; and knowing tha� what their charges were doing
was in compliance with the law and -the condi tions of parole �
was a first-order condition of fulfilling their occupational
duties. Knowing ""lhat" and knowing " that" were of such an
order of concern that it was definitive of "doing competent
parole" in the setting. It was one of the fundamental
showable parts of the work of "doing parole." Not doing
tha-t work and not showing that work to supervisors and other
staff were taken as occasions for denouncing a parole agent,
calling him "incompetent?" or "lazy�" IInot doing his job, n
"being unrealistic f II "not taking care of businessi' and the
like"
The S2�cifics of S�2ervision
Whatever else a parole agent might do in the accomplish
ment of his occupational dutiesl one thing he is continuously
58
engaged in as the showable part of his task is giving accounts
about the behavior and location of his case load. He may or
may not give them advice and assistanc91 it would be rare
that anyone in the bureaucracy would know whether or not he
did that. The two things that he must show his superiors
are accounts about his parolees, and accounts about the fact
that he is seeing them and finding out about them. It is
with respect to the tasks of surveillance§ receiving accounts,
verifying accounts , reformulating and transmitting accounts,
and making comparisons between accountable, factual states of
affairs in the life of parolees and the requirements of the
adult authority - it is with respect to these tasks that
the parole agent$g environment has an unavoidable sanction
able structure. For the moment , let me call them a set of
structural features that any account that dealt with parolees
would include, (if it covered these matters) and could not
contradict, (if it did not cover these matters ) as conditions
of an adequate account about his work offered by a parole agent
to his peers or superiors.
The continuous task of parole is to assess the parolee�s
compliance with the conditions of parole (a set of rules)
and with the law� i.e. , all laws except minor traffic
matters. The parole agent is charged with determining the
following matters about his charges�
a. Are they violating any laws?
b. Are they employed - if so, where and for how much,
59
and doing what?
c. Where do they live and with whom?
do Are they driving - if SOt do they have a license
and insurance?
e. Who are they associating with?
f. Are they using drugs and alcohol - if alcohol? in
excess or not?
In determining these matters the parole agent may find
a wide variety of concrete determinations relevant to answer
ing these questions. For example1 the ways in which a
parolee is able to afford the clothes he is wearing is
potentially relevant to questions concerning his criminality.
While there are a swarm of such considerations in day-to-day
parole for men living in their own residence, at halfway
house a particular set of such considerations was typical.
As matters that parole agents and other staff had to
determine and could not take as settled, the following were
prominent questions asked about all residents�
a. Is he using drugs?
b� Is he selling drugs?
c� Is he drinking, or drinking to excess?
d. Is he either really employed or really looking for
work?
s. Is he respecting the rules and regulations of half
way house?
In determining answers to these questions and any other
6 0
questions which had tangential relevance to these questions,
parole agents had unlimited rights of interrogation and in
spection. About each question they could demand proof! did
demand proof, and were required to demand proof. 19
Parole agents were charged with enforcing these matters
as laws, and were charged to use their powers to put men in
jail for violating these regulations. That is, they were
to enforce the rule of no use of drugs, ascertain that that
rule was being complied with, and to deal with violaters of
that rule by jailing them and writing a report to the Adult
Authority about the use. They were to monitor the affairs
of their charges in such a way that they would detect the
sale of drugs. Depending on the particular parolee, they
were to judge the parolee�s lack of use of alcohol or limited
use of "alcohol. They were to monitor the man's behavior in
such a way that they could say that either he had a job and
which job it was� or that he was making concrete, describable
(first the parolee went here, then the parolee went there )
efforts to find a job� It was also �he agent�s task to monitor
the behavior of their cases with respect to complying with
halfway house rules and to enforce that compliance�
19 That i.s! the agents were nentitled toU demand proof and this was openly recognized by the parolees; they did demand proof? but not on all occasions1 and were required to demand proof by their superiors "whenever appropriate occasions arose," although they did not always do this and there ¥lBS no guarantee that their superiors would know about lithe appropriate occasions."
61
I t was w i th in the context of these tasks of parole tha t
the d ay-to- day routine s o f ha lfway hous e had their sense
for the s taff-partic ipantsf and were descr ibab le by s taff a s
sens ible routines for them t o require. Thes e a c t iv i ties
requ i red of res ident s that they make the i r l ives observab le
to s taff in such a way that the ques tions s taff " had" about
the conforming character of that l ife could be answered in
uemp i r ic a l " terms, tha t iS1 if a s taff member were a s ked by
one of h i s c o l leagues about a particular res ident, he could
answer in terms of what he had s een or had been shown.
The routine a c tiv i t ies were u s ed by s taff a s a s t andard
in terms of which to offer a s ses sments of a resident's be
havior. To the extent that the typ i c a l routines were adequate
des c ript ions of the res ident�s life? thos e routine s in fact
prov ided for the observabi l ity referred to above. Those
routine a c tivities c an be desc r ibed in terms of the typ i c a l
career o f h a lfway house res idents .
The Routines of the Ha lfway House
The day a res ident arr ived he was oriented by the hou s e
manager in h i s office. In tha t ses s ion he was g iven the
rou·tines of the ha lfway hous e I and \\1a9 told about s ome of
its other over-riding ru les, namely that no drug u s e was
permitted and that a lcohol was not permitted on the premi ses.
Typ ic a l ly the res ident was told of the h i story of the organi
z ation in b r ief form and wha t the organ ization was for$
After tha t point the res ident s aw the program d irector in
62
... . . . . . . . . ............. . .
his office where he was also oriented to the program in a
somewhat different manner. On the same day the resident
saw his parole agent who might also take him to the test
center to receive nalline testing. The parole agent also
gave the man an initial interview if he was just corning out
of prison. The agent typically gave the man an overnight
pass his first night. For the next two days the new resident 20 was assigned a work pro ject by the house manager.
Although his evenings were free, except for scheduled
house meetings to be noted below, the new resident had a
12 p.m. curfew. Starting on the fourth day and until he
located employment he was required to be up by six, leave
the halfway house by eight, be looking for work during the
day, and be back to the halfway house by 4 p.m. At 4 p.m.
he was .required to go to a short group for the unemployed
in the house manager�s office.2l At this group he was asked
to give evidence of his employment-searching efforts by pro-
viding a list of potential employers he had contacted and
what happened at each one of them. He might also have re-
ceived leads for job-searching for the next day from the
house manager who runs this group, or from other residents
20Labor provided by new residents was the chief source of maintenance labor available to the halfway house.
2IThis group met only when there was a sufficient number of unemployed men to warrant it. In the language of staff, parolee; and inmate a "group" is not a collection of persons but an occasion at which persons gathered to do therapy or business. The term is used grammatically in U.e same way that "party" is used.
6 3
attending the group. The house manager often reviewed the
strategy of each man in his efforts for finding work. Of
chronic concern was the matter of transportation to places
of work� For money for bus fare the house manager usually
referred men to their agents. The meeting usually took less
than one half hour. The men were then free to do as they
chose until 12 pom. when their curfew appliedg unless they
were scheduled for halfway house meetings that night.
On Monday night there was a required house administra
tion meeting from 6:3 0 to 7 : 3 0 p.m., where events of the week
were discussed, behavior of the residents was reviewed $ and
resident.s were invited t.o tell "how they felt" about what
the staff was doing and "what they thought" of the regula
tions of the regime. On Wednesday night the committees met
as pre�iously discussed. On Friday evening there was a
brief meeting in which each resident1s bill and how he in
tended to pay for it (either cash or doing jobs at halfway
house) was reviewed. Occasionally there would be optional
programs, such as a pool tournament, on other nights of the
week� typically Thursday_
After a resident obtained work; which typically took
nine days, the curfew was extended to 1 aom. and he no
longe:;::' was required to go to the 4, p.m. group for the un
employed men. He also then set his own time for getting up
in the morning. After he reached that status? and paid his
bill, he was permitted to leave� Residents typically took
64
one week to do this after employment.
Another set of routines which were required of all
residents regardless of the length of time they had resided
in the house concerned the control of narcotics use. Daily
skin and eye checks were given to all residents who were
viewed as particularly risky by staff. At least two surprise
nalline tests were given to all residents. Urine samples
(for a narcotics test ) were taken from all residents when
the house manageris periodic searches of halfway house un
covered evidence that narcotics were being used in the house*
Staff Uses of the Routines
Cooperative compliance with the above routines (being
in the times and places specified ) and not visibly using
drugs would have made a resident�s behavior non-notable for
the staff when they came to give an account of the resident.
A parole agent's question to one of the house staff, "How�s
Fernando doing?" .would have been answered, "O.K., he's
stable,--he�s giving no trouble."
Rupturing any one of those routines made the resident's
behavior notable? open for comment to other staff membersp
and especially open to question, i.e., it provided the
occasions upon which staff was required to question resident's
behavior. It provided the terms in which responses to the
question "How� s he doing?" was answered. For example 1 leI
don't knowt he missed group last nightf I'm going to check
it out with him as soon as I see him"� ort "He's messing up,
6 5
he's not paying his bill�; or, "Heis messing up, he's taking
an awfully long time finding work"; orR "Something!s up,
he gave a very fuzzy account of how he is going about finding
work. 112 2
Moreover, compliance with the routine made the resident9s
behavior observable so that staff could say that they saw
him and that he looked and acted "normally. " That is, com-
pliance with the routine insured that the resident was at
halfway house for certain periods each day and gave staff
the opportunity to observe his behavior and appearance,
thereby detecting at least the more radical forms of narcotic
induced behavior. By keeping track of part of the resident�s
day through required attendance and by obtaining some in for-
mation on other parts of his daYf (either from knowledge of
when and where the resident was working or, for the unemployed,
keeping track of their job-seeking efforts ) the resident!s
pattern of activities was observed for the possibility of
full-time criminal occupationso For example, residents who
made many brief trips in and out of the halfway house fre-
quently were suspect of selling narcotics and keeping their
"stash" in the halfway house.
In brief$ the staff used the routines of halfway house
to detect? observeg and report the deviance of the residents.
22These quotations come from my field notes and cannot be counted on as verbatim transcriptions of what staff said. They would be extremely close to exactly what was said, howevery and what was said many, many times.
66
Staff's Accounted Alarm for Notable Reportable Dev�a�
23
These notable-reportable occurrences (like not paying a
bill, looking bad, etc. ) for the staff were not simply
isolated matters which indicated lack of compliance to an
order they were charged with enforcing, but more importantly,
they were interpreted as (were elaborated and explained in
terms of) the portents of further and more serious deviance.
I came to see the modes of this elaboration in terms six
cautionary doctrines24 that were constantly being used by
staff in explaining what was happening at halfway house and
why they had to enforce the rules in the way they did. Each
of the doctrines is a way of understanding some present
deviance as leading to the ultimate downfall of the halfway
house. In brief, they were ways staff had of talking to
each other which made the halfway house out as a powder kegf
and each observed violation of a routine out as the fuse to
that keg.
It should be made clear that staff did not talk of
2 3 These are by no means the only kinds of accounts that staff gave about the residents! deviance. Later chapters of the work will be devoted to staff�s accounts of the sources of deviance. The cautionary doctrines are presented at this point to give the reader further background on what kind of environment the halfway house was like�
24 It was not, or at least not necessarily, the case that staff �believed" these doctrines. It is the case that they knew the doctrines, knew that they would be told the doctrines, and on proper occasions would themselves recite the doctrines, i.e. when they observed deviance and were urging that it be dealt with.
67
these folk theories as cautionary doctrines or folk theories.
For the staff they were simply sets of logically related ex�
pressions that could be invoked in utterances like "you will
have to arrest him, or talk to him, or take him to nalline
testing, or restrict him to the house, etc�, because, as you
know; " What I am calling a "cautionary doctrine"
would fill the blank. The doctrines were rationalizers or
motivators used in pressing the task of surveillance, detec-
tion of drug use, and "correction."
The Doctrine of the Bad Apple was proposed most fre
quently by the halfway house program director and house
manager; in contrast to the parole agents. It was used both
as an expression of the chronic anxiety of their work, ·and
as a call for vigilence. The doctrine proposed:
a. Addicts are easily influenced by other addicts.
b. Addicts are easily tempted by the availability of 25 drugs.
c. Addicts believe that it is socially proper for them
to offer drugs to other addicts. 26 Therefore,
d. The use of drugs in and around halfway house was
highly communicable.
25That addicts were easily influenced and easily tempted was often spoken of as the essential characterological weakness of addicts by both staff and residents& Weakness is a theme of the literature on the "addictive personality" (Cf.� e.g.? Ausubelf 1 9 58 ) .
26This was spoken of by both staff and residents as an aspect of the addict sub-culture.
68
The doc tr ine of the "bad app le" w a s u s ed in arguing
tha t drug u s e mus t be detected quickly and the user removed
from the s etting, l e s t a l l the other r e s idents r e l ap s e� The
doctr ine, in i t s temper a l a spec t s , propo s e s tha t pre s ently
s u s pe c ted usef if left a lone, w i l l deve lop into s ome thing
muc h wor se. It propo s e s tha t pre sent s tate s are ominous
portents of outcomes which, becau s e of the nature of the
t a s k and r espect for the doc tr ine , w i l l be "nipped in the
bud," and thereby never fully seen. The doctr ine of the " bad
app le" a l s o make s the work of surve i l l ance an impor tant
s truggle. It is a c ons tant s truggle becau s e of the doctr ine
of the certa inty of use.
The D?9t rine 9f, �he_Cert�inty of Use w a s used to make
the s t affls suspicion of every s ingle r e s ident� ever y s ing l e
moment, r e a s onable and t o urge tha t suspic ion. The doctrine
propo sed�
a. G iven any number of parol e e s l ike thos e of the
h a l fway hous e d istr i c t, s ome proportion w i l l be u s ing
27 drugs.
b. Given any particular par o l e ee at s ome t ime after
28 his re lease from pri s onr he w i l l u s e drugs4
------------------_ ... ---------------------------------------------------
27 Each parole agent's per sona l experience and the out-c ome figu r e s for the halfway house were c i ted a s evidence for thi s .
28Each parole agent's per sona l expe rience and each
paroleeis b iography was c it ed as evidence for thi s .
6 9
Therefore,
c. Each and every parolee is likely to be using at any
particular time; is certain to be using some of the time; and
it is certain that some parolees in the halfway house are
using at any given moment; although their use may not be
visible to staff.
The only parolees or parolee-residents that were exempt
from the application of this doctrine were those that were
seen by staff as never having been addicts in the first 2 9 place�
For all the othersi even if staff acknowledged that they
had not used drugs for ten years, use was seen and spoken of
as an open possibility. For example; one parolee that I came
to know quite well was highly trusted by staff, and given
2 9 very few residents were seen by staff as never really addicts in the first place� The circumstances could come about in two ways. On admission to the prisen system every felon is interrogated about his prior use of drugs. Some prisoners naively "admit" that they have used drugs when their record does not indicate that they have. Though this is very rare, it does occasionally happen, so that some felons who have only used drugs sporadically and have never become addicted and who have never been arrested on charges that implicate their use of drugs become classified by prison officials as addicts. Perhaps three such persons went through the halfway house during its history. Another way nonaddicts can become classified as addicts by prison officials is to knowingly falsely lIadmit " to having used drugs� Some felons will do that because such an admission is consonant with the line they took at the time of their trial and they choose not to be "found out " on admission to prisono Some dealers of drugs argue at the time of their trial that the drugs they possessed were for their own use and not for potential s ale. They are thereby able to receive a sentence on possession rather than possession-for-sale which is a more serious offense.
70
".":;.(.. . · :v · · . . . . ..... _ _ .. . . .. .. -[ •. -.-.- - -
muc h responsibi l i ty in the program. He had known h is agent
through sever a l years of friendship, and they spoke of each
other as trusted and trustworthy. The paro lee had the repu
ta tion of a genuinely rehab i l i ta te d ex-addict. However,
when late one night the paro lee phoned his agent saying that
he was in trouble and please c ome over right away, the agent
reported to me that the very first thing he thought of was
that the paro lee had become upset over someth ing and had
started shooti ng a lot of drugs. As it turned out? the
troub le was over the parolee�s common law wife.
The Doc trine of Imitation is s im i lar to the doctrine of
the ilbad app le " in tha t it was used in demanding immed ia t e
staff attention to detected d eviance, though i n th is c ase
not restric ted to drug use. The doctrine of imitation pro
posed tha t:
a. If a resident breaks a ru l e and is not punished,
a l l other residents wi l l see that they can break the rule
wi thout c onsequence.
b. If residents see tha t they can break rules without
c onsequence they wil l do so.
Therefore,
c. Staff inac t ion on a c ase of rul e breaking wil l
c ause the rule to b e broken b y a l l r esidents&
Under the auspices of this doctr ine, staff could argue
that even the most triv i a l regu l ations required stringent
enforcemen t! if they con tributed in the slightest to the
71
orderline s s o f the environmen t. Thereby , while s ta f f wou ld
argue that it was of litt le or no importance that a s ingle
res ident did not get up in the morning at s ix a.m$f to per-
mit that res ident ' s u l a z ines s" to go by unnoticed meant that
no one woul d get up at any particular time , which would be
a matter of great organizational concern. S ta f f' s response
to rule violations was rational i zed by use of thi s doctrineo
The more violations of a particular ru le occurred , the more
severe were the penalties adminis tered by s ta f f� When rates
of compl iance were h igh § sa.nction s were les s severe. When
one person w a s late for curfew he might receive "counseling , "
but i f s ix persons were l a'te e ach night over a period o f
several days; staff would announce that curfew viola'tion
would result in three days in j ai l. When relat ive comp l i ance
w i th the rul e was achieved, curfew violators would again
rece ive "couns e l ing. "
The u s e o f the doc trine o f imi ta tion t l ike many o f the
other doctr ines, portrayed s ta f f' s attempts to maintain
order as a constant s truggl e.
The Doct;cine:., oLTes,t,ip,g the L�mits3 0
i s the app l ication
o f the doctrine of imitation to a s ingle person. The doc-
trine of imitation to a s ingle person� The doctrine pro-
pos e s:
a. I f a res ident breaks a rule and i s not puni shedf
3 0'·'Test.ing the l imits" w i l l a l so be treated in more
detail later�
72
he knows tha t he can do so again without consequence.
b. I f a res ident sees that he can break rules without
consequence he wi l l do so.
Therefores
c. Staf f inaction on a case of rule breaking w i l l cause
the rule to be broken again and again by tha t res ident.
Under th is doctrine s ta f f can have a con stant struggle
with a s ingle res ident a s wel l a s with the res idents a s a
group . Here tooi the treatment is s imilar. Sanctions are
increased i n the i r severity unti l the deviance stops or the
re s ident i s removed from the setting. The typical progres
s ion of s anctions was reprimand, threat , restr ic ti<>n to -the
house on weekendsr j ai l ing? banishment, and f in al ly jailing
and banishmen t .
Th.!3 Doctr ine of Whe� ling and Dealing was used to demand
immediate attention to drug use. The doctrine proposed:
a . Heroin use i s characteri zed by increas ing need or
des ire for the drug , so that after a brief period of t ime
(perhaps two weeks) the use of the drug i s not experienced
as a choice but a nece s s i ty.
b. As use increase s so does cost.
c. Res ident�s or parolee ' s legitimate resources are
l imited.
There fores
d. The user wi l l quickly turn to i l legal pursuits ,
"'Vlhee ling and deal ing" to supply h i s needs.
73
. . . ..... . ....•.. . . " ..... .:.:.;$ •.. . .
Thereby, in a case o f enc ountered "first use" of drugs ,
s t a f f can forete l l the " big troub le" a paro lee w i l l be in
within a f ew weeks. S ome paro lee s were described as going
through the s tages very quickly while a very f ew other s can
"chip around " for many months. At f ir s t , the u s er is de
s cribed a s IIchippingll or "ge e z ing on weekend s only . " Whe n
the drug i s experienced a s a nec e s sity, the u s e r i s nstrung
out. "
The doctrine o f wheel ing and deal ing i s voiced by the
wide range of o f fic ials who deal with the "drug problem , "
but i t h a s s pe c ia l re levance for the ta s k s o f parole agents .
P arole agents depict the i r task a s not the tas k o f the
police. One might imag ine that the police are a ttempting
to c atch a s many c riminals a s pos s ible" The agent , on the
o ther l)and , lIi s try ing" to keep as many men on the s treet as
pos s ib le . He needs to know , there fore , at what s tage a
u s e r is , to determine i f i t i s pos s ib l e to " give him a pas s "
(no t report h i s use ) and, i f nott to determine what to do
w i th him. As the agents describe it� i f the man is "re a l ly
strung out�" s imply plac ing him in j a i l for a c ouple o f
weeks i s not enough , because the parolee wi l l s t i l l f e e l the
need for d rugs upon release. Agents report that s ome parolee s
ask not to be re leased because t.hey s ,t i l l d irectly feel the
need for drugs&
The�qoc�ri��. ?f Dete£�oFa�ion demands that paro lee be
havior be seen as s ympt.omatic of unseen determinations which
74
produce that behavior, and as conditions which will produce
further undesirable behavior0 The doctrine proposes that:
a. Signs of social deterioration (rule violations,
inattentiveness to routines, unemployment, excessive drink
ing instability in residencel instability in marital rela
tionship, or any other "disorganized" behavior ) is likely
to be caused by drug use, i09., it is a possible symptom of
drug use.
b. Signs of social deterioration are likely to be
symptomatic of affective states which produce or will produce
drug use.
c. Signs of social deterioration are likely to be
situational or environmental conditions which will cause
drug use.
T�ereforev
do Signs of deterioration are immediate strong grounds
for suspicion and surveillance.
In light of this doctrinef the loss of a job or the
failure to obtain a job after a couple of weeks after release
from prison or jail can be an exceptionally important de
termination in an agent1s portrayal of a parolee. Jobless
ness can be seen and described as� (a ) a possible indication
that the parolee is using and perhaps selling drugs, e.g*6
because he is using drugs and partying all the time he has
no interest in obtaining work; and/or he is also selling
drugs and does not need a job. It may indicate (b ) that the
75
parolee's underlying psychic s tate is producing his j oble s s
ne s s, and has already or at any moment can also produce his
drug use, e�g�v he is depres sed and thereby not able to
actively seek work and because he is depre s sed he either has
already or is about to use drugs for relie f . The parolee's
j oble s sne s s may also ( c ) be a s tate of a f f airs that depre s se s
him so muchv o r makes h im so anxious� that h e is a lready
or is about to use drug s for relief.
Among the things that can be s een as signs o f deteriora
tion are mis sing one's nalline testg mi s s ing or being late
for appointments, being drunk , being arre s ted f or being
drunk 1 mi s sing workl being out of work , having a hard time
getting workl and even getting traf fic viola ti on s . Being a
resident at the halfway hous e maximi z e s the potential numbe r
o f determinations which can b e s e e n a s " de terioration, " and
doe s so in t'l,110 ways 0
Firs t , hal fvlay hou s e residency 1 a s compared with resi
dence in one's own or a relative's hous e , roomf or apartment,
carries w i th it a set o f rule s and routines whos e violation
are almo s t certain to be seen as signs of deterior ation.
Failure to pay one�s halfway hou s e bill $ missing group� not
working on work a s s ignments , and be ing late for cur few are
"Jays that parolees can show that they are " deteriorat ing "
only i f they live in halfway hous e . By living in hal fway
house there are more ways one can show that he is Ildete rior
ating.1I
7 6
Secondly , re sidence in halfway hou s e provide s that
one's life w ill be monitored in addi tional ways as compared
with the monitoring of lives of ordinary parolee s@ The
parolee in re sidence is in the social pos i tion o f having his
"erratic " or "irre s ponsible " behaviors observab l e to s ta f f,
which can be or will be seen a s pointing to s ome actual or
potential underlying deviance. While the parolee is in
residence he c an be s een being up late at nightq or b eing
intoxi cated v or going to work la te, or not going to work at
a ll, or doing "strange things" like falling a s leep on a
hard bench or shadow boxing in the shower. Though he might
do all o f the s e things at home? they would rarely be s een
by his parole agent .
The varietie s o f de terminations which are made visib l e
b y hal fway hous e re sidency are n o t limited t o tho s e determina
tion s that potentially point to an underlying pattern o f
drug use. S ome other matters which are seen a s signs o f
deterioration? and signs o f other kinds o f ille g i timate
doings f are als o made vis ible by res idency. The rapidity
with which the res ident enters and leaves the building? the
number of phone calls the res ident receive s and the timing
o f the c alls can all be s een a s signs o f deterioration and
as signs of " dea ling@ " i.e . ? that the resident is engaged
in the s a l e of drug s . The way the re sident looks out the
window at a C adillac! or s tands in front of the halfway
hous e as i f wai ting for s omeone while not wanting that
77
wait ing to be ob served, c an be taken a s ind icating that the
res ident i s engaging in some kind of " monkey bus ines s.1I
Even the re s ident's s tand ing i n the ha l l can be seen a s
It s tand ing po in"!.: " ; i. e 0 r he i s s tandi ng as lookout for some-
one e l se who i s beh ind a nearby door shooting or deal ing
drugs. A l l these matters would not be v i s ib le if the parolee
wa s not a re s ident in the hal fway house .
The T ime and Appearance S tructure of Deviant Ac tivities Under the Auspic e s o f the S ix Doctrines
Under s tood with re s pect to the temporal s tructure of
appearances; the doctrines propose that pre sently observed
appearance s be treated as a pha se in a deve loping object�
Sta f f was asked to respond to re s ident behavior not s imply
a s acts i n themse lves, to be treated jud ic iou s ly in terms
of the ir con forming or deviant characte r� and to treat the
res ident accord ingly. Instead , s t a f f was a sked , and asked
each othe r , to treat present appearances a s acts -as-they-are
-part-of-a- th ing-becoming . Present d i splays were to be
understood a s portent s o f the terrib le thing that w i l l happen
if act ion is not taken to "head o f f " or Itnip-in -the -bud " the
th ing-that- i s -becoming. Thu s a detected c a s e o f rule break-
ing or drug use was not to be treated in it s e l f as "merely
that , " but to be s een a s the " f irst s tep" in ( a) thi s
re s ident's cycle o f increas ing drug use and i l legal activities
or this re s ident's cyc le o f increas ing rule breaking whi ch
78
i t s e l f would become drug use a s we l l. The detec ted c a s e o f
r u l e break ing was a l s o to be treated as not s imply th i s
particu lar res ident1s deviance in- itse l f, o r a s - it-was
deve lopingr but was seen a s ( b ) one re s ident's d eviance that
is about to s pread to the who l e popu lat ion of r e s ident s.
The doctrine s a l so propo s e that there is a certa inty
that some portion of the popu lat ion i s u s ing drugs even
though tha t might not be v i s ib le at thi s moment . Whatever
is seen d i re ctly is merely lithe top of the iceberg." More
over, that which is seen as mer e ly the "top of the iceberg"
is not s een through the obvious c a s e s of apprehended drug
u s e or other terrib le openly vis ible occurrenc e s, but i s to
be s een a s we l l in a multitude o f ntr ivial" occurrence s ,
l ike the loss of a job , that a res ident i s up late at night,
and so forth. Even the seeing of deviance that i s done
through th i s k ind of occurrence s t i l l repre s ents " the top
o f the iceberg.1I
The two aspects o f the doctr ine, the temporal and
lIextended appearance" aspects , c ombine in such a way that
the who le population of res ident s can be s een as u s ing
drugs, or in irr�ediate danger of u s ing drug s , or getting in
other " s erious trouble " on the occas ion and through the
occ a s ion o f a s ing l e res ident making frequent trips through
the f ront door.
Conc luding Remarks
In l i ght of the c autionary doctrines it can be s een that
79
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... ,; ...•....
the conforming and deviant behavior o f the r e s idents on a
case-by-c a s e b a s i s was no casual matter to the s taf f . I t
wa s the matter the ir accounts were f requent ly d irected to;
it was the matter they had to write reports about; and it
was the matter that the ir supervisors a sked them about.
1'1oreover, que stions on the order of "How are we do ing? �� ,
How i s the program doing ? " , "Are we do ing any good? "1 "Was
last night's event a suc c e s s?� were a l so frequent topi c s o f
s ta f f meeting sf bu l l s e s s ions, talk at parties, and the l ike .
Fina l ly , the que s tions i'What I s go ing to happen next? " ,
"l.-fuere and when w i l l troub le break out? II were continuous ly
topi c s o f expre s s ed concern , cur ios i ty , and anxiety. In
brie f, deviance and fai lure were c ons tant topi c a l matters
of any talk about IIWhat we are doing? " , "What we do here ? ",
and "What do we want to do here? " They were embedded in
every reference to the pa s t, the here and now , the p l ans
about the s e tting, the localef the organ i z ation , or its
members .
In each case reference was made directly or by under
s tood imp l i c ation to the " programmatic ide a l s , " " routine s , 1i
or IIrul e s" in locating thi s deviance or fai lure . I t i s
deviance which i s recogn i z ed by , identified a s , located in
terms o f, and de s cr ibed by reference to; departure s from
organi zat ionally employed scheme s l ike "programmatic ide a l s , ti
"routine s f ll and IIrules " which i s typica l l y taken a s the topic
to which the sociolog i s t i s addre s se d when he d e a l s with
80
deviance , most par ticularly and c le a r ly when he deals with
deviance in organ i z ationa l setting so It i s deviance recog
niz ed, def ined, and ana lyzed in th i s waYf which sociolog i s t s
and laymen a l ike (in thi s c a s e the s t a f f and the res ident s )
are went to explain. D eviance recogn i z ed in thi s fash ion
is the topic of the next chapter.
81
C HAPTER THREE
PATTERNS OF RES IDENT BEHAVIOR
In th i s chapter I would l ike to bring to the reader's
attention a s e t of notable behaviors for later analys is.
They are notab le behaviors in thre e s en s e s o f notab i l i ty:
pattern ( sense , and in the ir relation to the convic t code.
1 . The se behaviors are obs e rvab le as patterns o f ba-
h · Th t ' th d . I I 1 0 av�oro a �S , ey appeare a s ma s s�ve y regu ar. ne
could see the pattern s on any day! from day to day, with the
s ame population of res ident s , and over the cours e o f ob serva-
tiona 6f a popula tion whos e membership was forever changing .
I ob served the se regularities from the f i r s t period I was
at the hal fway house to the la s t day_ The population had
ent ire ly changed s evera l time s throughout that per iodo
2 . The behaviors that I wi l l de scribe were patterns
of s pec i a l occupational re levance t o me and to the s ta f f.
They were v i s ible to us a s depar tur e s from s t a f f's program ,
i.eO$ what I have de scribed in terms o f " programmatic ide a l s, $!
"routinesyU and " rule s." As obs e rvab le departur e s from wha t
l In more prec i s e language? thi s means that o n any g iven occas ion, s ave the f i r s t? the observed thing appeared to be the s ame thing that the ob server had s een be fore6
82
might be c a l l ed the o f f ic ia l order , the s e patterns were the
very phenomena that I was occupationally charged with locat-
ing , de scrib ing ? and perhaps exp l a in ing . That i s ; I wa s
hired to go to the hal fway house to observe whatever might
be going on there which was re levant to the hal fway hous e ' s
apparent f a i lure . 2 A l l o f the patterns I wi l l descr ibe , s ave one , were
frequent topics o f accounts whi ch s ta f f o f fered me and each
other about the i r real and demand ing c i r cums tance s . Staf f spoke
of the patterns of departures when they complained about the
c ours e of events or the behav ior of a s ing l e man i when they
eva luated events or men ; when they were forca s ting troub le ;
when they were p lann ing pos s ib le suc c e s s e S i and s o forth .
Moreove r , s ta f f encouraged and fed my interes t i n the s e
pattern,s a s ma tters which were a chroni c source o f troub l e
f o r them i n meeting the ir occupationa l respons ibil ities as
they de s c r ibed them. S ta f f s ought my sympathy and s ometimes
my coun s e l a s to the nature o f the i r occupa tional c ircum-
s tance s . There fore t in serious interaction a l l y based ways , 3 the s e patterns were ob servab le to me and to s ta f f together .
S ince the patterns were sources o f chroni c troub le and
2 S ta f f did make their a ttention to thi s pattern v i s ib l e through other mode s o f communication , i . e . , body movements or gesture s .
3Al fred S chut z provide s the only deta i led analys i s I know o f s e e ing an environment with s omeone e l s e through modes o f interac tion. I mean " seeing with " in the s en s e that he d e s cribes as the " We-Re lation" ( Schut z � 1 9 6 4 8 2 7 - 3 6 ) .
8 3
ob served a s such , my account will nec e s s a r i ly read l ike a
l itany of woe .
3 . Thes e patterns were notab le in one further, and ,
for the purpose of thi s work, mos t important s en s e . The
patterns are notab le in the ir relation to the convict code .
Within trad i tional socio log i c a l ana ly s i s thes e patterns are
described as related to the convict code because they are
cau s ed by that code . The patterns o f deviant behavior , the
code ; and o ther e lements of soc i a l organi zation l ike patterns
of leader sh i p are trad i tiona l ly d e s c r ibed together as " the
i nmate soc i a l system . " With in the context o f my own form
o f analys i s f the re l ation o f behavior patterns to code i s
aki n to ( though not identical with ) ·the phenomenological idea
o f constitution . Wh ich i s to s ay tha t the reportab le sense ?
inc lud ing the sense o f departure , and the reportabl e patt.ern
ing o f the r e s idents I behavior is dependent on the obs e rver $ s
u s e o f the code a s a " guide to perception . " I introduce
the se compacted remarks to the reader at thi s point s o as
to f orwarn h im that the expo s ition of the behaviors reported
a s ob served i n the f o l l owing pages wil l later be ana lyzed in
terms o f the wax� �uch b��y'iors coul? b� obse!ved r analxzed,
and reeorted in the f i r s t plase , by whomsoever might do such
obs e rvationa l , ana lytic � and reportor i a l work , e . g . a
sociologi s t ; a correc tiona l s ta f f member , a pol iceman , or
any other lI s pe ctator . 1I
S ince my descr iption of the patterned , repetitive ,
8 4
" deviant " ( in the sense of departing f rom the s t a f f sponsored
order ) and notab le behaviors is conveniently organi zed in
terms o f the ways in wh ich that behavior departs from the
s t a f f sponsored order � the spec i f ic ways of the departure
need some e laboration ; be fore the deta i l s of res ident be
havior are d i scussed . I n the previous chapter i t was in
dicated that the " programmatic idea ls " of halfway house
c a l led for ( 1 ) solidar i ty between s ta f f and res idents; ( 2 )
cooperation with and interest i n the goals o f the program ;
and (3 ) active attempts on the part o f the re s idents to
control and mo ld the i r own fate through the i r own e f forts .
The v i s ible behavior o f the res idents s tood in contrast to
those hope s in the fol lowing ways :
The re s idents ' observab le behavior can be character i z ed
a s showing interac tiona l d i s tance from ! rather than sol idarity
with sta f f . Rather than cooperating with the goa l s o f the
program and integrating thei r own l ines of action with thos e
goa l s p coord i nated e f forts between s ta f f and r e s ident were
d i s rupted by the s ta f f ' s d i sc overy that wha t a r e s ident
said now about h i s plans , pros pects, and de s i re s had only
vague connections with how the res ident would feel and what
he would do when those plan s , prospects , and d e s ires c ame
to be rea l i zed . Cooperation with and interest in the goa l s
o f the program were further undermined b y res ident d i splays
of apathy toward the program . Rather than active mas tery o f
the i r circums tances � res idents rel ied heav i ly on s ta f f and
8 5
s t a f f efforts as a s olution to their prob lems.
Moreover , s ta f f attempts to enforce the " routines " and
" ru les " were character i zed by them as a continuous s truggle
that they were a lways about to l os e . Their ef forts t o be
knowledgeab le about what the res idents were doing and whether
wha t they were doing was legi tima te r were met by c l a ims o f
i gnorance and " I have nothing t o say " when res idents were
asked to be informants about thei r own a f fa ir s and the
a f f a i r s o f their fel lows & S t a f f found that they could not
rely on res i dent s to supply them with information about
wha t was go ing on in hal fway house , either through interroga
t ion or through gos s ip . For the s ta f f and the researcher s ,
the environment did not make itsel f v i s ib le through these
modes o f talk . The detai l s o f the above s truc tures :
1 . Doing d i s tance . --Through their body movements ,
conver s ational s ty les , and the use o f Spani sh , res idents
d i s tanced or i solated themselves from s ta f f i n every pub lic
encounter . Through these methods res ident s were ab le to
turn any i ntegrated gathering into a s egregated gather ing
within several minutes . The general form was as fol lows :
Put a mixed gathering o f s ta f f and res idents i n a room .
Wi thin severa l minutes v what had i n i ti a l ly been a series o f
c onversations having both s t a f f and res idents a s parties to
the same conversation wou ld have been turned i n to conversa
tions between the residents and convers at ions between the
staf f . The res idents would either be c lumped UP F talk ing
8 6
on ly to each other , or ta lk ing around the s ta f f by the use
of Spanish , The s ta f f wou ld be left e i ther to themse lves
s ay ing noth ing or speaking only to each other .
la 9 For one who knew the " programmat i c ideal s " o f the
hal fway hous e , but who did not know the organ i z ation through
l iving in it : the res idents ' accomp l i shment of eco logical
s egregation was perhaps the mo s t s tr iking impres s ion o f the
organ i zation one obtained . On ente r ing the hous e, for
example i n the a f ternoon ? one could have l ooked around and
found that wherever one looked , the re sidents were in some
places and the s ta f f were i n othe r s . The s ta f f member s
were mos t typica l l y located in the i r o f fic e s and the res i
dents that were there might have been spr inkled throughout
the rema inder of the house - in the s i tt ing room , the recrea�
tion r90m , the dorms , or the d i ning room and k i tchen . I f
s ta f f moved to the din ing room f o r a cof fee break or t o the
recreat ion room for a g ame of poo l , within a short per iod o f
time t res idents in thos e a r e a s wou ld have moved on t o s ome
where e l s e . At mea l t ime s , lunch and particularly d i nner ,
one encountered the s ame pattern s � Res idents s a t together
and s taf f sat together . Wednesday night was the occ a s ion for
the greate s t s ta f f a ttendance at d i nner . It was more or
les s mandatory for s ta f f adv i s ed through not quite required
a s s ome expres s ion of s o l idar ity w ith the r e s idents pr ior
to the ir j oint wor� in the c ommi ttee s . On Wedne s day night
the segregation was qu ite v i s ib le , a s was the means whereby
8 7
it was produced .
D inner was s erved buffet s tyle ? which meant that on
coming into the d ining room each individual j o ined a s ingle
f i le l ine , f i l led h i s plate, and then found a p lace to s it
down � Each person i n his turn exerc i sed n choice " in locating
where he would s it relative to other s who had a l ready f i lled
the ir plate s . One way res idents accomp l i shed s egregation
was to go to thos e tab l e s in the back of the d in ing room ,
leav ing s ta f f thos e tab l e s that were quicke s t and easiest to
get to , thereby produc ing the display shown in Figure I I I - I.
-----
r-j X X >< X X 0 0 X 0 X X x: X
ttl 0 0 s:: HI 0 0 0 X )( >( X Hl (I) 0 rt
1-3 X PJ X tf
U >( ..... X >< X >< co
X X )( >< >( -_ 0 o 0 X >< X
0 ° X
x - re s idents
0 - s ta f f
Figure I I I - l . -- Seating Patterns at D i nner Time
8 8
More typical , howeve r ; were more complex ways o f
accompli shing the s egregat ion a s shown i n the way a table
frequently f illed ( See f igure 1 1 1 - 2 ) .
x 1
I 1 ____ --'
i)< X i ' X X L1
0 5 0 X
0 0 >< - re sidents
0 - s ta f f
Figure 1 I 1 - 2 � -- Seating
Conversational attention was then in
1 1 1 - 3 ) 0
x - res idents 0 - s ta f f
x 3 0
X b 0
0
S equence s
x
X X 0
two groups ( See f igure
Figure 1 I I - 3 . - -Conve r sationa l Units at One Tab le
8 9
As the tab l e s were f i l l ing Up g s ome r e s idents would " ge t
s tuck " ( Se e f igure 1 1 1-4 ) •
.1 X
,.--
1 0 1 0 01 0 0 0 '--i X 0 5 y.. 0 b X 0
I 0 0 0 I x - res idents
o - s ta f f
Figure I I I - 4 . -- Seating S equence Re sult ing in " Ge tting S tuck "
At this poin t , the res ident would typ ic a l ly get up and move
to another tab le .. Staf f , " stuck lt i n the s ame pos i tion
fre quently did thG same th ing , though they would typ i c a l ly
o f f e r some excus e for moving , whil e re.s idents typi c a l ly did
not o f fe r s uch excu s e s . Thus , the dining room on Wednesday
n ight had the following typical con f i guration shown in
9 0
-
0 0 x X X- X X ><
0 0 0 X X x
Q, 0 0 0 x x
a 0 0 x >< x
x 0 x x x x x x
x x X x x x -
-
x - residents
0 - staf f
F igure 1 I I - 5 . - -A Typical Seating Pattern a t D inner T ime
As soon as the residents f i n i shed they le f t the room ,
leaving the sta f f in l i ttle clumps which c arne toge ther for
co f fee and c igarette s . The re sidents moved to three are a s
o f the hous e whi ch they , for a while ; had t o themselve s .
They went to the dorms l the sitting rOOID ? and the recreat ion
room . Af ter staf f f in i shed cof fee they began to move to
the ir o f f i c e s and to the recreat i on room . Though they might
begin to propose a pool game w i th the re sidents that were
9 1
there ; re s idents in the recreation room would typica l ly ( not
invariab ly ) move e ls ewhere , leaving the staf f w i th the recre
ation room to itse l f .
The above patterns of d i s tance were obs ervabl e to me
s imply by being on hand on tho s e occa s ion s . However , the
notab i l i ty of thos e behavior s for me wa s intertwined with
and produced by my prac tical concerns a s an obs e rver . I
wished to be ab le to talk to the men , on the various occas ions
in which they were around the hous e , in order to make the ir
concerns and pre sent interpretations o f events avai lable to
me . When they s egregated thems e lves in the f ashion that
they did , this made my obs ervat ions through overhearing and
casual conve r sation particularly d i f f icult . I t was in s e e ing
how the d i f f icu l ty was c oming about that made tho s e behaviors
so noticeab l e to me . Moreover , a s I wi l l show be low , the
re spons e s of the s ta f f to the res idents ' s egregat ive work ,
made my tas k o f " be ing with the r e s idents s o a s to see and
hear what they were doing " even more d i f f icult ? and fed into
the d i f f iculties in my work . Thes e s ame respon s e s by s t a f f
a l s o show tha.t the behaviors were noticeable t o s ta f f a s
we l l a s to me.
lb . C onver s ational s egregation or i solation was another
mode of lI doing d i s tance " tha t was accomp l i shed by res idents o
P ar ticular c onversational s ty l e s were invoked when s ta f f or
resea.rcher a ttempted to It break through I I the patterns o f
9 2
ecological segregation . 4 Re s idents " re s i s ted " c asua l ta lk
about thems e lve s , the ir plans , the ir hope s , the i r reactions
to current events around them ; and the l ike . They a l s o ex-
pre s sed no interes t in hearing that kind of ta lk from the
s ta f f about themse lves and the i r c i rcums tanc e s . That i s ,
they were not engagab l e , whi le in the pre sence o f othe r s ,
in the kind o f talk about each other and " our c ircums tances
together , " and/or the things that "we are j ointly interes ted
in and concerned about . " Yet , the s e are the very matters
that s eem to be the s tu f f o f ca sual c onvers at ions that are
typical o f the way s persons share expe r ienc e s togethe r .
I n s tead , i f one ( staff or researche r ) attempted to engage
them in conver s ation , one quickly found that one would be
initiating a l l the conve r sationa l events . You might make
a s tatement , e . g . , " I Bee tha t such and such happened today /I
and get a reply l ike n Oh I " " Yeah , I s a -v! that , " or no reply
at a l l . One did not ge t a re s pons e upon which to bui ld more
c onversation . I f you a sked a que s tion , a s a device to get
the conve r s ation going , wh ile i t was the case that you might
get a respon s e , the conve r sation kept going only so long a s
you deve loped devices to get a r e s ponse out o f the r e s ident .
I f you s topped mak ing that kind o f e f fort ? the c onve r s ation ---------------------------------------------------------------------
4The s e convers ationa l s ty l e s were not uti l i zed when r e s idents and s ta f f had " bu s i ne s s " to do that was being accompl i shed in the pre s ence of other s , e . g . a direct d i s cus s ion o f a man � s suc c e s s at f inding a j ob and what the agent cou ld do to " he lp out . " Tha t kind o f d i s cu s s ion cou ld have been carr ied out over the dinner tab le , for example , w i thout evoking the patterns I am de s c r ibing here .
9 3
j u s t ended . The exper ience was o f not ever gett ing the
conversation going . At the s ame time F res iden t s tha t were
nearby were having conver s a tions w ith each other wh i ch dea l t
with the very order o f a f f a i r s ( shar ing experience s ) that
were not g o i n g on between s ta f f and res ident . And I o f ten
it wa s the c a se , that res idents immed iately in front of you
were having s ome k ind o f l ive ly c onvers a t ion ? but i t was i n
Span i s h . The e f fec t w a s exper ienced by me ( and a s it appeared
to me , by s ta f f ) a s " not be ing a b le to get into the conver
s at ion . "
I exper ienced that conversat ion a l s ty le a s i s o la t ing r
embarra s s ing f and te l l ing me that I was not acceptable -
that I d id not belong . The e f fect w a s tha t o f being a
stranger among a set o f per sons that were talking together
but not letting me i n .
Wh i le I did not hear the s ta f f talk ing about the se
e f fec ts , they were a pparently respons ive to them in the
f o l l owing way s . I d i d observe s ome occas ions in which s t a f f
exper ienced the halt ing conve r s ations that I had had 3 and
then ate the i r mea l in s i lence i n the mids t o f other s having
conver s ation s . I f the occ a s ion was not mea l t ime r s t a f f
typic a l l y le f t the s cene and went t o s ome other p a r t o f the
bui ld ing . Likewi se , it wa s f requent l y the c a se that sta f f
avo ided these s cenes by getting the i r food from the k itchen
and then tak ing i t to the ir o f f ices . Staf f d id not do tha t ,
however � when there was enough s ta f f around to form the i r own
9 4
conversation a l . uni t . I was often taken a s " someone to talk
to" on those occ a s ion s 1 so that whi l e I had been attempting
to engage mys e l f in conversation with a resident � a s ta f f
member preparing t o s it down v ( e � g ' f to eat t o r to take a
break ) would s i t next to me and engage me in the kind o f
conversation that he apparently could not hold with a
res ident �
lc . Segregation through language was yet another way
for res idents to accompl i sh " d i s tance . 1I At any given time ,
about ninety percent o f the res idents were Mexican-Americans
who had been brought up in a Mexican-American ghetto and who
s poke Span i sh much o f the time . Although they cou ld a l l
speak Engl i sh , I was told b y some res idents that Spani sh was
preferred for conversation which Il expres sed s o l idarity . "
Except ,.for one agent who was Mexican-American hims el f , none
o f the s ta f f s poke Spanish . The use o f Spani sh in front o f
s t a f f made i t pos s ible for the res idents to have a l ively
conversation in which s ta f f could not take part � That
Spanish was being used for j u s t thos e e f fects became apparent
to me when I located mys e l f near the door of the kitchen ,
the recreation room , and the s itting room e I could overhear
enough conversation to tel l that it was in Eng l i sh , yet
when I or a s ta f f member entered � the conversation immediate ly
shifted into Spanish �
It was when these three " devi ce s " combined that one got
the full e f fect of the segregation " That i s , when r e s idents
9 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... :'t: .. . .
were on the scene and in each other ' s presence , S s ta f f and
researcher confronted the various forms of doing d i s tance .
It meant that whi le res idents might have been in your vi s ib le
presence � you were not w i th them and you did not have acces s
t o how they were spending their t ime outs ide hal fway house
s imply by being around when they were � For the s taf f , the
tasks of survei llance ( knowing Uwhat " the res idents were
doing ; and knowing " that " what they were doing was legitimate )
were not achievable by means of casua l , non-purpose�d irected
talk , and through the various means provided by overheard
gos sip _ For me , as an observer , thes e means o f observation
were l ikewis e restr ic ted �
2 . Doing D i s in��t and Doing D isrespec t . - - I c ombine
these two typical modes of actions because s ta f f noted them
both as " pa s s ive host i l i ty , " and because they are d is tinct
only in the degree to which they were done . DOing d i s interes t , "i"'"
and/ doing d isrespec t refers to the variety of ways that
S I t was abso lute ly not the case that res idents would not talk with s ta f f or researcher or be fri endly to s ta f f or researcher . Long and sometimes open conversations were held with s ta f f and with the researcher i n the privacy o f an of f i ce . My own troub les in interv iewing res idents was typically not to get them to talk , but instead to f ind ways of l imiting the length of the interview 60 that they would not last four hours or more . These s ame men were typical ly not engageable in open conversation around the dinner table in the pres ence of others . To use Gof fman � s term , open conve r sa tion between residents and o f f i c i a l s was a matter o f II secret consumption n and c ould occur whenever one res ident was not under the gaze of h i s f e llows . Res idents might even initiate more or l e s s private conversat i on when an o f f ic i a l encountered them a lone , e . g . as when a parole agent or I wandered into the k itchen to get s omething to eat a res ident who was washing the d i shes might s tart a long and rather open convers a tion .
96
res idents " showed ll (what observab ly looked l ike showing and
whi ch the s ta f f and I as an observer took to be showing )
that they were not interes ted in the program 1 that they were
not interes ted in what s ta f f had to s ay ; that they c ould
" care les s " about " opportuni ties for rehab i l i tation " ; that
the program was not for them , perhaps for s omeone e l s e ; but
not for them .
We should recall that res ident s o f hal fway hou s e , by
coming to halfway hous e , were agree ing to participate vol
untar i ly in s ome form of treatment or rehab i l itation . That
i s , they were volunteer ing to do that in terms of the " pro
grammatic i.dea l s " of the hal fway hous e . The rationale for
thes e var ious forms of rehab i l i tation required that group
members " democratical ly partic i pate " in control ling their
own fate and that they learn to actively master the legiti
mate world by their own e f forts . The behaviors described
below are " notable in their contras t to the s e hope s .
The ways that residents showed this dis interes t and d i s
respect in their action was s ituated in the o f f ic ial group
activities at hal fway hous e r i . e . , that was where and when
it happened . Monday and Friday n ight groups were held in
the recreation room ; where a set o f cha i r s were pul led into
a c irc le s o that every member o f the group faced inward $
That arrangement was important because i t made a l l activity
v i s ible to a l l members o f the grouP i and i t focused pre
sumptive a ttention on the j oint doings of the group members
9 7
qua group members . Other groups , ( the committe e s and the
four o � c lock employment group ) were held in s ta f f o f f ices
where the general " c irc le " form of arrangement of members
was also used .
2 a . I n s imply walking into the halfway hou s e and going
to a meeting or a group , one was very l ikely to encounter
at least one prominent mani f e s tation of apathy or d i s interes t
i n the ways the res idents were s i tting . Remember that they
"were s uppos ed to be � there as part i cipants f not j us t there
to l is ten . They sat in a characteristic s louch . Imagine a
chair and a body . I f the body i s s i tt ing upright in the
chair the back of the chair comes j us t under the shoulder
b lades . The backs of the knee s , for the upr ight bodY f would
be proximate to the edge of the chair seat 4 In contra s t ,
res iden�s s a t in such a way that their necks touched the
top of the back of the chair . Their hips were near the
edge of the cha ir s e a t . With a kitchen chair , it i s hard
to do . Chairs in the meeting rooms tended to be easy chair s ,
however .
High s chool teachers would probab ly recogni z e the
d i sp lay as a " de l inquent s louch , " though they would recogni ze
a s we l l that many nond e linquents do it a s wel l . Remember ,
however � that mos t o f thes e men were thirty-f ive years old .
The s louch wa.s frequently accompanied by other d isplayed
f eature s : ( a ) half�open eye s ; ( b ) looking o f f in s ome other
d i rection than the person talk ing 1 ( c ) looking at the ir
9 8
fingerna i l s and c lean ing them.
There were more rad ical accompanying d i s p lays which
were less f requent q Re s idents might fa l l a s leep dur ing a
meeting - other res idents showed great amu s emen t when the
r e s ident snored when he d id thi s. A l s o the d i s interes t and
d i s re spect was shown by low toned s ide conversation s .
2b . D i s intere s t toward the program and what s t a f f had
to s ay was a ls o s hown through unr e s pons ivene s s to the group
leader and h i s c a l l s for participation in the activity of
the group . On s ome occas ions the group would be total ly
s i l ent , entirely unre spons ive to what the group leader might
say. He migh t have a sked que s tion s , e . g . i '�wher e wou ld you
like to have the T . V. set located ? " and get no response ; he
might have c ommented on s ome occurrence in the hous e , e . g . ,
" someone � s u s ing drug s , we found an outfit today §! or " too
many guy s have been coming in late , do you guys have any
thing to s ay about i t? 1I and rece ived no re sponse at a l l .
That would occur even when h i s c omment was not d i re cted to
ward deviant behavior, e . g. , "we were thinki ng about the
pos s ib i l i ty o f a poo l tournament § wha t do you thi nk about
it? " or "what wou ld you sugge st? " again getting no respons e .
I t was not the c a s e that he never got any r e s pon s e , but that
it was typ i c a l that he got very l ittle and that s omet ime s ,
for half the group s e s s ion or s o , he would g e t nearly none
at a l l � What I am attempting to ind icate is that , re lative
to h i s e f forts at getting s ome kind o f group conversa tion
99
· .'f· . . · . .;···· < ....... . • ;;� .. .. . . . . ........... .. .;:.;;;;.;... . : . . .. ;.: .. ..... . ·····:�i· ·
going � not much happened .
2 c . Acc ompanying the methods o f showing d i s interes t
were res idents � ways of II profan ing ll ( appearing t o m e to
profane and ident i f ied by s ta f f as " d i srespectful " ) the
occas ion of the group meeting . That i s , through their
v i s ib le presentations in group they " showed " a lack of
respect for what was going on . In their own rhetor ic and
if.' the rhetoric that many o f the sta f f adopted , they " put down"
the occas ion and the program , and thereby " showed " that i t
was not important to them. A cons i s tent , though perhaps
minor , way o f doing thi s was through apparel �
When r e s idents went out on the s treet in the evening ,
and on Wednesday n ight when out s iders came into the hous e ,
r e s idents dressed up . They would typical ly wear a fre shly
ironed _ shirt , thei r s lacks would be neatly pre ss ed , their
shoes pol i shed , the i r ha:i.r would be careful ly combed , and
they would be fre shly showered � I n genera l , when the men
were going s omewhere they dres sed il sharply I II though not
expens ively � When they came to group in the evening , however ,
they deferred getting dres sed up unt i l a f ter group , even
though they would do so immediately a fter group . For group
they o f te n c ame in their s o iled work c lothe s � or in a t-shirt � :::: or bare foot f or in some other way s' undres sed 6 II Though they
showered and shaved typical ly twice a day , they did not
typically shower and shave before group but d id so afterward .
A few that wore IIdew-rags " for straightening their hair
1 0 0
would wear those to group . A f ew that wore hats or s tocking
caps at work wore thos e to group . All thos e ways o f dre s s ing
contrasted with the ways the men dres sed for Il going out n or
for any kind of " occa s ion . "
The manner of dre s s profane s the group by marking it
off with mundane work-a-day activity . There were other
ways that the boundaries of the group activity were pro
faned by mixing other mundane activities with going to group .
Beyond the shows o f d i s intere s t , tha t d i sinteres t was high
l i ghted by doing other things in group bes ides " grouping � lI
There were other common activities that group members
accompli shed whi le in group though not " grouping , " l ike
bringing in a shoe shine kit and shining one � s shoes through
out group , d ragging the ironing board c lose to the c ir c le
o f chairs and then iron ing c lothes during group , eating in
group , or talk ing to the res ident who was s i tt ing next to
them about matters that were not par t of " grouping . fI
Boundaries can a l so be profaned by physical ly moving
one s e l f in and out of the group � When phone c a l l s c ame in
for group members dur ing the period o f the group mee ting �
the following happened � The phone was down the hal l f rom
the rec-room � about thirty feet away � One could hear the
phone ring in the group mee ting $ One res ident would get up
and go answer the phone & Frequently i t would be a res ident
who was wai ting for a ca l l . In any c a s e , s omeone would
tl c lomp " out of the room to answer the phone . I f the c a l l
1 0 1
",ere not for him I he would come back to group and s ay I II I t ! s
for i " who would then go to the phone and talk $
a lmos t always in Spanish , often loud ly . So , one had per s ons
" traips ing " in and out of group to go to the phone - which is
a way of showing that whatever the content of the c a l l , it
was more important than what could be going on in group �
One might contra s t thi s with the executive who tel l s his
secretary to hold all his c a l l s unt i l a fter the meeting as
a way of showing the importance of the meeting Q
Getting up to get s omething to eat and then bringing
it back to group was yet another way of profaning the
boundaries of the group . In Go f fman ' s terms ? such acts
would be profaning the boundaries o f a focused gathering �
2d . Other mode s o f mi ld disrespect were d i rected at
the program and its sens e . A prominent theme of the " pro
grammatic ideals ll was that the res idents had s ome control
over their fate . Deci s ions were to be given to them � For
example , the play , li The Connection , " was he ld at ha l fway
hous e . Admis sion was charged . What happened to the s e fund s
merely i l lustrate s the order of occurrence I s aw a number of
time s . The money was to be s p l i t up between the cast ; a
sma l l j az z band that played , and the res idents ' wel fare fund .
Sta f f had d i s cus sed the pos s i b le ways of spl itting up the
funds in the ir own meeting 9 The re s idents were asked to
d i scus s how they would l ike to have the money split up ,
and then vote on i t . Shortly after the residents began
1 0 2
discus s ing the i ssue in group , s evera l said that they did
not rea l ly s ee the point of their making any dec i s ion , s ince
the s ta f f would actual ly dec ide the matter anyway . I saw
thi s form employed on many occa s ions . In my field notes I
f ind many variations on the theme " What ' s the use of our
having an opinion s ince you will decide our fate in the
final analy s i s - you fucking hypocr i te . " IIWha t ' s the use
of our talking about the telev i s ion set , s ince you have
already dec ided to put it in the rec-room anyway . " II What ' s
the use o f my tel l ing where l I ve been thi s a fternoon � s ince
it ' s what you say about where l i ve been thi s a f ternoon that
counts , and you have a lready made up your mind . "
Other var iations on profaning the program were the
c la ims " I don ' t understand why I ' m here " ; il l can ' t see why
we should do thi s or that " , " What in the world could thi s
program d o for me " ; " I f there was r e a l ly a d e s ire to help
us , money would be provided for transportation ll ; " We a l l
know that group i s not going to he lp a guy ? each guy j us t
has to make up h i s own mind to quit u sing drugs � 1I " If you
r e a l ly want to help us you would let us move out before we
pay our b i l l and let us pay you back while we are l iving
with our mother or our brother . I f we s tay here we keep
bui lding up a b i l l whi le we are trying to pay you of f . 1I
Some forms of doing d isrespect received the immed iate
attention o f s taf f ; namely coming to group roaring drunk and
then creating a s cene , and combining the modes of apathy and
1 0 3
d i sre spe c t that I have enumerated . That i s ? when a resident
laid down on a couch near group , ate d e s s ert ? and continual ly
looked of f out of group , s ta f f took thos e d i s play s a s a
proper occas ion for puni shing the man .
Not a l l o f the behaviors that I have enumerated under
d i s interes t and d isrespect were noted by s t a f f in their
accounts o f how group went . Their accounts focus sed on the
amount of attention ' they got , the amount of talk , and the
character of , that talk . Staf f � s concern for res idents '
attention and talk in group was brought to my direct obser
vation by s t a f f � s attempts to get me to participate in " rump
s e s s ions , " to evaluate what. exactly i t was that had happened
in a group that had j u s t met , and what that mean t . In those
s e s s ions , and in other referenc e s to the groups that were
made i� various types of s ta f f meeting s , staf f interpreted
the behaviors of " d i s intere s t " and " disrespe ct " as s igns o f
" pa s s ive hos ti l ity , " and a s evidence o f the " de linquent
orientation of the group o " Such a s s e s sments were frequently
made when the " mood o f the house li was being a sc ertained ,
particularly wi th respect to the suspected amount s o f drug
u s e and s a l e s that were taking place 9
3 � P a s s ive comEl i ance � --Th i s set o f soci a l structures
becomes apparent ( a s do the o the r s ) when one c ompares what
t.he res idents were doing ? with what the s ta f f in the " pro
grammatic idea l s " would have wanted to be the c a s e � The
idea of mi l ieu therapy , and the i de a of " the committee
1 0 4
system , " was that the res idents themse lves wou ld work for
the rehab i l i tation of others ; that they would recogni z e
the ir own bes t interes ts and see the hal fway house a s a
great opportunity to further the ir best intere s t s ; and that
they would cheerfu l ly organ i ze and partic ipate in the pro
gram as the thing they real ly wanted to do .
In contras t to thes e hopes of staff , the r e sidents at
halfway hous e treated their involvement in the following
observable ways : " I could real ly care le s s about what you
have going here , but a s long a s I ' m here , I ' l l do what ever ,
but only what ever l you demand o f me . Further ! I ' l l do
those things that you are prepared to punish me for if I
don � t do them . " In fact , many res idents pronounced this
s tance in just s o many word s . 6 That s tance was man i f e s ted
in the following patterns . Res ident s � compl iance with re
quests p rul i ngs ! and regulations was v i sibly a s s oc iated with
s ta f f ' s i s suance of rewards and pun i s hment , i . e @ I rate s o f
compliance were v i s ib ly a ltered when s ta f f a ttached concrete
rewards and punishment to that comp l i ance . Res idents showed
--------.. -------,"'"_.--------------------------------------------------
6The exact wording of the pronouncement varied of course § as did the amount of detai l which was furn i s hed in the res idents ' statement 4 Some res idents were quite exp l i c i t about the f act that what I a m c a l ling " pa s s ive comp l i ance " was a method o f managing the i r i nvolvement . One told me that by pas s ively fol lowing order s ti l don l t let them bug me . I j us t do what they order me to do . I f they tel l me to p i s s in the bottle ! I t ll do that ( re f erring to urinaly s i s for morphine traces ) ; if they want me to p i s s in their pocket I ' l l do tha t too . "
1 0 5
c lo s e attent ion to what ' s requ ired , what ' s optional , what
w i l l be rewarded and what w i l l be puni shed . Res idents were
notab ly unre s pons ive to reques ts unles s they were phra s ed
a s requirements ; and d irectly refused to volunteer for
a lmost anything s ta f f might sugge st .
3a . The h istory o f b i l l payment at hal fway hous e
i l lustrates the a s sociation betwee n compliance and punish
ments . Each man was charged $ 1 5 . 0 0 per week-- $ 2 l . 0 0 per
week if he s tayed in halfway hous e over the weekend . At
f irs t ; the s ta f f made no partiou lar e f fort to c o l lect the
b i l l . Though they talked about paying the b i l l , they did
nothing in particular to c o l lect i t . B i l l s p i led up very
h igh , going into the hundreds of dollars for s ome . Then
the s ta f f tried to emphas ize that a respon s ible person would
pay his board and room b i l l . Neverthe les s , res idents s t i l l
did not pay their b i l l s . Then i t was made a requirement
that a res ident would have to pay h i s b i l l before he le ft
the hal fway house . Thi s sanction produced s ome b i l l payment r
but it created further d i f ficultie s . I t d i d s o because thi s
requiremen t produced a c ategory of res idents who were ready
to leave , but had bui l t up a bill s o large that they would
take weeks to pay it o f f , and in the meantime they would be
bui lding up a further b i l l . Fina l ly , s ta f f instituted a
pol icy that each Friday each man l s b i l l would be reviewed
w i th him , and i f he did not make arrangements for paying i t ,
he could not have a weekend pas s . At that point 8 paying the
1 0 6
bi l l dimini shed cons iderably a s a problem for staf f . The
point is , the res ident s � action demonstrated for s ta f f and
the observe r , the s tance " l i m not gonna do it unl e s s you
make me . "
3b . The redident s d isplayed their attentivene s s to
requirements with respect to the hal fway hou s e program ,
particular ly the committee s � As soon a s a committee mee ting
was over , the res idents would typica l ly clear out of the
room . They did not " hang around i' to ta lk about the " important
matters being d i s cu s s ed . " L ike s tudents in the c l a s s room .
they would s how edgines s a s the time appeared to be coming
to the end , checking their watche s , look ing at other people ' s
watche s , and even saying " It ' s time " i f the mee ting went
overtime .
After the committee meeting s , there was a meeting
summariz ing \'lhat had been accomp l i shed � To " encourage "
resident attendance at that meeting , which was not required ,
s ta f f of fered the res idents an extra night out . Residents
made it appear that that was the only reason they were going
to that meeting , by a sking people ? on their way to the
mee ting . " Where � s that meeting where I can get an overnigh t
pas s , " " thereby " showing thei r attention t o the reward in
c ontras t to any interes t they might have in the activity .
Res idents showed thi s s ame s tance toward each part o f
the program b y asking i n group and i n orientation s e s s ions
" Is thi s particular thing required ti ; II What happen s to guys
1 0 7
. . . . . . . . ... ...... -:.7...... . . . . . . . . . . . ... ... '7. .•. • . . . • . . . • • • . . . . . . . . _/ .•.....• .
who do that thing ? or don � t do thi s il j II I s going to committee
required " : ilWhat happens to my b i l l i f I go absent without
leave " ; flAre 'you inviting me to go to your (program d irector � s )
o f f i ce , or do I have to go" r " Does c leaning the k itchen count
as work ( and i s thereby " paid U ) or are you j u s t asking me to
do i t " , " What wi l l you do to me if I don i t go to the group
for the unemployed " ; and particular ly v i s ible to me because
of my practical research c ircumstanc e s , Ii Is thi s inte rview
required " ,; " What happens to me if I don � t want to be inter
viewe d " ?
Accompanying the d isplayed concern for wha t i s requi red
and doing that which was requ ired l res idents typical ly re
fused to vo lunteer for taking part in activities that they
proposed . S o when in the committee on recreation when
res idents were a sked if they could think of any activities
that res idents of the halfway hous e could j ointly do , one
res ident proposed that they might have a baseba l l team and
other res idents concurred , s ta f f a sked the man who propos ed
the team to organize it . He rep lied that he would not do
that and what is more could not do it . Many activi t i e s
( like trying t o locate employers who wou ld ope n ly hire
parolee s ) were proposed by res ident s � However $ r e sidents
re fused to volunteer to c arry out these s ame activitie s e
3c . Another way in which pas sive comp l i ance was shown
was through the res idents � tendency to attend s ome activity
only i f they were required to go to i t f or to go to i t i f
1 0 8
P.
it was counted by s ta f f as an alternative to some required
t " 7 ac l.Vl.ty . In the early per iod o f the halfway house , there
were group meetings every night � Because it was felt that
there was a need for " healthy entert.ainment , lI on Thursday
n ight res idents could go to the f ights . The hous e obt.ai ned
the tickets and suppl ied the transportation to the f ights .
The res idents had the choice of going to group or going to
the f ights . Almost everyone went to the f ights . At the t.ime ,
it seemed to s ta f f that whi le res idents appeared to like
going to the f ights bet te r than going to the grouP G it was
a good thing that they l ike going to the f ights , s ince a s
they said , n it � s much better t o g o t o the f ights than to
s tick a needle in your arm . I n fac t , it 1 s a good deal to
encourage them in healthy recreation . " But ? whe n the pro-
gram changed , and there were no Thursday night groups as an
alternative r interes t in going to the f ights radi ca l ly de
c lined . The house would s t i l l provide ticke ts and transpor-
tation , but the res idents no longer wanted to go . I t was
" c learly d i splayed " that going to the f ights was j us t a way
of getting out of going to group .
The identical thing happened with playing baseba l l . As
long as play ing basebal l was a way of getting out of going
to group j the n the res idents wanted to play baseba l l . As
s oon as i -I:, no longer played that function , the res idents in
7Th is chain of events , l ike the other " h is tor ical occurrences tI 'VIas reconstructed for me by s taf f and res idents who were on the scene at the time .
1 0 9
the house no longer showed intere s t , by thei r v i s ib le parti
c ipation , i n playing basebal l .
3d . P a s s ive Compl iance was d i splayed even with respect
to activi t i e s which were des igned by s ta f f to encourage
res ident interes t and which res idents promoted . The p lanning
of a picnic whi ch occurred whi l e I was on the scene rather
c learly shows the deta i l s of thi s a s pect of " pa s s ive com
pliance n as a pattern of res ident behavior .
The idea o f the picnic or iginated in a s t a f f meeting .
The d i scus s ion was c entered on try ing to f ind some enj oyable
healthy entertainment for the res ident s . One agent noted
that many o f the res idents had never been to the beach and
that this might the re fore be a " good and new experienc e " for
them . The s ta f f was try ing to f ind s omething that the
res idents would do , that they would want to do , that would
give them k inds of things that would lead them away from
drug s . In the context of the d i s cu s s ion , s ome s taff voi ced
again the theory that men use drugs because they do not �ave
anything e l s e that i s pleasureable to do . I f one can intro
duce them to other p leasure s $ then perhaps they wi l l not
u s e drug s . Bes ide s , they may mee t squares that become im
portant to them when they do tho s e square things , and that
too wi l l lead them away from us ing drug s e I n any c a s e , i t
w a s frequently s a id in the s ta f f meeting s g and again in thi s
particular meeting r that whatever i t was that the res idents
might do ? they would rather not do that thing � It was
110
hoped that going to the picnic would not be of that character .
However , at least one s ta f f member voiced the reservation
that the re s idents might be so res is tent that they would not
even do thos e things that. they themse lves proposed a s some
thing to do , l ike the basebal l games and going to the f ights �
Against these reservations , i t was proposed in the
s ta f f meeting that a picnic at the beach , for the res idents
and their fami l ie s , be held . I t was brought up in the com�
mittee mee tings , and at the time o f the Monday n ight group �
Initial response from the res idents was general ly favorable
and no one was negative . The planning took two weeks . In
that inte r im � 'the locale was changed from the beach to a
park ten mi les away , and fami lies were not to come along �
Response from the res idents in group and committees was s t i l l
pos itive . The final plan was to have Wednesday night ' s
dinner a t the park . The cook would prepare some things in
advance and hot dog s g roa s t corn , and hamburger s would be
cooked at the park .
The preced ing Ivlonday f which I did not attend but was
party to by way of the recon s tructions by the group leader
in a s ta f f meeting , several res idents began to show resi s tance .
In group , they asked i f they could eat at the house instead .
They were told " no " by the group leader 0 They a sked i f they
could get the ir QT..V'n meal that n ight - they were told n no . "
They asked i f they were being forced to go to the picnic �
They were told that it was part of the program , that they
I I I
were " expe c ted " to go . Some s ta f f wondered about the adv i s
abi l ity of holding the picnic with such res i s tance . An
o lder sta f f member explained to them and to me IINo matter
what it is that you propose to thes e guys , they wil l r e s i s t
i t . Just l ike kids o ften do . But i f you make them , they
wi l l en j oy it anyway and tha t they should enj oy it i s , a f ter
all , the point . Then maybe they might take their own fami ly
on a picnic . " Thus , the plan was s t i l l in e f f e c t .
As the hour for the picnic approached , three or four
res idents were sti l l protes ting . They " hung around " the
o f f ices in the front o f the bui lding and said things l ike
" l i m being forced to go to thi s picnic - do you think that � s
r ight? " . Everyone d id u ltimately g0 1 however . The agents
and other s ta f f said to them - " OK , the last car is going
and you are to go with me . " The l a s t compla ining res idents
then s imply " went along . "
The p i cnic itse l f proceeded d i fferently than s ta f f had
hoped , though they a l l s a id to me that they were p leased .
Before it was time to eat , some o f the s ta f f and some of the
res idents p l ayed c atching f l i e s ( a s in basebal l ) . Then � a s
they s a t down t o eat i the mea l t ime went a s follows :
One res ident was the first to s i t . I sat down next to
him . An agent came up and sat down bes ides me . A t the s ame
t ime severa l other res idents seated themselves at another
tab le . As the tables began to f i l I I a l l s ta f f began to s it
at table one and the res idents at table two , except for the
1 1 2
lone resident . Long before the tables were f i l led , he moved
to the other table . One staff membe r did s i t with the
res idents 0 A s ide from tha t , the tables were s egregated .
Thus , the s ame patterns which were observable in the hal f
way house were reproduced .
The patterns of pas s ive compl iance were notab le to staf f .
That residents would not volunteer but would do only what
was required of them was a constant theme of s t a f f meetings
in which the program was evaluated . As a theme , it was not
phrased in terms of how disappointing it was that the men
were not reaching therapeutic obj ec t ives of volunteering to
manipulate their own fate � Instead G the theme was phrased
in terms o f the burden that their not volunteering placed
on the staf f . Sta f f proposed to each other that i f there
was to pe a program , e . g 6 § if a play was to be held at half
way house , it was to be staff ' s e ffort that got the j ob done �
What I have c a l led pas s ive c ompl iance was a l s o thema
t i z ed by s t a f f in two other ways . S ta f f described to e ach
other in staff meetings and informal " rump s e s s ion s �' f what
they saw in orientation s e s s ions and groups . Res idents
were often s een as attempting to detect what wou ld be en
forced and how it would be enforced . Staff c a lled the s e
behaviors " te sting the l imits " o r " l ike tes ting the l imits . "
That usage frequently accompan ied the further c la im that a
sta f f member had encountered a " d e linquently oriented " man
or group and that the rest of the s ta f f should be apprised
113
o f the impending deviance that might fol low from a "del inquent
orientation , "
The matter of " pa s s ive compliance " a l s o became a topical 1
matter of staff interactions when good advice was being ex-
changed . S t a f f members told each other that the only way
to get thes e men to do anything was to order them to do i t @
They often spoke of particular men a s " needing to be told "
what to do . Staff urged me that in interviewing men that I
could not re ly on a mere invitation to be interviewed , but
would have to order them mys e l f or get someone e l s e to order
them to the interview � Sta f f said that thes e men cannot
volunteer ? but if you d irec t them to do something they w i l l
d o so quite wi l lingly .
4 . Doing Requests and l2.eptand s . --The li programmat.ic
ide a l s '� of the organ i zation s tres sed s e l f-re l i ance . Those
that. dealt regularly with the res idents ( staf f and res earchers )
found themse lves bes e iged with requ e s ts from the residents .
Requests were mos t common ly for money in smal l amounts , for
transportation , for information about j obs , for a s s i s tance in
dea l ing w i th some kind of authority ( e . g @ "would you c a l l so
and so for me " ) and a s s i s tance in f i l l ing out. forms . Res i -
dents that might otherwise spe c i fi c a l ly and notably ignore
s t a f f would neverthe l e s s make such reque s t s .
The s ame pattern o f demand ing and reques t ing was fre-
quently observab le in groups and committees . When res idents
were asked for the ir sugges t ions for the program , s everal
1 1 4
patterns o f answers were observable repeatedly . I t s eemed
that whatever population of res idents was at the halfway
hous e at any given time , the same sets of requests were made :
provide money for transportation ; provide some s ta f f member
who took re s idents looking for work ; provide more forms of
free recreation ( in contrast to some j oint sta f f -res ident
e f fort to obtain such recreation ) ; and let us leave halfway
hous e without paying our b i l l when we can f ind someone who
wi l l let us l ive with them without paying for i t .
Thes e patterns of d emands and requests from re s idents
were frequent topics of complaint by sta f f about res idents
who made them . Such res idents were " diagnosed !! as " dependent 9 "
Sta f f member s told each other about " dependent . persons , tI
warning each other that to fulf i l l the demand was only to
s trengthen the personal i ty pattern ; and warning e ach other
about the pos s ib i l ity of being exploited and worn down by
part icular res idents who made demands on a regular bas i s �
Whe n I f i r s t arrived at ha l fway hous e I was coun s e l led by
s ta f f that I should expect res idents to make demands on me ,
and that i f I gave in to them that I would spend a l l my time
and money in attempting to ful f i l l them .
5 . Doing� unre l i ab i l i ty .as I n£ormants . -- In s everal
d i f ferent ways the accounts o ffered by res idents were not
trus ted by s taf f and the researche r o Res idents frequent ly
broke prom i s e s or agreements $ verba l i z ed extens ive plans and
pro j ects but did not act on them , told u s impl e l i e s , 1i and
1 1 5
either truncated the ir accounts in such a way as to render
them les s u s e ful to sta f f in determining what was happening
at halfway house or c laimed ignorance of matters that they
mus t have known about .
Re s idents not only f requently fai led to " fu l f i l l prom
i s e s " but they often d id s o in very pub l i c way s . As one
mi ght imag ine f rom the characteri zat ion I have given it was
common for res idents to " break their pledge " of abstinence from
drugs and s ometimes alcoho l , to not s how up for appointments
they had made with their parole agent , and to not pay a b i l l
that they had explic itly promis ed t o pay . Beyond thes e forms
of breaking promi s e s , however , they f requently a l so fai led to
perform some promised task which was critica l for others
who were dependent on that ta sk . For example , one res ident
volunteered to provide entertainment for a f ami ly night
d inner that was being held at halfway house for res idents l
their wive s � and chi ldren . Arrangements were made by staf f
to obtain an e lectric gui tar and amp l ifier . The system was
set up early in the dinner hour so that when the res ident
d id not show up to play both the agreement he had made and
h i s " failure " t.o mee t its terms was quite pub l i c . When he
f inal ly did show up lat.e that evening � he merely reported
that he had decided not to perform that n ight �
Res idents were s imilarly " unrel iable " with respect to
the ir per s onal plans and proj ects 4 Part o f the routine o f
hal fway hou s e provided for e l ic i ting resident occupational
1 1 6
plans s ince j ob placement and tra ining placement was part
of the o f f ic ia l program . Parolees e a si ly verb a l i zed e l ab
orate and spe c i f ic occupational plans . Sta f f s poke o f them
se lve s as " burned out " ( presently ind i f fe rent toward the
same matte r s they had previou s ly been enthus iastic about )
on such talk . Staf f c i ted incidents l ike the fol lowing as
grounds for not taking res ident plans serious ly :
I had been ta lking with one r e s ident a f te r the employ
ment group met . I queried h im about the j ob he wanted and
why he regarded that j ob as des ireable . He told me that he
had learned masonry whi le in pri son and had had a chance
to use thos e ski l l s whi le in a conservation camp . He spoke
of the sense of ful f i l lment he had found in bui lding sma l l
bridges that would stand for many years � H e s a id that to
morrow he was going to follow up a contact he had with a
particular cons truction f i rm s ince they had already more or
l e s s agreed to hire him . Immed iately after our conversat ion
thi s res ident left the hous e , as did many of the other res i
dents f but d id not return for cur few . A week later he
turned hims e l f in for us ing drugs . For me and for some o f
the s ta f f that I discussed such matters with , it was not
c lear whether the resident plans were s imple fabrications or
whether re s idents abandoned such plans with great speed . I t
w a s c lear t o us , however , that what res idents s a id they were
going to do and what they , in fact i ended up doing would
often � perhaps typic a l ly , be qui te d i sconnected .
1 1 7
Res idents also " told d i rect l i e s . " That i s , they said
they were employed when their suppo s ed employer denied having
known them . They said they were not using drug s when chemical
tests " showe d " that they had drugs in their bod i es . They
gave their mother ' s addr e s s as thei r own when they were
actual ly l iving with a girl friend � Part of the task of the
parole agent was to manage routines of f inding out what r e s i
dents were lI actua l ly " do ing under the condition that one
could not take their talk at face value . So , for example ,
rather than merely ask a res ident i f he was sti l l employed
at the same place ; the agent would ask him to show his mos t
recent check s tubs .
There was one further way in whi ch res ident accounts
were " di s appo inting " " Thei r reports were truncated in that
they rare ly made reference to other res idents . I f s ta f f
asked one res ident about another , e . g . " Where i s Jose , li or
" Did Enrique get a j ob? " o r " Ha s Carlos returned yet? " the
res ident would nearly always reply that he did not know .
S imi lar lY i i f a res ident was reporting on h i s own activities
he would truncate his account so that any contact he had had
with other res idents during the period in question was sup
pre s sed . S ta f f was aware of such matters a s truncated
accounts because they may have seen two res idents together
in the neighborhood . However ? i f they que s t ioned one of the
pair becau s e he was " under suspicion " or becau s e he had been
late for curf ew , s ta f f would f ind that the resident in
1 1 8
que stion would phrase his account in terms of a " lone wol f "
who had spent his evening in a bar with people he did not
know .
In thes e various ways res ident accounts were taken as
untrustworthy by sta f f . They took account of th is feature
of res ident accounts when d i scu s s ing res idents and the ir
activities by inserting many " he said s " and " he reported
that , " etc . For example ? staff would say "Jose says that
he wi l l
etc .
. " or Il Jose s ays that he d id not see . • • , 11
Thus far , those forms of systematic behavior s that
were deviant by contrast to the programmatic idea l s of the
hal fway hous e have been examined . That i s , in the language
of the s ta f f and res idents , they were behaviors which in
d icated that the res idents were " not going a long with the
program " and " ranking the hous e . " Next to be cons idered
are those forms of behavior that violated the " routine " and
" rule s " of the hal fway house .
6 . poing Violations . --With great frequency res idents
d id not comply with the routines of the hal fway house . They
mi s sed group , were late for cur few , fai led to pay the ir b i l l ,
did not seek work , and did not do their initial work a s s ign
ments at the ha lfway house . They a l s o frequently engaged in
those activities that were spe c i f ic a l ly prohibited in the
rul e s of the halfway house . They used drugs , kept drug s ,
and sold drug s � and drank and kept alcohol in the hal fway
119
house . Re s idents a l so stole equipment and money from the
halfway hous e .
Res idents did these activities with such frequency that
one could conc lude that the order that the sta f f was attempt-
ing to enforce was not val id in Weber ' s sense . The propor-
tion of the r e s ident population which was engaged in rule
violations each week ranged from 10 percent to 6 0 percent .
For a five-month per iod , i n which I kept explicit account o f
the rates o f thes e violation s , the median rate o f rule vio-
lators was 26 percent . (The rate of rule violations would
have been even higher as some violators did more than one
violation . ) The rates o f drug use f a s evidenced through
chemical te sts and the giving o f f of other s igns which in-
d icated drug use ; ranged from 0 percent to 55 percent of the
population each week . The median rate of drug use for a
week was 2 1 percent for the f ive month per iou of observation .
Extent of drug use and other expl i c i t deviance among res idents
dur ing res idency , is a l s o partia l ly avai l able in the rates at
which res idents j umped parole during their r e s idency at
hal fway hous e F and the rate s of leaving halfway house by
way of the county j a i l . For the l a s t cohort that was e num-
t d b th h d ' , , 8 1 3 0 4 f h era e y e researc �v�s �on on y • percent 0 t e
men left h a l fway house by way of the legitimate route , i . e . ,
to some form of independent res idenc e , whi le 3 5 . 3 percent
8N = 3 3 1 , for admi s s ions between July of 1 9 6 4 to Augu s t , 1 9 6 6 .
1 2 0
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·'i·,········
. . . . . . . :;;: .. .
r a n away f rom h a l fway hou s e ( us ua l ly unde r s tood in the organ
i z at ion a s a s ign of drug us e ) f and 3 3 . 4 pe r c e n t of the
r e s idents l e f t h a l fway hous e r e s i d e n c y by b e ing placed in
c u s tody . However , t h i s l a s t group comb i n e s tho s e re s i d e n t s
who s e drug u s e wa s d emon s trated , a n d tho s e r e s i d e n t s who s e
ha l fway hou s e r u l e v i o l a t i on s were taken b y s ta f f a s s o
s e ve r e that p l a c ing the man i n j a i l w a s war r a nted . ( L o s
Ang e l e s Re s e a rc h U n i t , 1 9 66 , p . 3 0 ) . T h e extent a n d w a y s o f
t h e notab i l i ty o f the s e f orms o f d e v i a n c e gave to t h e h a l f
way hous e i t s appearance a s a n o r g an i z a t ion i n wh i c h there
w a s a con s t a n t s trug g le to e n fo r c e the r u le s , and a c on s tant
s truggle a g a i n s t the imm i n e n t po s s ib i l i ty tha t the bu i l d i n g
wou ld be turned i nto a " de n " o f i l l i c i t a c t i v i t i e s 0 'rhe
notab l e o c c ur r e n c e o f the s e form s of d e v i a n c e s e rved a s the
source � f i nterroga t i o n s w i th r e s i d e n t s , c o n f e r e n c e s b e tween
s ta f f memb er s , top i c s for group d i sc u s s ion , and ob j ec t s for
s tr a te g i z in g about i n s ta f f mee t i ng s . Whe n d e v i an c e w a s
d e t e c te d i t w a s c a u s e for announc ement a n d r e c o rd in g . T h e
d e v i an c e i t s e l f was open to d e t e c t i o n through rou t i n i z e d
s u rve i l l a n c e technique s , and through the c o n s t ant app l i c a
t i on by s ta f f o f s canning- for-deviance techn i que s . The
r a te s of d e v iance reporte d above wer e the produ c t s of the
s t a f f ' s u s e of s uch technique s g wh i c h wi l l now be d e s c r ib e d .
Rout i n e Surve i l lance f o r Rule V i o l a t i on s . - -Latene s s a s
such wa s ava i l a b l e to the s ta f f b y way o f the s tudent pro
f e s s ional a s s i s tant ' s record i ng in the n ight l o g . The SPA
1 2 1
recorded the t ime at which each man returned . The s ta f f ( in
thi s c ase the program directo r and the house manager ) read
the log each morning a s soon a s they c ame in . On the basi s
o f who was recorded a s coming i n the night be fore ? the s ta f f
a l s o ? a t that time , a s s e ssed who was i n res idence . Three
repeated absences was taken as a conclus ive ind i cation that
the res ident had become a parolee at large , i . e . , had run
away from the ha lfway house r and was probably us ing drugs .
S imi l a r ly v s ta f f knew that a man was absent from group
because rol l was taken at the groups . In each case , staff
que stioned the res ident on thei r next encounter with him ,
asking him how i t c ame about that he was late or m i ssed
group . P ayment o f the b i l l occurred in a group for that
purpose held at 6 1 3 0 on Friday nights . Those who did not
pay eit.he r encount.ered staff at that point with an explana
t ion or m i s sed group a l together g in which case they would
be e ncountered later about not paying and about being absent .
I f staff d id not otherwise know about the res ident � s employ�
ment s tatus as a result o f h i s reports at the afternoon
group for the unemployed ? h i s employment s tatus would be
detected at that Fr iday night group . Through thes e routin
i zed forms of survei l lance and recordags , latene s s , attendance
at group ? and payment of the b i l l was a s certained . Staf f
supervis ion of work pro j ects s erved to a s certain whether
these had been done or not , i . e . , the r e s ident was required
to report to s ta f f for certif ication that the pro j ect had
1 2 2
been accompl ished and thereby credited .
The hou s e sta f f ( program d irector and house manager )
was re spon s ible for the detection , reportage , and " d i sposal "
of these forms of deviance . The " d i sposal " o f the deviance
took the form of encounter ing the of fending party ; inter
rogating him ; and then e ither accepting his excuse , i ssuing
him a warning , or meting out some form of puni shment f typi
c a l ly restricting him to the house i though it might involve
sending him to j a i l . These forms of deviance were so common
that , at any g iven time , house staff was likely to be waiting
for at least one res ident to show up so that they might
interrogate him .
The routini z ed surye i llance . for drug use was done by
parole agents rather than house s ta f f � Mos t parolees would
be sent to the centra l tes ting center for a chemical test
at least once every two week s . The detection o f drug use
in that way resulted in the parolee ' s p lacement in j ai l and
the suspens ion of h i s paro le . Parole agents were also called
in by hous e s ta f f to talk to res idents about the violation
of house rul e s , particular ly when the res ident had e s tabl ished
a pattern of violations .
The extent of res ident violations that was vis ib l e to
and noted by s ta f f , however , was only hinted at in the rates
that would be generated by thes e routine survei l lance pro
cedures . S ome deviance was seen in the very appearance o f
the halfway house itse l f , whi le other deviance was seen
1 2 3
through the behavior o f the men themselves when interpreted
as possible s igns of deviance rather than being j udged as
dev iant or con forming in itse l f �
Staff c ontinuously assessed the behavior and appearance
o f the residents and the hous e itself for evidences o f drug
use and other criminal activity . Violations o f house rules
were used d i agno s tically in this way by staf f $ a s well as
be ing attended to a s violations in themse lves , Before an
enumeration o f the s e d iagnost ic devices can be clearly made,
however , some other matters concern ing the rates of deviance
need to be clarif ied.
Excur s is perta ining to talk about actual rates of druS
use . -· -The c ommon view o f add ict ion that was proposed in and
around nalfway house wa s that every ex- add ict parolee was
e i ther pre s en tly a user or was exceed ingly like ly to begin
us ing at any time . This common talk about user s was d irec tly
expre ssed in sta f f mee tings F informal bull sess ions between
sta f f member s , between sta f f members holding a case con
ference , in d iscussions between sta f f and researchers , and
in both formal and informal d iscuss ions between sta f f and
resident s $ Residents , too � both d irec t ly acknowledged th is
thesis and gave heed to it indirectly in the ir talk .
This v iew was also proposed by sta f f and res ident s in
1 2 4
the ir interviews with me . I a sked both groups 9 il Suppos e
ten guys come out of pr i son who had been addicted before
they went to pr i son . How many o f them do you think wi l l u s e
s tuf f within a month { a fter release ) ? " O f the ten s ta f f and
s ixty res iden ts answer ing th i s ques t ion , 6 0 percent ( 6 ) of
the sta f f and 8 3 0 3 4 percent ( 5 0 ) o f the r e s idents s a id that
at least hal f wou ld use within the first month . The other
4 0 percent o f the staff and approx ima te ly 1 7 percent o f the
res idents s a i d that three or four out of ten woul d s tart
u s ing drugs within the f i r s t month . When the que stion was
extended to " hoy.T many w i l l use within the f i r s t s ix months " ?
9 0 percent o f the s ta f f ( 9 ) s a id that at lea s t s ix out o f
ten wi l l u s e , and 8 8 . 1 3 percent ( 5 2 ) 1 0 o f the r e s idents
s a id that s even out o f ten w i l l use within the f i r s t s ix
month s .,
5 5 . 9 3 percent ( 3 3 ) of the r e s idents said that a l l ten
would use within s ix months , whi le 3 0 percent ( 1 8 ) said that
a l l ten would use within the f i r s t month . Forty percent o f
the s ta f f s aid that a l l ten wou ld u s e during the f i r s t s ix
9A s e r i a l s ample o f res idents wa s drawn . Each r e s ident who was ava i lab le wa s interviewed within two days after he entered . This procedure was c ont inued unt i l s ixty- four r e s idents were interviewed . The inte rviewing s tarted i n August , 1 9 6 6 , and f ini shed in December . Although the intent ion was to interv i ew each and every new re s ident , s even re s idents who entered during this per iod were not ava i l ab le . Four because they le f t the house without leave be fore they could be interviewed and thre e e ither re fused or made thems e lve s otherw i s e unava i lable � For the que s tion above , answers from four o f the res idents interv i ewed are not ava i lable .
l Oa f f i fty-nine answering th i s que s tion �
1 2 5
months , and 2 0 percent s a id that a l l ten wou ld use dur ing
the f ir s t month . t�atever the time per iod , a higher pro
port ion of r e s idents propos ed that ex-u s e r s wou ld resume
use at a h igher rate than s ta f f d id 6
What s t a f f and res idents s a id i n the interv iew paral�
l e l led what they s a id i n other contexts when I was present �
When house s ta f f r a i s ed the c ompla int that u s e i n the hous e
was chron i c a l ly h igh and that somethi ng i n particular shoul d
be done ; parol e agent sta f f f requently countered with the
statement that they f igured tha t at least one third o f
the ir case l oad o n the s treet was u s ing a t any one t ime , s o
there was n othing s pec ial t o be e xc i ted about . Re s idents
s a id e s sentially the same thing to s t a f f . A common complaint
about the hous e , which wa s vo iced by parolees to s ta f f whe n
it was .sugge s ted that they might l ive in the halfway hou s e
( o r when they were a l ready l iving there and wer e asking t o
go home ) was that there w a s so much u s e there that they
found ab s t inance d i f f icult .
Thus , i t was s a id by a l l parties to the ha l fway hou s e
that use o f drugs w a s extreme ly common 7 even mor e common
than the actual rate s o f c apture or abscond ing would sugge s t .
I n a l l occas ion s I observed (or even heard about ) where
r e s idents were making reference to the fact of u s e , they
never supp l ied the s pec i f i c s of who was u s ing or how it was
done . Sta f f , howeve r , found ( s aw , showed me , and commented
to me and othe r s ) evidence o f drug u s e , not on ly in r e s idual
1 2 6
. . "k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... .
evidence s like p i l e s o f matche s � but a l s o in the demeanor
and appearance of the parolees around them . As indicated
in the e s t imated rate s , every paro lee wa s suspect and , in
turn f s ta f f s aw and reportedl l on drug u s e which they s aw
a l l around them �
Deviance vis ible through the demeanor and re spons e o f
individua l s when d i splals are s een as s igns o f dev iance
rather than j udged a s deviant or confor�ing in themse lve s . -
During my s tay at ha l fway house r I s pent perhaps thirty
percent of my time fol l owing s ta f f ' s work . I n watching what
they told e ach othe r , pointed out to each other , and to ld
and po inted out to me , it became evident that they spent
much o f the i r time s canning the scene for evidence s of drug
use and other crimina l i ty . They s poke of thi s task , to me
and to each other , a s a task of greate s t importance . I t
\>la s read i ly a cknowledged as a c h i e f res pon s i b i l i ty o f the ir
work and was spoken of a s a task whi ch , if l e f t undone t
would have the mo s t d ire consequenc e s for the organi zation .
What s ta f f was doing i n s c anning for d rug use can be
described i n terms of a procedu re that s ta f f taught me and
used in my pre sence b In a fashion much l ike that described
I lReported to each other , that i s . The only use that was reported to the adu lt author i ty wa s that de tec ted through con f e s s ion or chemic a l test . In fact , con f e s s ions were frequently not reported . Results o f chemical tests which ind i c ated use were a lways reported , a s thos e reports were a l ready records o f the bureaucrac y , and d rug u s e w a s thereby no longer a private matter between the agent and h i s parolee .
1 2 7
· . 11
by Skolnick (1 9 6 7 , pp . 1 2 0 - 1 2 1) in his account of how nar-
cotics o f f icers go about their work , sta f f gave spec i a l
attention t o the actions o f ex-add icts in attempting t o f ind
out what the ex-addict was doing . This attention d i f fered
from the attention given to the actions of others in two
ways . F i rs t ; any perce ived action could be addressed under
the auspices of the que s tion , " i s it evidence o f drug use ,
or drug s a l e s , or not /I ? Secondly , and thi s fol lo'!?lS from the
f i r s t , what \vould ordinar i ly pa s s as il nothing much to be
not iced , " ( e . g . , the way someone s tand s ) could be closely
s crutin i zed �
When one con s iders the rates o f " perce ived use e! r eported
above , wh ich were e s t ima ted by s ta f f and acknowledged by
res idents , it is c lear that the ques tions " i s he us ing again? "
and /l i � he deal ing again? " were que stions that were continua l ly
be ing directed to the behavior o f every r e s ident . The who le
environment o f hal fway house was organ i zed under the auspice s
o f th i s query , i . e . , that environment was organ i zed ? i n
ana lys i s o f i t r b y the s ta f f t o answer the que s ti on " is Joe
us ing aga in " or " i s Joe deal ing again? /I Another way o f
s ay ing i t i s that the equivocal sense o f perce ived obj ects
and events was organi z ed for the s ta f f under the s cheme o f
re leva.nce s provided b y the query about use � The reader
should be r eminded o f two feature s of th i s s canning and
que stion ing activity wh ich make it unl ike the perception o f
ordinary a f fairs .
1 2 8
As was noted above , the staff did not treat the reports
of res idents about their own activities or the act ivities o f
others as factual . Neither was i t the c a s e that they could
directly a s k questions of the res idents about deviant be
havior and take it that they had a faithful answer , nor
could they overhear such ta lk among the res idents . Thus ,
verbal reports were i by and large , not use ful to s taf f b The
one exception 'to this was res idents who con f e ss ed that they
had been us ing , and now wanted to s top . ( Sta f f took i t that
only a sma l l portion of res idents who used d id thi s . )
Second lY r the k ind o f behavior s ta f f was looking for
was not typical ly open to d irect observation . Res idents
did not typically " shoot dope " in front of s ta f f . Although
occa s ional ly s ta f f would walk into the men � s r e stroom and
f ind a res ident with his belt around h i s arm and a needle
with an eyedropper in his arm , thes e occurrences had the
appearance o f being unintended by the residents and a sur
pri s e to the s taf f .
Deviance evidenced throu�h a s earch o f the physical
environment . - -The house itsel f was addres s ed ( usual ly about
once a week by the house manager ) as a place where narcotics
were being used , where " fits " ( narcotics paraphena l i a ) were
stored ! where s ta shes were hidden , and , under a d i fferent
temporal s cheme , where deal ing was occurring .
This s e arch was made by addres s ing every part o f the
phy s i ca l ly d isplayed hal fway house with the ques tion "what
1 2 9
narcotic-deviant course o f action could have produced thi s
particular d isplay I see be fore me now? 1i F loor s f particularly
in the bathrooms and basement , were examined � I f piles o f
matches were encountered they were identif ied as the by
product of cooking heroin . The backs of toi let s , the ins ides
of air vent s , the interiors of f loor-standing ash trays , and
the insides of fuse boxes were all viewed as potential hiding
places , and were searched for " fits " and " stashes . " The
ins ide and outs ide of the hous e were examined for anything
interpretabl e as s igns o f narcoti c use . The smal l hous e
behind the hal fway house , its unders ide and the unders ide
of the ha lfway house itse l f occas iona l ly gave s igns o f
being entered , e . g . , a n a i r vent out of place ? which was
interpreted as indicating that that area had been used as
a " shooting gal lery " ( a place to use drugs ) . S imi lar ly , a
box found out of place in the basement was seen as pointing
to its having been moved so that some res ident could stash
drugs somewhere in the part of the room near the cei l ing .
Likewise $ a piece of paper with a b lack ova l smudge on it
found under a bed � would be ident i f ied as a wrapping for
an out f it .
Several features of the search need empha s i s . Many of
the di splays were encountered as something out o f p lace wh ich
could be explained by one encounter ing the d isplay as a phase
in=consuming-narcotics , an instance of attending a d isplay as a
phase-of-the-action ( Garf inke l ! 1 9 6 7 � p . 1 8 ) . The box out of
place was seeable as a makeshift stepladder used in hiding a
1 3 0
" s t a s h I, or " f i t ' that someone wou.ld have to have a.nd have to
h ide i f they were to shoot drugs . Such an inte rpretation s tands
in contras t to other pos s ible interpretation s t e . g . , s ome-
one moved it i n the i r s earch for s ome particular supp l i e s i n
the room , o r ; e . g . , moved i t t o s it o n i t . The very appear
anc e s thems e lves are notab l e only under a conception of the
consumption of narcot i c s as a s equence of mor e or l e s s
c le a r ly known s teps . I n l arge mea sure the s earcher doe s not
know spec i f i c a l ly wha t he is l ook ing f or or the sense he
w i l l make of it unt i l he encounters i t in a par t i cu l ar con
text . The r e f ore , though I speak o f a p i l e o f matches a s
under s tood a s evidence o f u s e , they had t o be f ound i n a
place that wou ld be l ike ly for s omeone to u s e drug s . There
bY I those p l ac e s i n the h a l fway hou s e that r e s idents had
e a s y an.d cons tant acce s s to ? were c lo s e at hand for the
r e s idents , o f fered s ome pr ivacy , and could be gone to by
r e s i.den t s w i th s ome frequency wi thout r a i s ing que s ti on s ,
were more c lo s e ly s c ru t i n i zed by s ta f f . That evidence o f
var ious s o r t s wa s found in such p la c e s he i ghtened s t af f ' s
tendency to i n te rpret any particular th ing f ound a s evidence
of u s e . Thus ! s omething out o f p l a c e in the front room r o r
a p i l e o f matches found i n the k i tchen i wou ld be l e s s l ikely
to be i n te rpreted a s the r e s idue o f u s e than i f they "'ere
f ound in the bathroom .
Thus , the s earch was continua l ly b e ing informed not
on ly by a knowledge of the s teps i nvo lved i n u s ing drug s �
1 3 1
but was a l s o in formed by imputed mot ives which were s upposed
to accompany the use o f drug s , i . e " that a user would be
concerned with privacy , that he cou ld get his d rug s quickly
when he wanted them , and that he could go to get them without
rais ing que s t ions about what he was do ing . Attention to
the s e informing cons iderations exc luded s ome areas o f the
hou s e from f requent s earch , e . g . , the house manager told me
he did not inspect behind grates that were f a s tened with
s crews s ince no hype would want to go to that much e f fort
when he f e l t i n need o f a " ge e z " .
Whi l e my account i s phrased i n terms o f a regular and
sys tematic s e arch , in f ac t it was a l s o the c a s e that the
ha l fway hous e was continual ly being inspe c ted in that
f a s h ion , j u s t a s s ta f f happened to be walk ing around in i t .
When relative ly c le ar evidence wa s f ound , the s ta f f ordered
a l l res idents to submi t to a chemica l te s t . When such te s t s
were ordered i t frequently happened that some res idents
would f le e the s c ene t (Which was seen by s ta f f as evidence
that they were u s ing drug s ) and that at leas t one re s ident
who s tayed around would be detected as having u s ed drug s .
Deviance evidenced throug� an in�Eection of per sons . -
The s ame k in d o f con s iderations used i n inspecting the hous e
i t s e l f w a s used in the a s s e s smen t o f the appearance and be
havior o f the res idents . Again , behavior s and phy s ic a l
appearances were under s tood a s pha s e s in more or le s s we l l
known sequenc e s . The po l ic e re fer t o such act ions a s
1 3 2
" furt ive action s " ( C f . S kolnick , 1 9 6 7 , pp . 1 2 0 - 1 2 1 ) . Through
a brie f ly seen " furtive action " a whole series of prior
actions are s een by the viewer a s a l s o indicated � So , when
the pol ic e 'take i t that the movemen t o f a man � s hand to h i s
mouth i s an attempt t o dispose of incriminat ing evidenc e ,
that i s to see in a g l ance that that movemen t i s a f inal
s tep in an un-observed sequenc e : the man i s a c r iminal ;
he s aw the po l ice coming � he ant i c i pated contac t with the
pol i ce ; he s ought to avo id the cons equence s of that contac t ;
and then and there fore d id the thing the po l ic e actua l ly
observed . What the po l ice in the ir inve s tigation thereaf ter
mus t do is to demons trate the unequivoca l meaning of the
disp l ay " The potenti a l ly incriminating d i splay itse l f g ives
them the lega l ground for further s earch .
Th.e appearances o f res idents o f halfway house ,/lare con
tinuou s ly treated a s potentia l ly incriminating l ike the one
d i s cus sed above . However , the s t a f f o f the hal fway house
treated the ir respon s i b i l i ties as more exten s ive than thos e o f
the po lice . They propos ed that they were prope r ly concerned
not only with on-goi ng deviance , but a l s o w i th deviance that
was about to happen ; not j u s t in the sense that it was
p lanned ( for the pol ice too are concerned with thi s ) but
that someone was ge tting into the s tate in whi ch he was l ikely
to commi t a devian t act . Many equivocal s igns that the
s t a f f used for see ing deviance were treated by them as in
c i cating the pos s ib le use of drugs and , i f not that , then
1 33
those s ame s igns ind i cated tha t drug use or o ther crimina l i ty
was imminent . To g ive the reader s ome sense o f the par
ticulars o f the ir inspe ction , I am going to l i s t s ome o f the
displays that staff s aw as evidence of us e . I t should be
remembered that full suspic ion was mos t o f ten activated by
s ome pattern o f the s e particulars taken in conj unc t ion with
whatever h i s tory the res ident had e stab l i shed , s o that many
of the se d i s p lay s done in i s o latio n would not have rendered
the res ident suspect .
Drug u s e was s een by s ta f f a s man i f e s ted in the res idents �
bodi ly s ta te s . One man i fe s tation was pup i l s i z e . When s ta f f
noted that a res ident ' s pup i l s wer e sma l ler than normal ( as
c ompared w i th others in the room ) or that h i s pupi l s i z e did
not change with chang ing l ight condition s , they s aw tha t the
res iden,t was l ike ly to be us ing drugs through that bodi ly
d i s p lay . O ther bod i ly s tates which were taken a s s ymptomatic
o f drug u s e also told s ta f f some thing about the recency and/or
amount of heroin that the res ident had i n j e c ted . Being n on the
nod " is the mos t exaggerated s ta te o f drug intoxication -
to go beyond thi s s tate i s to pas s out . S ta f f and res idents
identifie d persons " on the nod " through that person 9 s
s tuperous , s louching , faintly moving body . Typica l ly , one
who is " on the nod � " wi l l be enj oying an inj ected opiate by
more or l e s s lying back on a chair § c los ing h i s eye s , and
rhythmic a l ly moving h i s body ( typica l ly moving h i s head back
and forth - hence " nodding " ) so as to " fe e l the warmth o f
1 34
the dope in h i s body . " I f one were not so " loaded " but
neverthe l e s s s trong ly under the inf luence of an opiate , then
one pre sents the appearance of being drunk through a l ack o f
coordination and euphoria ( smi l ing and laughing ) . When s t a f f
s aw a res ident who looked drunk or near ly drunk but who was
a l s o reputed to not be a drinker r they supposed that he was
under the inf luence o f opiate s , s ynthetic opiate s , or bar
b i tuates . One who is " under the inf luence " yet is e i ther
c arefu l ly contr o l l i ng it or i s les s " loaded " g ive s o f f l e s s
obvious bod i ly s igns o f drug use . One might appear to be
i l l , or walk with a s louch , or have s lackened cheek mus c l e s .
When s ta f f s aw a res ident in such a s tate they were like ly to
s us pect that he was us ing drugs .
Res idents i d i splayed a f fective s tates were also used
by s ta f f a s indicators of drug use . S igns o f ind i f ference r
akin to depre s s ion , were taken by s ta f f to be o f ten drug
induced s ince opiates and other depre s s ants are s a id to
focus one l s attention on h i s own private pleasures and f ocus
attention away from the way one appears to and i s re lated
-to other s . Thereby , when s t a f f encountered a r e s ident who
was notably p a s s ive , or notab ly s loppy ; or les s neat than
that part icular res ident usua l ly was , they would suspect
that he was us ing drug s . They might a l s o suspect that i f
h e were " me r e ly depre s sed " and not g iving o f f the s e s igns
because o f d rug use , that depre s s ion i t s e l f would lead to
drug use . There fore , d i s played ind i f ference or depres s ion
1 3 5
was notab le for s ta f f in any case . Staf f a l s o noted changes
in or s l ightly exaggerated forms o f any a ffective s tate a s
s igns o f drug use . Thus , depres s ion 1 more d isplayed hos
t i l i ty than usual from thi s particular re s ident , and even
more friend l i ne s s than usual from thi s particular r e s ident
were treated as potential s igns o f d rug use .
Man i fes ted " irrespon s ibi l i ty " was treated i n a s imi lar
way by s ta f f . Staff spoke o f " not meeting one I s c oromi troenta tl
or " not tak ing care o f bus ine s s " ( not paying one ' s b i l l ,
ab iding by c ur few F or c orning to group ) a s i nd icating that
s omething is awry with the man . I t might be that he i s
u s ing and there fore does the s e things , o r that h e i s " badly
motivated " and there f ore is l ikely to use , or that the s e
indic ators a r e the incidental by-produc ts o f s ome other
activi�Y l e . g . , he is spending his money on drugs and there
f ore cannot pay his b i 1 1 v or , e . g � , he is spend ing his time
" partying " w i th drugs and there fore doe s not make curf ew .
Res idents who d id not active ly seek work were viewed i n the
s ame l ight though they might a l s o be suspect o f s e l l ing
drugs and there fore had no need to active ly s earch for a j ob .
Some d isplay s were de s c r ibed by s t a f f a s showing
d e l i nquent intent and there fore leading s t a f f to suspect
that a particular res ident was us ing drugs . One could show
his e s senti a l del inquency by spendi ng an unusual amount o f
t ime talking about pri s on o r about l ives o f c r ime 6 Spe nd ing
t ime with o ther res idents who later run f rom the house or
1 3 6
are c aught for drug s was taken as i ndi cating a wi l l ingne s s to
a s sociate w i th " bad characters " and thereby pointing to a
l ike ly inte re s t in i l legi timate activitie s � Bringing a
s tranger into the h a l fway house or smugg l ing a f r iend into
the house for a p lace to s leep were a l s o taken to indicate a
d e l i nquent character and would therefore bring a res ident
under gene r a l suspicion .
Erratic behavior , e . g . , be ing up very late at n ight ,
f a l ling a s l e ep on a hard bench , shadow boxing i n the showe r ,
were taken a s like ly indicators o f s ome k ind o f drug usa f
though not nece s s a r i ly s igns o f opiate use .
Another set o f behaviors which , when identif ied , brought
the res ident under suspicion , were patterns whi ch could be
seen as pha s e s in s ome sort of criminal activity s Thus ,
receivi�g many phone c a l l s , going in and out the door many
t ime s ! looking out the window for s u s tained periods o f t ime
as i f look ing for a pickup or del ivery , and having money
but no j ob , were a l l seen as activi ties a drug dealer would
l ikely do and they the reby were grounds for suspicion in
the observed c a se .
Person s would a l s o be brought under suspic ion i f they
CQuid be b rought into association w i th s ome d e l i nquent
indicating event . Thus , if paraphanal i a were d i scovered
shortly a f te r one res ident moved into the hous e § that
r e s i dent might be suspe c t . Or , i f a f i re door was broken
so a s to permi t easy and secret entrance and e xi t � the n the
1 3 7
res ident nearest the door wou ld like ly be suspected o f
be ing " up t o s omething " " Thi s order o f suspic ion wa s greatly
s trengthened i f some other indicator d i s p layed by the
res ident a l s o pointed to some form of troub l e . Thus , for
s ta f f , a broken f ire exit was much more tha n minor damage
to the e s tab l is hment � I t pointed to its u s e in s ome i l l i c i t
activity .
Fina l ly , though my l i s t i s by no means exhaustive , person s
could draw suspic ion t o themse lves by behaviors which could
function a s " cover s . iI I n treating a d i s pl ayed body or act a s
a cove r , sta f f attended the perce ived thing f o r the ways i n
whi ch i t could be hiding s ome thi ng , rather than " for itse l f � a
S ome c overs l i tera l ly covered part o f the body . Inasmuch
as long- s le eved shirts , tatoo s , burn s , cuts , and scratches on
the arms could cover needle mark s ? a nd sung l a s s e s could cover
pup i l s i ze , when the s e i tems were employed even s l ightly out
o f ordinary context ( or when u covers " on the arm were f re s h )
they were s ee n b y s ta f f a s more evidence o f drug u s e and
thereby brought the wearer into suspic ion .
Res idents were seen to emp loy vari ous mea sures to
obs cure wha t they were rea l ly up to which were " seen through "
by staf f $ i & e . , n s een through il in the sense that the obs cur i ng
routine drew attention to , rather than away f rom the res ident ,
even i f he did not intend the act or s equence o f acts a s
obscuring i n the f ir s t place . S ince s ome s tages o f drug use
produce bod i ly appearances s imi lar to minor i l lne s s , the s e
1 3 8
bodi ly s tate s can be " explained away " by the c la im o f i l lnes s .
However , s ince s ta f f knew about the pos s ib i l i ty o f tha t sort
o f cover , the c la im o f i l lne s s ( even if legi timate ) tended to
draw suspici ous attention to the II s i ck tI r e s ident . S imi larly ,
s ince per sons could h ide the i r v i s ible " h igh ll by s taying
away from s t a f f y whenever s t a f f did not see a r e s ident a s
o ften as they previous ly had s een h im , that r e s ident was l ikely
to c ome under suspici on . The extent o f s ta f f s uspici on was
enhanced when they read in the log ( wh i ch was kept by the
s tudent profe s s ional a s s i s tant duri ng the evening ) that that
particular r e s ident was chec k ing out j us t before s ta f f
arrived i n the morning and 'VIa s checking in j u s t a fter s ta f f
had left i n the evening . S ta f f i s suspic ion wou ld a l s o be
r a is e d if they di scovered that the S PA had recorded two men
leaving , and c orning back to the hal fway hous e together whi le
what thos e r e s idents s a i d on the s ign- i n - s ign-out sheet
indicated that they left and returned at nonco inc i ding time s �
Fina l ly ! there were s everal ways that mi s s i ng a
s cheduled na l l ine tes t for opiates was under s "toed by s ta f f
a s a pos s ib l e cover for the u s e o f d rugs . Res idents were
seen to be attempt ing to hide the i r drug use when the i r
excuse for not tes ting w a s imp laus ib l e ; when they mis sed
s everal conse cutive te s ts no matter how plau s ib le the excuse ;
and when a r e s ident s pe ci f i c a l ly s aid that he was going to
tes t ( rather than s imply rece iving a notice to tes t ) but the n
d id n o t go t o the te s ting center .
1 3 9
S ta f f ' s encounter with thes e " suspic ious d i s play s " d i d
n o t neces s ar i ly lead t o immed iate action on thei r part for
s everal reason s . EVen when s ta f f members � suspicions were
relatively we l l -aroused , hou s e sta f f were f requently re luctant
to d irectly pursue their inve s tigation by interrogating the
man under suspic ion , check ing hi s arms for mark s � and/or
asking h im to submit to a c hemica l te s t . To pur sue every
suspic ion in that way would have resulted in what s ta f f
cal led " ac t i ng l ike a bu l l " ( pr i s on guar d ) and " play ing cops
and robber s u with the men ( permitting a l l interactions with
the men to be heav i ly ta inted with overtones o f suspicion ) .
Both o f thos e mode s were negative ly s anctioned at hal fway
hous e , e spec i a l ly by the parole agents . Wheneve r survei l lance
was a top i c of s ta f f meeting s , the program director argued
and the other sta f f members concurred that they did not
want the res idents to feel that they were in pri s on , and that
they did not want the ir re lationship w i th the res idents to be
l ike that be tween res idents and po l ice . I t was s a id in the se
meetings that for s ta f f to be ove r ly v i s ib ly invo lved in
s urve i l lance and inves t igation wa s putting pres sure on the
res idents that wou ld l ikely result in enh anc i ng the pos s ib i l i ty
that they would return to drug use � When one s t a f f member
would pur s ue res idents on the bas i s o f " sma l l evidence , "
other s ta f f s poke o f h im in h i s pres ence a s u handcuf f happy , lI
Ii a bu l l � II and " l ik ing the game o f cops and robber s 0 n
Sta f f not on ly rece ived negative s anctions from thei r
1 4 0
peers in try i ng to track down drug u s e on the bas i s of sma ll
evidence ? but their encounters with the res idents when they
did that were also noticeably unpleasant � When I was with
s ta f f when they did thes e interrogations , they complained
to me about their d i s ta s te for having to be I I a cop , I I as they
put i t .
Instead o f pursuing each and every suspicion , s taff ( a )
watched the man i n ques tion more c lo s e ly for other evidence
that he might be us ing ; ( b ) turned any occasion in which the
res ident in ques tion violated an exp l i c i t rule ( which would
routinely result in a confrontation between s ta f f and that
resident about the violation ) into an occ a s i on in which they
asked the r e s ident to di splay his arms and g ive a urine
s ample for c l inical tes t ; and ( c ) reported their suspicions
to the res ident ' s parole agent and asked that the man be s ent
to the centr a l tes ting c enter for a routine II surpr i s e " in j ec
tion of n a l l ine . I n thes e three ways s ta f f was able to act
on their suspicions without having those suspicions be the
cons tant theme of the ir interactions with the res idents . But
it also meant that the s taf f was seeing more deviance around
them than they were catching , s ince they would o f te n be
waiting for " further evidence " be fore doing someth.ing .
Deviance that s ta f f saw and that s taf f dealt with had
much further organ i zational meaning than I have ind i cated
here . Thes e further meanings wi l l be treated later . For
the time b eing I mer e ly want to e s tabl i s h the point that
1 4 1
wide spread d rug u s e and rule vio lations were noticeable to
s ta f f ? and was the source of cons iqerab l e organ i z ationa l ly
relevant work on the ir par t .
Summary
Direct ob servation o f the behavior o f r e s idents at the
h a l fway hous e e s tab l i shed a s e r i e s of regu lar ? repetitive
patterns which are deviant when compared to the v'programmatic
ideals , � " the routine s , " and the " ru le s " o f hal fway hous e .
With great r egular i ty � the res idents observab ly d i s tanced
themselves from s ta f f by moving the i r bod i e s and through
the i r conve r sationa l s ty le s . I n the ways they hand led the i r
bod i e s to show attention and res pec t , and through what they
s aid to s ta f f , res idents showed the i r d i s intere s t and lack o f
re spect for the program of the hal fway hous e . Rather than
being w i l l i ng participants , r e s idents were merely pas s ive ly
compl iant with s ta f f demand s , doing only what s ta f f directly
demanded and s anc tioned with exp l i c i t r ewards and pun ishments .
Rather than bei ng s e l f - re l i an t ? res idents demanded a s s i s tance
from the s ta f f in accomp l ishing many mundane task s . Res idents
typically could not be counted on as re l i ab le sour c e s o f
in formation about the i r own p lans . Nor could they be re lied
on to keep agreement s , mak ing it d i f f icult for them to a s sume
" re s pons ib le role s " in the organ i z at i on . Nor cou ld r e s i dents
serve as a r e l iab le s ource o f information about their own
behavior or the behavior of the i r peer s � They were i n
every respec t � unFe l i able i nformants &
14 .2
Thus h a l fway hous e was by no means an organ i z ation in
wh ich s ta f f and res idents worked together to provide a pro
gram of rehabi l i tation for the res idents � The patterned
behavior of the res idents undermined such a program at every
turn �
Beyond the res idents � behavior which vitiated the j oint
program of rehab i l i tation ; r e s idents were a l s o dev i ant in
the ir frequent vio lation of ha l fway hous e routines and rules .
Not only d i d they violate such house rules a s cur few and
mandatory " group § " but they a l s o used drugs and s o ld drugs
in and from the hal fway hou s e with exceptiona l regu l ar i ty .
All o f the s e patterns were v i s ible not only to the
sociolog i s t , but to the s ta f f as we l l . For the s ta f f the s e
patterns were a s ource o f c omplaint , and required addi tional
e f fort . on the ir par t o Both s ta f f and observer were con
c erned with explaining the s e behav iors and , as wi l l be
shown in succeeding c hapte r s , both typi c a l ly c ame to the
s ame exp l anation , and both were a s s i s ted in thes e explana
tions by the deviants themse lve s .
1 4 3
CHAPTER FOUR
THE CONVI CT CODE AS AN EXPLANATI ON OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Introduction
Thi s chapter examine s the c la s s i ca l or traditional ex-
p lanation of those forms of observab ly devi an t behavior
that inma te s t convicts , or re s idents engage in , which i s
the " convict c ode . " That is , in tradi tiona l analyses o f
deviant behavior , s ome subver s ive or contracul ture normative
order is s ea rched out by the analys t and u t i l i z ed by him a s
a n explanation for the behavior patterns h e h a s observed .
I n the c a s e o f prisons and r e l ated organ i za tion s I the
" convict code n is typically encollntered by the researcher
and emp loyed a s such an explanation .
The Code a s an EXEl icit�y Verba l i zed Moral Order
My partic ipant obs ervation detected a code wh ich was
opera tive at halfway hous e . My pr inc ipal r e s ident informants ,
whom I c ame to know over a per iod o f s everal mon th s , and with
whom I had a t least s everal convers ations a week and o f ten
s everal a day ; spoke read i ly o f a code . They c a lled thi s
code the c ode ? and told o f a s e t o f activities that they
1 4 4
should and shoul� not engage in . They a l s o s poke o f " regular
guy s " ( fo l lower s o f the code ) , and s ai d that every one of
the res idents at the hal fway hous e was a regu lar guy . They
exp l a ined to me tha t everyone there had " done a lot of time %1
and had even learned the code much e ar l ier than that a s a
hype on the s treet $
The Code and Expl i c i t ly Verba l i zed Sanctions
Re s idents of the hal fway hou s e F l ike i nmates as they
are described in the l i terature on pr i s on s , s poke c learly
about the ways in which the code was enforced . As tradi -
tiona l ly reported ; and a s I ob served i n the c a s e o f the
hal fway hou s e , enforcement o f the code by i nmates or res idents
i s c losely related to the use o f social type s . That i s , the
code is genera l ly enforced by inmate s through the i r app l ica-
tion of a label or social type name to those i nmates who are
seen by members of the group as deviating from the code .
That i s not to s ay , of cour s e , that s ome i nmates might not
attempt to app ly degrad ing labe l s to others who were not
entitled to those labe l s .
I n the case of the hal fway hous e , the only deviant
type s or l ab e l s 'that I heard employed , at least with some
regularity , were those o f n k i s s a s s , " " sn i tch , " and " sn iveler . "
To be cal led a " k i s s a s s " meant that one was too c lose to
s ta f f . The title " sn i tch " was employed to de s ignate another
as an informer . " Sn ive ler 's was emp loyed to des ignate another
1 4 5
res ident as one who chronica l ly compla ined to s ta f f and
pleaded with staff for bette r treatment . Res idents s poke o f
k i s s ing a s s , snitching , and s n ive l ing a s c lear ly mor a l
matters which required the ir attention and intervention 0
S anctions that would be directed aga ins t the s nive ler
were minor when compared with the measures taken agains t the
snitch and k i s s a s s , The snive ler would be s poken o f a s a
" foo l " and " not l ike one o f us . " S anctions directed against
k i s s a s s e s and snitche s , however � were more potent but were
s poken of w i th less c larity and uni formi ty . At time s ;
r e s ident.s s aid that k i s s a s s e s wou ld be f ro z en out o f c ontact
with the o ther " guys ? /I and that immediate vio lence would be
done agains t snitc he s . At other time s res idents s poke of
the " fact " that such vio lations of the code would be remem
bered and dealt with later . That iS d the reprehen s ib le one
would , like a l l other re s idents , at some t ime return to the
" j oint" ( pr i s on ) . In the j oint h i s r eprehens ib le reputation
wou ld be spread and at that point he would not be trus ted
by the other cons and wou ld be suspected by the other cons
on each occas ion in wh ich they thought someone had snitched .
The Spe c i f��s o f the Code at Ha l fwa� House
The code was o f ten s poken o f by res idents a s conta ining
a set o f max ims . I t was not the case that a s pec i f i c re s i
dent could rec ite a l l o f the maxims � Never the les s , what
res idents s a id about the c ode c an be formu lated in that
fashion . As a set o f maxims ? the code in its spec i f i c s i s
1 4 6
as f o l lows :
1 . Above a l l e l s e do not s n i tch . - - I n forming was re
garded a s an act d irected not s imply against an individual
but against the whole col lection of devi ant-colleague s � To
sn i tch wou ld permanently j eopard i ze your s tand i ng with other
hype s ; res idents , and inmate s . Your reputation would be
spread throughout the whole deviant c ommun i ty , and you would
f ind that you cou ld no longer operate with other devi ants .
There was only one occas ion i n which I observed a res ident
be ing suspect o f be ing a snitch , and th i s was avai lable to
me only because the suspect r e s ident , that I w i l l ca l l P ab lo �
made it apparent to the s taf f . P ab lo c ame to h i s parole
agent and to ld him o f h i s anx iety about a parolee who was
about to move into the hal fway hous e . Years before , the
two men had used and sold drugs togethe r . Both were arrested
but charges were dropped against Pablo whi le the other man
was tried . The other man s a id he thought Pab lo had informed
on h im , though P ab lo c la imed he had not . Now Pab lo wanted
re lease from the ha l fway hous e because of what that man
might dO l or how the other r e s idents might treat h im i f the
other man ever ta lked about him . Except for th i s inc ident �
no cases o f r e s idents be ing identi f ied a s s ni tches were
observed by me .
2 . D o not <?,op out . -- (That i s , do not admit that you
have done s ome th ing i l lega l or i l legi timate ) . S omeone who
turned hims e l f in will ingly would be regarded a s s trange ,
1 4 7
not l ike us " dumb , and probab ly not trus twor thy , because to
" cop-out" was a form o f defecting to the other s ide . To
turn one s e l f in could be v iewed as a form of de fection be
cause it imp l ied agreement with the s tandard s that one had
violated . To turn one s e l f i n to a parole agent when one
was about to be caught anyway , or when one was " ti red o f
running " and l ikely to get caught b y the po l ic e , however ,
was not ta lked about a s " copping out . "
3 0 Do not take advantage of other r e s idents . - -Th i s had
its s pec i f i c s chief ly i n not s te a l ing f rom them . However ,
i f a r e s ident had s omething s tolen f rom h im , i t was h i s own
respons ib i l i ty to take care o f the th ie f . That i s , un l ike
the case o f the s n i tch , a r e s ident could not count on others
to s anction the th ie f . Re s idents were prohibited by the
code from appea l ing to s ta f f for a s s i s tance in locating the
s to len good s .
4 . Share wha t you have . - -A regular res ident wou ld be
re lative ly g enerous with other res idents in terms of h i s
money , h i s c l o the s ? and h i s wine . I f he used drugs at the
time " he shou ld o f fe r a " ta s te il to other s that were around
'when he " ge e ze d " ( in j ected drugs ) . He s hould share drugs
with his c lo s e s t friends and s e l l drugs to other s i f he h ad
more than he needed . He would share h i s " f i t " ( syringe and
s poon ) with other s , and " score " ( purchas e drug s ) for tho s e
who could not f ind a connect ion �
5 0 H e lp other res idents . - -Th i s was princ ipally directed
1 4 8
at helping them to avoid detec tion and puni s hment . I t in
c luded " s tand ing point" f or them (being a lookout for s ta f f
o r the pol ic e when the other w a s involved i n a comprom i s i ng
activity l ike being in the act o f i n j ecting drugs ) ; warni ng
them about s u spic ions that s ta f f had : te l l i ng staff that
they were ignorant about the ac tiv i ties of o ther res idents ,
s o a s not to help s ta f f i ndirectly i nve s tigate another 9UY 1 l
arguing with s ta f f on the beha l f o f another r e s ident � pro
vid ing cover s tories for o ther r e s idents ; helping another
r e s ident s neak into the house after curfew , e tc .
6 . Do not me s s w ith other re s idents ' intere s t s . --Do
not prevent others from en j oy ing the ir devi ance , do not
d i sapprove o f it f and do not in any way draw staff ' s atten
t ion to i t . That i s , do not " br ing the heat a b y engag i ng in
suspici,ous actions your s e l f or by ge tting into an unne ce s s ary
a ltercation with s taf f . For example 8 one could " br ing the
heat " by leaving evi dence of drug use around the house
which would lead s ta f f to suspect everybody .
7 . Do not t�us t __ �af f , s ta f f i s heat . --Th i s s imply
s ays that in the f inal ana ly s i s ? s ta f f c annot be trus ted be-
cause one of s ta f f ' s principal occupationa l duties is to
detect dev i ance . Anyth ing you might let them know about
your s e l f or othe r s may , in s ome present ly unknown f a sh ion ,
be used by them to s end you or s omeone e l s e back to the
lAlso i nc luded genera l ly under the rule , " don ' t snitch . "
1 4 9
j oint . S O y i f you have anything deviant going for you at
a l l , l ike having a common law wi fe l occas ional ly us ing
heroin , having user friends occas ional ly in your hous e , or
even us ing mari j uana , you are wel l advised to not let your
agent know your real res idence and to give your mother ' s
instead . I n this way you avoid letting your agent know
anyth ing that might lead to his discovering your deviant
doing s . This advice holds even i f you are on the best of
terms with h im �
8 . Show your loya ltx to the res idents . --Staff , in fact ,
i s " the enemy i II and your actions should show that you recog
n i z e this . Do not " ki s s ass , " do not do favors for s taf f ,
do not be f r iendly to s taf f , do not take thei r s ide in an
argument , and do not accept t he leg i timacy of the ir rule s �
Any of thes e can be understood a s a defection to thei r s ide ,
and make s you suspect of being the k i nd of guy that would
s n i tch . I t i s not that being friendly to s t a f f or complying
with s taf f � s regulations is intrins ica l ly i l legitimate , but
that thes e matte r s indicate what k ind of person you are , and
that you thereby may not be trus tworthy to protect res idents
and their interests . I f you make i t c l e ar in other lilays ( a s ,
for examp l e 1 in your private deal ings with other res idents )
that you indeed are on the res idents � s ide , thes e s ignatory
activities may then be unders tood in other ways by the
other res idents . They may be unders tood as your e fforts to
manipulate s t a f f in s ome concrete way (6 9 g . , you want them
1 5 0
to give you the best j ob s they have ) i or that you want to
make the kind of impress ion on your parole agent that w i l l
lead him away from suspec ting you when you d i splay these
equivoca l s igns .
The Code a s Explanation for Res ident
Behavior .
I f the rules enumerated above are trea ted as maxims of
conduct that res idents follow ahd enforce upon one another ,
then that set of rules provides a tradi tional soc iological
explanation for the regular patterns o f deviant behavior
tha t was reported in chapter three . In its spec i f ic s , the
rules account for the behavior in the fol lowing way :
I f res idents comply with the maxim « show your loyalties
to res idents , " then they would be mot ivated to avoid spend-
ing time with s taf f , avoid l ive ly conversation with staff g and
by the use of Spanish and other conversationa l device s � would
exc lude s ta f f from their conversations o The inj unc tion
against trusting s ta f f � not letting s ta f f k now about res i -
dents I doings as a way of protecting other res idents , and
even the inj unction against " sn i tching "2
are a l so partia l ly
ful f i l led in the avoidance behavior that I have labelled
2The re lationship of " doing d i stance " to " sn itching "
may require further explanation . Res idents expl ained to me that being a loof from s ta f f , which can be accomp l ished by " doing d i s ta nc e " ind icate s to others tha t you would not s n i tch . I f one did not s tay a loo f , then s pecial e ffort would be required to retain the tru s t of other res idents .
1 5 1
" doing d i s tance . "
Furthe r , res idents can show thei r loya lties by d i s
p laying a l ack o f enthu s iasm for what s ta f f proposes i n
group , by not paying attention in group , by verbal ly demean
ing the program in group � and by not s taying around after
group to t a lk with s ta f f about the program . Tha t i s , show
ing where one ' s loya lties are can be accomp l ished by d i s
play ing the behaviors I have c a l led n d i s interes t and d i s
respect . " S imi lar ly , by comp lying w i th no more than what
s ta f f demands and explic itly s anctions ( " pa s s ive comp l i ance lJ )
and by a ttempting to get s ta f f to do for you wha t they hope
you wi l l do for yourse l f ( " demands and requests " ) , you can
thereby a l s o show your loyal ties by doing as l i t tle a s
pos s ib le f or n the enemy " and taking h im for Wha tever you can
get 0
P atterns o f lying and general ly being a b ad informant
which left staff ignorant of wha t was actual ly happening at
the moment , ignorant of what a res ident would do , and
ignorant of whether he would do as he has promised i are
provided for in the maxims do not snitch ( thus do not let
staff know what you know about other res idents ) � do not cop
out ( thus do not let staff in on your own deviant doing s ) ,
do not tru s t s taf f ? help other inmate s , and do not mes s
around with other inmates � interests ( thus s ta f f does not
hear from res idents $ talk about anything res idents are doing ,
inc lud ing who i s friends with whom , who i s phys ica l ly in the
1 5 2
hous e , that drug s are be ing used (which i s d i f ferent from
s n i tching v which would be tha t Jone s i s u s ing drugs ) , and
o f ten tha t one re s ident even knows another .
Patterns o f viol ating rules and routine s are protec ted ,
supported , and encouraged by the c ode , though they are not
d i rectly pre s cr ibed . Tha t i s , there i s nothing i n the code
s ay ing " mi s s group , n " be late for cur few , iI " br ing wine into
the house , " or " u s e drugs . " However , any of the s e activitie s ,
and e spec i a l ly the use o f drug s , i s a relative ly c le ar s ign
o f where one ' s loyalties are . Re s idents somet imes s poke to
me o f tak i ng thos e drugs that were o f fered to them because
re fus ing f in that s i tuation , wou ld indi cate tha t they d i s
approved o f drug u s e or were taking t o heart s ta f f hopes
that they would not use drug s .
Thes e patterns were protec ted by max ims o f the code
which provided for ( a ) other res idents he l ping tho s e who
chose to vio late the li rules " and " rout ine s , " ( b ) by various
ways o f cover ing for them ? ( s tand i ng point , providing excus e s
and a l ib i s , s neak ing them into the hous e whe n the " night
watchman " ( SPA) was not looki ng , e tc . ) , and ( c ) by not
le tting s ta f f verba l ly know about the activitie s . Deviant
activities were fur ther supported by the set o f rul e s whi ch
s a id tha t r e s idents should let e ach other d o whatever deviant
( fr om s ta f f S s point of view ) th ing they chos e � and if they
wer'e to engage in deviant consumpt i on o f wine and drug s ,
that the s e should be shared with other s .
1 5 3
Thus , the code as I found i t a t halfway house would
exp l a in the observed patterns of deviance that I observed
there , for the code provides the motivations to engage in
thos e pattern s ; to pos it ive ly s anction thos e pattern s , and
to not interfere with those patterns even i f a res ident were
to f ind it in his interes t to do SO o As I have noted i thi s
form o f expl anation i s tradi tional i n the analys i s o f correc-
tional organ i zations � and has its direct analog in traditional
analyses of other forms of deviant behavior .
Th� Sociological Lite�ature on the
Convict C ode
The a s sertion that patterns o f deviant behavior are
traditional ly explained by re ference to a set o f rules l ike
the convict code should not be unders tood a s s aying that such
explanation s are the focus o f tradi tiona l research . I n
many areas o f sociologY i inc luding the analy s i s o f sub-
cul tures or contra-cultures in the prison setting , only the
earliest s tudies focus on explaining observed patterns of
behavior in terms of rules . Later s tud ies explore such
things as the functional r e la tionships between the rules or
normative culture detected in early s tudies and other e le -
ments of organi z ation . Therefore , in the research on the
prison r many s tudies report variations in normative order s
without indi cating any patterns of behavior that inmate
compl iance to such contr a-normative orders would produce
( e ! g ' i Caldwe l l ? 1 9 5 6 ; We inberg , 1 9 4 2 ; Galtung , 19 5 8 ) .
1 5 4
Other s tud i e s report that the code and the s oc i a l types that
revo lve around i t make inmate s ' behavior unders tandab le
( e . g . , Syke s and Mes s inger ; 1 9 6 0 ) q pred ictab l e ( e � g " S chragg ,
1 9 4 4 ) y and characteri z ab le a s repud iating inst itutional norms
( e . g ' r C loward , 1 9 6 0 ) I again without speci fy ing observed
patterns of behavior which would be produced by the rule s
under cons ideration . S ince thes e s tudi e s are embedded in
the l i terature on prison s , in the sense that they c i te the
ear l ier s tud i e s as precedent s , it i s probably reas onab le to
a s s ume that the ir authors a s s ume that readers have knowledge
of the behavior s associated with c omp l i ance with the code o
ContemEorar� I ntere s t , in the Convict Code
Mos t recent research is concerned with the pract i c a l
import o f the convict code a s an impediment t o rehab i l i ta=
tion and/or treatment � One s e t o f s tudies exp lores the
r e l ationship between type s o f pri s on admi n i s tration and the
extent to which the c ode i s e laborated and en forced ( e . g . §
McC leerY f 1 9 6 1 a t b i Grusky , 1 9 5 9 , S treet , 1 9 6 5 ; S treet ;
Vintner , and Perrow , 19 6 6 : Berk , 1 9 6 6 ; and Studt $ Mes s inger ,
and Wi l s on , 1 9 6 8 ) . In genera l q thi s set o f s tudies f inds
that the code is le s s operative and le s s e laborated under
pr i s on c ondi ti on s of a deve loped treatment program and a
cus tody arrangement o f minimum s ecur ity . Tha t i s , with
�I treatment !l and fl lO"'l secur i ty " one f inds more contact and
cooperation with s ta f f , more partic ipation i n s ta f f -deve loped
programs 1 inmate leaders tend ing to be " pro-sta f f " and
1 5 5
" pro-program , " and less hos tility directed toward s ta f f .
However , i t appears that prohib itions against informing are
s t i l l operative p even in the mos t open " treatment " organ i z a
tions ( Stree t � 1 9 6 5 ) a lthough what inmate s take as instance s
of informing may narrow i n its s cope ( S tudt f Mes s inger q and
Wi lson � 1 9 6 8, p . 2 2 2 ) .
Another set o f s tudies i s directed at detecting the
condi tions under whi ch varying degrees of comp l i ance with
the code are fostered (Wheeler , 1 9 6 1 : Tittle and T ittle g
1 9 6 4 , Garabedian ? 1 9 6 3 , Ward and Kas sbaum , 1 9 6 5 ) . Us ing
questionnai re or interview devices wh ich are intended to
measure attitudes which �tlou1d be assoc iated with comp l i ance
with the code ; thes e s tudies gener a l ly f ind that the h ighest
degree of c ommitment to the code is found at the middle of
an inma,.te � s s tay in prison . Thi s re lationship 1 re ferred
to as " the U� shaped curve , " does not appear in the one s tudy
of a 'women I s pri son which employs the same techn ique ( Ward
and Kassbaum , 1 9 6 5 ) . However , adherence to the code s eems
les s characteri s tic of a l l inmates o f women ' s pri sons , al
though women inmates do know the code and depict moral re la
tionships in terms of i t (Wa rd and Kassbaum , 1 9 6 5, pp . 3 0 - 5 5 ;
Giallombardo f 19 6 6 , pp . 1 0 5 - 1 3 1 ) .
F'or the interes ts of my research $ thes e s tudies document
the fact that the code e a lthough varied in the extent of i ts
elaboration and enforceab i l i ty � i s widely found 9 Another
set of studies ? to be reviewed below ? are cons iderab ly more
1 5 6
detai led in the ways the code i s used to analyze and a ccount
for inmate behavior .
Studies Which EmEloy the Code to Ana lyz e and
Account for I nmate Behavior =
In wha t i s genera l ly regarded a s the f irst ma j or c la s s i
c a l s tudy o f prisons , C lemmer , i n The Pr ison Communi ty ,
portrays the formal organization of the pr ison , the dai ly
round of l i f e in pris on , and the prison Il cu l ture 6 " H i s
principal thes i s i s tha t thi s prison culture � which i s par
tial ly ass imi lated by a l l prisoners and whol ly a s s imi lated
by twenty to forty percent , turns those convicted of crimes
into even more anti soc i a l persons . H i s analysi s o f the code
and its consequent behavior patterns i s spread throughout
the work .
C lemmer described a code s tr ikingly s imi lar to that
which was detected at the hal fway hous e . He counts i t a s
one o f the fundamental soc i a l controls among the inmate
population � It re',01ves around two propos i tions � II Don � t
he lp the o f f ic i a l s g " and uDo help your f e l low inmate s . "
Thus ? Clemme r i s prisoni z ed inmate would not snitch , would
regard o f f i c i a l s a s his enemy ? and would show thi s by , for
example 1 not talking to them except about II bus ine s s , u and
would a s s i s t his fel low inmates by helping them avoid de-
tection in their devianc e � He proposes that the code
" • 0 • does control conduct in many instances and tends
to control i t in other instanc e s " ( C lemmer , 1 9 4 0 , p . 1 4 0 ) .
1 5 7
Throughout the rest of the volume ! inters persed in h i s
d i s cu s s ion o f ru les f patterns o f lei sure , patte rns o f work�
and s exl.la l pat'terns t he c i tes a variety of examp les o f
complying with the c ode . He rec ite s inc idents in whi ch an
inmate would not inform on two other inmate s that s to l e his
cat ( p . 1 5 8 ) ! and another who would not inform on an inmate
who kni fed him ( p . 16 4 ) f as instanc e s of complying with the
code . He c i te s s te a l ing food from the institution (p . 1 6 0 )
and shar ing that s to l en f ood with inma te s who have jus t
gotten o f f b read and water ( p o 1 6 4 ) a s f ur ther instances .
In a var iety o f contexts, he shows patterns of hos t i l ity
exhibited toward the guard s , whi ch are produced by inmate s
comp ly ing w i th the code ? though C lemmer doe s not emp loy the
language o f " produc tion through compl iance � " He says " In
the nature o f dogma i s the fairly prevalent atti tude o f hate
and d i s trus t for a l l o f f ic i a l s . The phenomena i s tied up ,
of cour s e ? with the pri soner ' s code n ( p o 1 7 2 , my emphas i s ) .
Curs ing the guards and denounc ing them are de s c r ibed a s
nec e s sary f o r the inma te who wishes t o retain the re spect o f
h i s fel lows . Being inso lent to the guards and threatening
them i s depicted as giving the inmate pre s t ige among h i s
fellows ( pp . 19 6 r 30 4 ) . C lemmer notes a fur ther ins tance
of inmate oppo s i tion in whi ch inmates watching a baseba l l
game o n the pri. son grounds rooted for the vis iting team
because the pri son o f f i c i a l s rooted f or the l oc a l inmate team
( p . 2 1 2 ) . Other patterns o f behav ior and atti tude a s s oc i ated
1 5 8
with comp l i ance with the code inc lude not respecting prison
rules ( p . 1 9 5 ) f ta lking about criminal exploits , s te a l ing
f rom the pri son , gamb l ing r and engaging in homos exual be
havior ( p . 3 0 4 ) 0 Though C lemmer ' s ana lysis o f the code is
scattered throughout this work , i t is the case that he
ana lyzes patterns o f deviant behavior as the outcome of what
he calls " prisonization , " which i s principa l ly soc i a l i za
tion to the convict code .
Historically , the next ma j or piece o f prison research
was Sykes ' The Society o! �aptive s . Syke s ' s trategy i s to
account for the inmate soc i a l system whi ch he proposes
deve loped a s a protective device to insulate the inmate from
the pains o f imprisonment @ Thes e pains are analyzed a s an
attack on the inmates 1 self-conception � The inmate soc i a l
system -protects the sel f-conception b y providing a soci a l
wor ld i n whi ch the inmate c a n have s tatus and in which the
inmate c an b e l ieve that i t i s his c aptors who are the immoral
and incompetent ones , rather than himse l f @ Syke s ! analy s i s
o f the code i s embedded in thi s the s i s , and h i s presentation
o f the code i s embedded in a system of soc i a l types which
revolve about the code � each soc i a l type repres enting a
pattern of compliance or deviance from the code .
In Syk e s I description � the s ta f f of the maximum security
he s tudied was ,. . • • engaged in a continuous s truggle to
maintain order" ( Syke s ; 1 9 5 8 , p . 4 2 ) . He l i s ts f i f teen
rule violations which were reported dur ing one week ,
1 5 9
ind icating that both inmates and o f f ic i a l s agreed tha t
actual rates of of fenses were much higher . Sykes argues
that inmates vio late rules because they lack a sense o f duty
to comply w i th them ( p � 4 7 ) . They l ack thi s sense o f duty
because of the nature of the inmate soc ial world ( p . 6 2 ) f
and that patterns o f inmate behavior which are in c lear
violation of institutional regu la tions , such a s coercion
of f e l low pris oner s p f raud , gambling , homosexual i ty , sharing
of s tolen supp l ie s , and so on g are unders tandable only by
reference to thi s inmate soc ial wor ld . That s oc i a l wor ld
i s characte r i zed in terms of a set o f argot roles ( pp . 8 4 -
1 0 8 ) which s imultaneous ly dea l with the ma j or problems o f
prison l i fe , and are the devices for indicating inmate
admiration and d is approval of the behavior of their fel low
inmate s ·. Thus f each type represents the moral s tanding o f
the inmate t o which i t i s app l ied . The word " rat" i s app lied
to inmates who have betrayed thei r f e llows by vio lating the
rule " don f t snitch . " The " center man " would correspond to
the k i s s - a s s in the hal fway house ? for he is d i s loyal to h i s
f e llow inmates b y displaying the attitudes o f the custod i ans ;
frequently not because he agrees w i th them , but in order to
manipulate them . The �i gori l l a n exp loi ts his f e llow inmates
by use or threat of violence whi le the " merchant " exploits
them by inappropriately s e l l ing goods s tolen from the prison
to other s whi ch , in terms of the code r he should freely
share . Both a re despised for thei r violation o f the ideals
1 6 0
of inmate solidar i ty . Inmates who react with violence to�
ward the o f f icials are referred to a s flball busters , " whi le
those who are quick to f ight with their fellow inmates are
c a l led n toughs . /I Though inmates are amb ivalent toward both
types , they have more respect for the " tough t " because the
IIb a l l buster " brings the " heae' (more survei l lance and
s tricter enforcement of the rule s ) down on the whole inmate
population 0 He violates the max im ? i' don � t cause unneces s ary
troub le . " The one type that inmates unequivocal ly admire i s
the " real man g 0' who exemp l i f ie s comp liance with the convict
code . He is able to " take i t . " He has s trength . He
exemp l i f i e s " masculine mannerisms and inward s tamina i l ( p .
1 0 1 ) and · confronts h i s captors with ne ither subservience
nor aggress ionll ( p . 10 2 ) . Sykes proposes tha t by responding
to one , another as u real men " ( complying with the code ) 1 in
mates reduce the pains of imprisonment and can achieve a
sense of s e lf-respec t . They would thereby have n o sense o f
duty toward the insti tutional rules and would thereby pro
duce the patterns o f deviant behavior he previous ly depicted 6
However , in another account o f the s ame research in which
Sykes contrasts u re a l men � " Iimerchants l Si and n t.oughs t " he
f inds that whi le a l l three types commit violati on s o f prison
rules ! toughs do so a t a higher rate than do men and
merchants ( Sykes , 1 9 5 6 ) 9
In a ,more recent s tudy ? Garabedian ( 1 9 6 4 ) follows Sykes 8
lead by treating the code in terms of the soc i a l types that
1 6 1
revo lve around i t . Us ing attitudinal i tems on an anonymous
ques tionnaire submitted to a sample o f 3 4 5 inmates of a
maximum s ecur ity pri son � Garabedi an was able to detect the
soc i a l types of " square Johns , " " po l i ti cians , " " right guys , "
and " outlaws . 1I With h i s i tems ; " r ight guy s " would be those
who compl ied with the ideals of inmate s o l idarity and oppo s i
tion t o s ta f f , whi le the " outlaws " f e l t antagoni sm t o both
s ta f f and i nmate s . npoliti cians " were advocates of manipula
ting anyone , and " square Johns " upheld traditional legitimate
value s . Within thi s mode o f c la s s i fying inmate attitude s ,
" right guys tl would be mos t comp l i ant with the code , then
" outlaws '" for thei r oppos ition to the s ta f f , then " politi
c i ans " for the ir w i l l ingnes s to manipulate s taf f , and
" square Johns " least comp l i ant . Garabedian reports a series
o f behavior s assoc iated with the types that are s imilar to
the patterns of deviant behavior detected at hal fway hous e .
He f inds that extent o f participation in s ta f f-sponsored
programs , amount of contac t w i th s ta f f , knowledge of the
therapeutic program of the institution , and numbers of rule
violations committed a l l vary with social type @ S imi lar to
Syke s ' f indings � in the case o f each o f the s e pat�erns o f
" deviant b ehavior I �I the order of compliance t o s ta f f I s regu
lations and " hope s " was " square Johns , � "po l i t ic ians , "
" r ight guys , " and " outlaws , " ind icating that lack o f parti
c ipation in s ta f f programs , not having c on tac ts with s ta f f ,
not having knowledge o f the therapeutic programs , and
1 6 2
committing rule violations were a l l assoc iated with c om-
pliance to the code .
Irwin and Cressy ( 1 9 6 2 ) argue that much of what has
been described as the i nmate culture is actua l ly the culture
of the thi e f and that much of the convict code is actually
the normat ive order of free cr iminals s3
Inc idental to this
argument they provide for some add itional patterns o f de-
viant behavior resulting from fol lowing the convict code �
They describe both the adherent o f the thie f cu l ture ( closest
to the right guy in the analys i s of others ) and the adherent
of the convict culture ( one who has become s oc i a l i zed to a
code l ike that of the thi e f culture but oriente d to the
prison rather than the s treets ) as thieving from the insti�
tut ion ? obtaining the easi e s t j obs , and occa s ional ly agitating
against the staf f . But , in the ir analys i s , the real thi e f
does so because h e regards being in prison a s part o f the
ordinary r i sks of his occupation , and whi le he is there wants
to retain the respect o f h i s fe l low thieves and do t ime as
e a s i ly as he can . On the other hand , the adherent o f the
convict culture also seeks " i l legitimate rewards , " not
s imply because he wants an eas ier l i fe , but also for the
status the d isplay of those rewards may bring h im . Associated
with him � but not the thie f , are v i s ible patterns of gamb ling ,
homosexual i ty I and organ i z ed steal ing from the prison for
3Thi s argument , which i s not particularly relevant to
my own rese arch interests , has been d isputed in the j ournals ( RoebucK. 1 1 9 6 3 ) .
1 6 3
sale to other pri s oners .
A further example o f behaviors associated with the code
as the code i s outcome w but not shown by I rwin and Cres sy , i s
the open d isplay of hos t i l i ty toward s ta f f which o ften occurs
when inmate s attend group therapy .
Ohlin proposes that the act o f going to therapy i s
viewed b y nonparticipating i nmates a s violating those tenets
of the code which prohibi t contact with s ta f f � In turn f
those inmate s put pressure on the inmate who goes to therapy
II • to rea f firm his continued a l legiance and iden t i f i ca
t ion with the inmate va lue system o The participating inmate
can handle this kind of pres sure for a t ime by d i splay ing
conspicuous acts of aggress ion aga i n s t authori ties both with
in and outs ide the therapy group " ( Ohlin , 1 9 5 6 , p . 3 6 ) .
It appears f however , that this i s not an easy solution �
More typical i s avoidance o f therapy in the f i r s t place .
Usi ng an attitudina l device on a questionnai re to detect
sentiments support ive o f the code , T i ttle and T ittle ( 19 6 4 )
f ind that those who mos t s trong ly support the code least
frequently appear at group therapy s e s s ions , and that when
they do partic ipate , their involvement i s superfic i a l �
Other abbreviated accounts of behavior analyzable a s
produced through conformity t o the code i s ava i lable f but
it only repeats the f indings which have been c i ted (Cre s sy and
Krasowski ? 1 9 5 9 , Scragg , 19 5 4 ; Cloward , 1 9 6 0 1 Johnson , 1 9 6 1 ;
Haynor and Asch , 1 9 3 9 ; Haynor and Asch , 1 9 4 0 ; Haynor , 1 9 4 3 ;
1 6 4
Wi lmer , 1 9 6 5 ) .
Summary and Imp lications
E s s en t i a l ly the s ame code has been found in a var iety
o f s ettings and has been uti l i z ed by sociologi s ts to account
for a var iety of deviant behavior : violation o f institu
t ional rule s ; refu s a l to g ive information to o f ficers i
hos t i l e ge s ture s and talk towards o f f icers ; threats against
o f f icers ; g amb l ing ; s te a ling f rom the institution ; sharing
s tolen good s ; engaging in homo sexua l i ty ; avoidance o f contact
with s taf f ; and avo idance of participation in group therapy
programs . The s e behaviors are ana lyzed a s produced by com
p l i ance to the convict code in that they are pos itive ly pro
scr ibed by the code , or s upported by the code in the s en s e
that other inma te s a r e prohibited f rom inte r f e r ing or d i s
approving o f the activity b y maxims o f the code , or they are
encouraged by the code s i nce one s hows his comp l iance with
the code and loya lty to its under lying values by engaging
in the deviant behavior . As sha l l be shown , thi s u s e o f the
code para l l e l s i t s u s e s by s ta f f in the very s etting in which
the code i s detecte d .
Although many o f the s tudi e s c ited are vague a s to the i r
method s , i t i s relative ly c lear that the maxims o f the code
were obta ined by interrogating inmates o In s ome c a s e s
( Schragg � C lemme r ! Wi lmer , McKor c l e and Korn) the i nves t i
gator w a s a member o f the s ta f f dur ing h i s s tudy ; in o ther
c a s e s (McC leery , Hayner and Asch , Gial lombardo ) the
1 6 5
investigator reports that continuous and special e ffort was
taken to avoid identi f ic ation as s ta f f or that the investi
gator was a l l ied with s ta f f . In e i ther case , the product
appears remarkab ly the s ame . I n a l l cases where methods
are mentioned , the code was derived from inmate accounts
that were g iven to the i nves tigator . Thi s was the case
whe ther the accounts were e s s ays men wrote for C lemmer ,
s eminars held for McC leery , the long accounts o f inmate
l ives and sentiments given to S chragg , or the s ingle and
group interview and ques tionnaire s e s s ions held by Wheeler �
I n brie f , i n every case the data o f thes e s tudies i s inmate
produced accounts .
Inasmuch a s the s e data are inmate-produced accounts a
l ike mos t o f the data of sociology they are v i s ib l e phenomena
in the way they occur a s interaction a l events between an
inves t igator and h i s sub j ects . Jus t what kind o f i nter
actional events they are is the topi c of the next two . chap
t e r s e In a manner a k i n to Burke ' s ( 1 9 3 6 ) and :'11 1 1 s ' ( 1 9 4 0 )
urging th at mot ive s be c o n s idered a s l anguage events whe reby
s o c i e ta l memb e r s interpret the i r co l le ague s ' a c t i ons and
whereby t h e y announce the me an ing of the i r own a c t i o n s for
othe r s f and ak in to Garf i n k e l and S a c k s ( 1 9 6 9 1 pp " 1 7 - 1 8 ) more
genera l f o rmu l a t ion ; one c o u l d e x amine the conv i c t code a s
s ometh ing l ike a l anguage event tha t i nmat e s o r r e s idents em
p l oy to " interpr e t " the i r conduct . Such an a n a l y s i s wou l d s eem
rather un intere s t ing and redundant i f it were the c a s e tha t in
ve s t igator s knew nothing o f i nma te s i conduct except wha t they
1 6 6
learned in interview s i tuations in which case one would be
analyz ing the tel l ing o f the code a s the creation of a
reality by i nmates for inves t igators � However , the code ?
in fact I was encountered by me ( and , i t appears f by other
investigators as wel l ) in the very s etting that it was being
used to " te l l about . " That i s , the activity of " te l ling
the code " was informing the i nves t igator about actions in
the s ame s etting in which the act of " te l l ing the code " was
itse l f a part and included in the actions be ing described .
Such properties of accounts have been cal led " re fl exive " by
Gar f inkel ( 19 6 7 ) and w i l l be matters of c lose a ttention in
the fol lowing chapters .
I f " te l l ing the code " were s omething tha t happened only
between soc iolog i s ts and the i r sub j ects then one might
wonder why one should be so concerned for the ways in which
the observable properties or the " re a l " properties o f a
s etting were being a ccompli shed for a sociolog is t . However �
a s I w i l l sketch in deta i l later , the code was being told
to the staff of the hal fway house as wel l , and figured a s
impo rtant k inds of interaction that s ta f f had with inmates .
Moreover � s ta f f ? l ike sociologists , employed the code to
explain the actions of inmates which suggests tha t the causal
ana ly s i s o f actions by re ference to rules might effect ively
be examined as interactional events .
16 7
CHAPTER F IVE
THE RESEARCHER � S EXPERIENCE WITH !.l,.ND OF THE CODE
I n t roduction to an E thnom�thod o l o2i c a l
Ana lys i s o f the C onvi ct Code
In th i s chapter and in the one to fol l ow I sha l l explore
the ways i n wh ich the ac tivity of te l l in g the code in a
behavioral environment accomp l i shed or created and s u s tained
a particu l a r k ind of s o c i a l r e a l i ty for those who witne s s ed
the s cene . I hope to s how that " te l l in g the code " in an
e nvi ronmen t of other behaviors gave w i tne s s e s a s chema where-
by the 'environment appeared to have its s e n s ible , f actua l ?
and s tab l e propertie s . That i s , hear ing the code and em-
ploying it a s a " gu ide to perception " g ave behaviors o f
r e s idents a s pe c i f ;i.c and s table s en s e . The c ode vla s inter-
a c t i onal ly employed betwee n " inve s t igator " and " sub j ec t s "
to de tec t f s how , and c lari fy the repe t i t ive s e n s e o f a c ti on ;
the nece s s ar y , " no choice about i t , " i . e . , f a c tu a l in
Durkhe im ! s s e n s e of con s t ra in ing � character of action � and
the caus a l l y meaningful or mot ivated characters of re s idents !
act.ion s . The deta i l s o f how thi s H interpre t ive " work was
being done as a s i tuation a l ly contiqgen·t accomp l i shment (or ,
even better y conti nuou s ly accomp l i s h ing ) , i s the topic o f
1 6 8
this chapter.
The next chapter explores the various ways the code
was conversationally employed between residents and staff
and between members of the staff to analyze ? to interpret,
to argue and persuade, to just ify , and to foretell resident
action . That is , the chapter will explore the folk sociol
ogica l usage of the convict code.
In the " telling of the code" as an interactional or
conversati onal event as the focus of interest , I find it
use ful to report the details of these events in a biographi
cal manner and will begin " at the beginning" of my experience
at the hal fway house. After a series of experiences with
" telling the code" has been reported , the character of the
code as an interactional object will be analyzed �
The Data
Initial Halfway House Experience
My first contact with the project came about because I
was looking for some kind of research position on a project
dealing with devi ance . I had heard through colleagues that
the Department of Corrections might have something so I
called them. I was invi ted to their research offices in
downtown Los Angeles and told that they had a position open .
My co lleague� to-be , Mr . Don Miller , said that his section of
the Research Division had been charged with studying the
halfway house in East Los Angeles . They had already made
1 6 9
outcome studies and therefore knew that a stay at the ha lf
way house did not improve a parolee- addict i s chances of
abstaining from drug use . However , they did not know why
this was the case. Mil ler and his superiors thought that an
exploratory study of the structure of the orgartiz ation and
the pattern of the lives of the residents might shed light
on why the pl ace was not "working. a The job promised con
siderab le freedom ; and though I knew nothing about correc
tional establishments it appeared quite appea ling to me , so
I arranged to take the job .
I want to stress that I knew nothing about correctional
estab l ishments ; that I had read none of the literature in
the area ; and at that point decided with other researchers
in the Department of Corrections research office (Mi l ler and
Al Himmelson ) that it would be desirable s at least at first ?
for me to remain ignorant in that regard. We felt that my
ignorance was desirable because � equipped with the l iterature ,
my observations might be pushed in the direction of what had
been found in other places . However . we did have brief
discussions of the possibility of the existence of some kind
of oppositional sub-culture in the halfway house ? and that
was one of the things ! might look for.
Miller r who had already spent one day a week at the
halfway house for six months or S O � took me there and in
troduced me to the staff and a couple of the residents he
had come to know . I was given an office in the upstairs of
1 7 0
the building in an area where none of the sta f f had the ir
o f f ices . I had planned to try to avoid identification as
a s ta f f member , observe what I could o f the organi zation by
being around it in as many places as I could , and to become
friends with res idents so a s to s pend t ime with them in
order to see what it was that they were doing and saying .
To a s s ist in doing thi s ? I wore c a sual c lothe s ? i . e . � a
sport shirt and cotton s lack s , whi le the staff wore coat and
-tie , and intended to not locate mys e l f next to sta f f while
in the pres ence of the res idents �
First Encounters With the Code
My f ir s t contact with the res idents was provided by
Mil ler who introduced me to a res ident he had become friend ly
with . He told the resident , whom I w i l l c a l l Sanche z r that
I was going to study what was going on at the hal fway house ,
San chez s a id that he would l ike to help so the next time I
was at the hal fway house I a s ked him to come to my of fice
to te l l me about the place . After he had sketched out the
program for me , and the d i f f i cu l ty in f inding j ob s for ex
convicts � r start.ed ask ing him about how the res idents got
along with one another ; particularly , were there things
that guys should do and should not do � He s a id that guys
should not snitch ( inform on each other ) g or s teal f rom one
another . I asked i f there was anything e l se , and he replied
that yes v there was more to the code , than that 0 When I
first heard that � I wondered i f he had had so much contact
1 7 1
with researchers that they had taught h im to s peak about
moral expe ctoations as forming a code � although later ex
perience with other informants who said e s sentia l ly the
same thing l ed me to think that that was not the case o In
any case , I was s truck with the extent to which thos e ex
pectations were verbally formali zed .
I tried to get my informant to te l l me more . Were
there part s of the code that had to do , for example d with
the use o f drugs in the house . I said that I had heard
that there was a lot of it o What had seemed up to that
point to be a conversation that was f i l led with " good rapport"
and teaching me much $ suddenly was destroyed . For a moment
he said nothing . Then he told me that I could not ask that ,
at least not now . He then told me that for me to do research
in the ha l fway house ""lOuld require my making it c lear that
I was on the s ide of the res ident s . That I should pub l ic ly
argue with the staff about the ir treatment of the res idents ,
that I should not s pe nd time with the sta f f � and that I
should take guys out for beer and the l ike � Then ? perhaps ,
a fter several week s , I might f ind out someth ing p although
he was not sure that I could � even then . He then said he
had to go set up the tables for dinner g °and the conversation
that had l as ted for around an hour ended �
Fol low ing his advice I in part � I then began my aottempts
at observing l i fe at the halfway house . I went to the
meetings the res idents went to § s itting a s they sat , and
1 7 2
s aying nothing . I went to lunch and d inner w i th them . I
stayed w i th them when they washed the d i she s and did other
work around the hous e p sat on the f ront porch with them ,
and talked w i th them in the front room . �1hen i t seemed
appropriate , I a s ked them to j o in me for a beer outs ide the
house , though th i s was not a common occurrence . An ex
r e s ident had been h i red unde r a war-en-pove rty program to
work at hal fway hou s e . He moved into the o f f i c e ad j acent
to mine and we began a cour s e o f c onve r s a t ion . Though he
was par t l y a st a f f member i he mainta i ned h i s f r iend ships
w i th the re s ident s . Wheneve r I could not f ind other s to
talk to ; I s pent t ime with h im , wh i ch was f i ne with h im
becaus e there was l it t l e for him to do in the program .
Except for my conve rs a t ions w i th C andy ? the war-on
pove rty a ide , my contact with the r e s idents went halt i ng l y
at be s t . The very routine s o f the h a l fway hous e made contact
di f f i cu l t . The res idents were rare ly there when they d id
not have to be . T h i s meant that during the day ? only thos e
that were doing work at the hou s e t o work o f f board and room
we re typ i c a l ly there � They would come in f o r d inner l some
t imes lunch ? and meet i ng s ; and then l eave until cur f ew . I
could never count on s ee ing a part icular r e s ident , s ince one
I had a l r e ady t a lked to mos t l ikely woul d not be a round again
except at the t ime s I have ment ioned .
Neve r thele s s ? some hal t i ng � s ome e xtens ive conve r s at ions
were held : e spec ia l l y wi th re s idents who we re working around
1 7 3
the house f and sometime s with others immediately before
dinner and after meetings . When the s e conversations did
occur , I found them very ready to tell me something of their
history , their complaints about parole ? the halfway house "
the police , the difficulty in finding good jobs , what it
was like in prison ; but exceedingly little about life in
halfway hou s e aside from relations with staff, and practically
nothing at all about relation s between re sidents and what the
particular re sident was doing be side s working or looking for
work .
In my attempt to learn about thes e later matters I
freq�ently e ncountered what I experienced as a kind of " eva
sion " which is illustrated in the following episode from my
field note s . In this case , as in others , I experienced
" evasiqn " from re sidents with whom I had e s tablished some
kind of relationship by spending several hours with them
over a serie s of encounter s . In thi s case, I asked him
" Carolos , have you seen guys get angry at one another? " To
which he replied , " No , we are j ust one big happy family here . "
I asked " II Never? " He said i " We l l ! sometime s guys get angry
about little things t like I loaned my jacket to a guy and he
got busted so I lost the jacket , but what are you go ing to
do about it � We do not get angry enough to fight or anything Q
I gotta go see my agent now" and he walked off @
Residents were more willing to talk about moral rela
tionships between " hype s" ( he roin users ) in abstract and
1 7 4
h i s tor ica l ly reconstructed terms . For examp l e , s ever a l
r e s ident s , i n recoun t ing the i r e a r l y l i fe § told m e that they
had been brought up to bel ieve that snitch ing was wrong " I n
l e arn ing about narcot i c s t h e y knew that there was a r i s k that
they might get caught f and that anyone who was not prepared
to go to pr i son if h e got c aught s hou l d not u s e drugs in the
f ir s t p l a c e . Such a per son c le a r l y mus t not s n i tc h on others
to avo id pun i s hmen t . Th at k ind o f t a l k was e a s y to obta i n
f rom r e s ident s . I t s ome t ime s was a ccompan ied by the announce
ment tha t what was be ing t a lked about wa s the code i t s e l f .
Re f e rence s to the code a l s o carne up i nd ir e c t l y i n con
ver s ations that were taking cour s e s I wa s not l eading . For
e x amp le � one morn ing I c ame into the ha l fway hous e through
the back d oo r ? a s was my usua l prac ti c e . I n the d i n i ng room
I encotlnt;.e r ed a r e s ident tha t I had talked with before who
was pol i s h ing the f loor with an e le c tr i c buf f e r . I s a i d
" H i Jake , you gonna b e worki ng h e re a l l d ay ? � He answere d ,
"No , I ' m gonna go out l ook ing for work a f t�r I f i n i sh doing
the f loor . " I r ep l i ed , " Oh , what k inda work d o you usua l l y
do ? · , t o whi c h h e an swered " We l l , I u s ta s e l l c l othe s . " I n
mumb l e s h e then recounted the way that h e u s ed t o s e l l
c lothe s o Al though I could onl y h e a r part o f what he s a i d
over the n o i s e of the pol i sher a n d through h i s ghetto accent ,
h e gave me s ome o f the deta i l s o f h i s s e l l i ng e xpens ive
and \>lhat I g a thered we re sto len c l othe s . Then v without my
add ing comment , h e comp l ained that l a s t t ime h e was here
1 7 5
$ 3 0 0 worth o f c lothe s had been s to le n f rom h im a f te r he had
been arre s ted for d ru g u s e . I s a id that I had heard that
f rom other guys a s wel l . He then s a i d , " Ye a h , we s omet ime s
get a lower c la s s o f guys i n here ; i t used to b e d i f fe r en t �
Some of the s e guys are d i shon es t and have no mora l s , you know .
They bring i n s t u f f to u se i n here and that g e t s u s a l l i n
troub l e . I f they had any s e n s e or any mor a l s they wou ld
use s t u f f s omewhere e l s e � not here .
1 f h 1 1 1 1 c a s s 0 g uy s e r e ? a regu a r s .
They u s e d to be a h i gher
They wou ldn ' t b r i ng the
heat on a l l the re s t of u s and when a guy d idn i t have any
money for t h e weekend g everyone would g ive him a buck o r two
s o he cou l d have a weekend . " He then returned to h i s pol i sh-
ing .
I n ways l ike th i s � r e s idents of f e re d me mor a l char-
acte r i z ations which made r e f e r e nc e s t o the cod e . The i r
c omp l a i n t s about t h e program a l s o conta i ne d s im i l ar mor a l
characte r i z a t ions wh i ch made r e f e rence t o t h e code . On a
numb e r o f o c c a s ions r e s idents comp la ined to me about the
group the rapy they experienced at the narco t i c s treatmen t
center and unde r the o l d h a l fway hou s e program . They s aid
that such programs were b a s ed on H sn i tch i ng p s n ive l l ing � and
copping o ut � " That i s � that to engage fu l ly in group therapy
meant tha t you had to t a l k about what other guys were d o i ng
and to ta lk about your own pr ivat e l i f e ? whi c h was c e r t a i n to
I The t e rm H re gu l a r " i s a tradi tional convict name i n
C a l i forn i a f o r an adherent o f the code .
1 7 6
inc lude devi ant epi sode s . They told me that trying to get
another man to talk about his l i fe was j ust l ike snitching ,
because you were getting h im to cop out h imse l f . They made
reference to guys who l ike to " score point s " with s ta f f , and
that was the principal motivation for getting guys to talk
about thems e lve s , L e . ! a " good grouper " was l ik ely to be
a " ki s s- a s s . �·
Through bits and pieces of moral characte r i zation l ike
those above the code could be assembled out o f my note s .
But there were three other k inds of observations that l ed
me to a s trong belief in the code .
I have already a lluded to the d i f ficulty I had in getting
the res idents to talk with me . I began to see that the
d i ff i culty I was experiencing was produced by the s ame
phenomenon that I was trying to inve stigate . I c ame to see
that my exper ience f not being able to j oin conversations
ove r the d inner table f l though conversation was go ing on
a l l around me , was being p �duced by the code that I was
trying to explicate . When I was having conversations with a
re s ident and other res idents passed by and mentioned something
in Span ish to him , which was fol lowed by the conversation
coming to a quick halt ? I c ame to understand that thi s too
was a s anct ioning of the code �
The Code a s Res idents ! Advice to the Researcher
In 'the third to fourth week o f the s tudy my unders tanding
of the code as applying to me was strengthened by some
1 7 7
res idents who explic itly pointed out the re levance of the
code for their deal ings with me . The point I wish to em
pha s ize i s that re s ident recitations of the code or some
element o f i t was be ing done in such a way that they were
not s imply describ ing a set of rul e s to me but were a lso
s imultaneous l y s anction ing my conduct by such a recitation .
I experienced the ir " te l l ing the code " a s an a ttempt to con
strain my conduct by te l l ing what I could and could not
appropri ate ly do . In particular , they were often engaged in
persuading me that some ques tions I might ask and some ques
tions I did ask were " out o f orde r " and that the re were some
areas of r e s ident " unde r l i fe " that I could not and s hould
not attempt to explore . To show thi s in more deta i l some
concrete exrunples w i l l be c i ted .
I � my f i fth or s ixth week around the hous e 1 I encountered
a younger res ident , that I wi l l c a l l Arnalda , in the hal l ?
who asked me i f I knew o f any j obs that were ava i lable . We
",ere walking down the hall toward h i s dormitory and booth of
u s walked into it when I s aid " NO , I d idn ' t know of any . n
Then he began to recount for me the pre s sure staff was put'clog
on h im because he was not yet employed . We ta lked about the
ways sta f f was suspic ious of h im because he had not yet
found work p and what his social l ife was l ike without any
money � The house manager c ame past and asked us to help
un load a truck o f toys for the annua l Christmas party .
Dur ing t.hat t.ime Arnaldo told me about " ki s s asses " who
17 8
vo lunteered to do f avor s for s ta f f � (which un load ing the
truck was not s ince he wa s more o r l e s s ordered to d o i t ) and
what " regular s " wer e . After f i n i s h ing the unload ing I a sked
h im i f he wou l d l ike a beer , and he s a id " sure , i f you 1 re
buying . " \iVe cont inued our talk abou t H regulars l s n i tching ?
and k i s s a s s e s ; " and about getting s topped by the pol ic e
b e c a u s e o n e l ive s a t h a l fway hous e , wh i l e we wa lked to a
ne arby tave rn , wh ich reputed ly c atered to add ic t s . Though
our c onve r sa t i on had been l o ng and f r iendly , when I s tarted
to ask h im about the c l i en te l e o f the bar and the fact that
I had heard that there were l o t s o f guys " ho l d i ng " ( po s s e s s ing
d ru g s ) there . Arnaldo s a id , " I don � t know , but you ' d be the
l a s t one 1 8 d te l l i f I d id . " I wa s taken back by this
remark g f o r our t a l k during the pa s t two hou r s had led me
to th i�k that I could a s k such a que s tion . I d id not know
\<Ilh a t to s ay and d i d not pre s s the ma t te r further � such as
a s k ing him why I woul d be the l a s t one he wou ld te l l . " Th e
r e a s on " s e emed immediately obvious s ince w e h a d b e en talking
about the c o de . He changed the topi c to " Had I read a lot
o f books about addi ct s ? and what did I think about vJh a t they
had to s ay about add i c t s hav i n g s ome k ind of emot i ona l d i s �
turbance \rlh ich led them t o u s e drug s " ? A t about that point
another r e s ident , that I w i l l c a l l Migue l , popped h i s head
in the door but d id not come i n . When I had exp l ai ned that
I doubted that add ic t s were any more d i s turbed than anybody
e l s e . Migue l $ who had been at the door , c ame back and came
1 7 9
in . I said he l lo to him and Arnaldo said he had to get back
to the hous e to set up for dinner � leaving me with Migue l ,
who sat down at the bar next to me .
I said that r had seen him j ust a moment ag0 6 to whi ch
he replied he had seen me , decided that he d id not want to
be " grouped " by me , and s tarted to leave but had seen the
U fu z z " patro l l ing the block outs ide and dec ided to come back ,
even i f that meant talk ing to me � I had ta lked to Migue l
s everal t ime s in the house prior to thi s . I s a id , "What do
you mean 1 be ! grouped I by me Ii ? He sa id that when he �vas in
the hous e and talking to me that other guys woul d come past
and s ay to h im in Span i sh " Hey man t cut loose o f that guy
or he ' l l group you " which meant talk to you about what i s
your bus i ne s s and none o f his . At about this point a girl
he kne� c ame up and s tarted talk ing to him , and though he
introduced me to her , when he turned to ta l k to her I was
not part o f their conve r s ation . A res ident that was a
Parolee-at-Large wa lked in # s potted me , and left . I s a id
to my " in forman t n Migue l that I was sorry that I could not
c onvince them that I wou l d not let the staff know that I
had seen them ? to wh ich he repl ied? !I do you think they would
be l ieve you " ? as if to s ay that o f cour s e they would not o I
said f I supposed that they could not a f ford to@ I a sked him
i f he could tell me more about that § but we had to leave
i f 'we were '1::'0 eat dinner at the halfway hou se � I sugg e s ted
that we might go out for a beer that evening and he said
1 8 0
" f ine , we can talk more about your work then . "
Migue l wa s ready to leave about an hour a f ter d inne r ,
because h e d id the d i sh e s to earn a d ay � s room and board �
I n the meant ime r I encountered the f ir s t informant o f the
day , Arn a ld o f who a sked me i f I had a g i r l f r i end and i f I
d i d maybe s h e had a f r i end or a s i ster and we cou ld go out
toge ther . (Note that I was rece iving f r iendl ine s s from the
s ame r e s ident who " put me down i¥ by saying lI you � d be the
l a s t one I � d t e l l . " ) I told h im I was t ie d up that evening
but maybe s omet ime l ater ? whi c h never c ame becaus e he was
arre s ted for d rug u s e i n a day or s o . In any c a s e , my
s econd i n formant was ready to l eave � I a sked h im where
h e wou ld l ik e to go and he s a id s omewhere out o f the ne ighbor '�
hood becaus e my pre sence in a local bar would make other guys
uncomfortable and he d id not want to be seen w i th me there .
So we h eaded o f f for a bar near wher e he worked . The r ide
in my car to the bar provided a s 'tream o f conver s at ional
top i c s - that he got a ride to work from another employee of
the place he worked at 3 that he had that guy p ick h im up a
b lock away from the h a l fway hou s e s o that h i s f r i end would
not see h im coming out of the hal fway hOllas t what k ind of a
bar we were going t0 5 i t s b i k in i -c l ad waitre s s e s j and $ when
we arrived ? the fact that as ide f rom the waitre s se s there
were no women in the bar . Then he turned h i s attention to
�tJhat I was doing in the h a l fvlay hou s e � He said that I was
" fucking up" and " ranking " my j ob by talking to guys about
1 8 1
them s e lve s and the hous e . He s a id i t was foo l i sh to try to
talk to convicts about person a l matt e r s l ike that , un l e s s I
knew them very we l l , and that woul d not happen becau s e guys
wer e not there long enough . When I a s ked h im what I cou l d
do , i f tha t were the c a s e � h i s re s pons e indi cated that i t
w a s not a prob lem o f " e s t ab l i s h i ng r apport , " a s h e had
s eemed to ind ic a te . I n s tead , he s a id that my 9t prob lem n was
the k i nd o f event i t was f o r r e s ident s to b e ta l k ing to me
in the s e tt in g of the h a l fway hous e as that conve r s a t ion
woul d be con s trued by o ther r e s ident s "
He s a id that guys wou ld rather not l ie to me i f they
could he l p i t , so they wou ld try to s te e r c lear o f me i f
they coul d � He s a id that what I had been told was l arge ly
a lot o f bu l l sh i t , howeve r . �fuen I a sked what was going on
that guys could not talk to me � he r e p l ied that they wou l d
te l l e a c h o t h e r n o t t o t a l k t o me , b u t mor e t h a n that $ every
one of them had the f o l lowin g fear , though he , Migue l , talked
to me in s p ite o f tha t fear : every ex-con know s that he i s
very l ik e l y to g o back to pri son s ome time t and that wa s
e spec i a l l y s o for addic t s . O n the return trip the ex-con
might mee t other s he had seen and known at the h a l fway house .
That other guy might be there on a f i f te e n year s entence and
count h ims e l f as d e ad ; tha t i s , h e woul d not c a r e what
h appened to h im . I f the " de ad man " r e c a l l ed that s omeone
was speak i n g to me at the h a l fway hous e § he could take that
as an i n s tance of s omeone g o s s iping to me g about the dead
1 8 2
man ' s bu s in e s s and r in turn � take deadly action agains t the
supposed gos s ip . There fore , it wa s dangerous to talk to a
re s e archer . rvly attempt s to get people to talk to me were
" stupid " and were endangering the person who '\,va s hel pful to
me .
He continued that , bes ides a l l o f that , there was no
way I could a s k my que s tions which would avo id the appearance
that I was looking for some particu l ar ins tance o f troub l e
involving particular guys � There 'VIa s so much Oime s s ing up "
going on a t the hal fway house that i f I as ked about genera l
matters � i t would look l ike I was gathering material on some
particu lar person , s pec i f ic a l ly tho s e persons mos t recently
involved i n something they could get in troubl e for . At
th i s point in our convers at ion � he s a id he wanted to go back
to the _ ne ighborhood , ( o f the hal fway hous e ) and when we did
that he did not want to be d ropped o f f where he could be
s e en with me by the guys at the b ar where they s pent the ir
time .
I had other e xperienc e s l ike this one , though they were
not spel l e d out for me in as much detail § They a l l amounted
to re s iden t s te l ling me that they were not going to talk to
me f or be f r iends with me e or te ll me ii the truth , " because
it was proh ib ited for them to do 8 0 9
I a l s o had experiences wh ich were portrayed to me a s
exceptions from thos e genera l rule s . That i s ? I had res i
dents te l l me that everyone e l s e j us t told me fl bul l shit , "
1 8 3
-';-' "
but they were d i f ferent and would te l l me " the truth . " A
r e s ident who had frequently used me as a s ource o f tran s -
por tation to l d me o f the way h i s r e lat ion w ith m e and the
s t a f f was v i ewed . I a sked h im to t e l l me more when he
surpr i sed me by saying that he wa s grateful to return to the
h a l fway h ou s e . He s a id , " I th ink the program here can do u s
s ome good . You know � a lot o f guys don ' t l i ke my saying
t ha t . They th ink that me and C andy { the aide } are s n itches
for talk ing to s t a f f and r e s earch . They t hink we are k i s s -
a s se s c au s e we par t i c i pate i n the commit te e s . But guys who
rea l ly have some th ing on the bal l know d i f fe rent . 11
The C ode a s Re s idents I De s�riptions
and Explanat ion s
The encounter above , o f cour s e � dep i c t s not only the
r e s ident � s r e lationship to me , but to the s ta f f as we l l . A
var ie ty o f e ncounters with r e s idents produced dep i c tions o f
s t a f f - r e s ident re lations phrased i n terms o f t h e code . Some
o f the se c ame about by my asking r e s ide n t s how they s hould
behave t oward the s t a f f ? and for a c lar i f icat ion of the
term s Il s n i t c h f k i s s a s s ; and r e gu l a r . " Hore intere s ting !
hmvsver � were thos e occ a s ions in wh ich r e s idents emp loyed
the c ode t o explain the i r behavior and the behavior o f the ir
fe l l ows whe n I was not ask ing them about rule s i n general o r
t h e code in particula r . As in t h e inc ident be low § some o f
thes e occ a s ions were not i n i tiated b y me &
I pas s ed the war-on-pover ty a ide i s o f f ic e one a f ternoon .
1 8 4
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . :y: ... : ... .
He had been working in the house for s evera l weeks now , and
was eVidently qu i te unhappy 0 I asked him wha t the troub l e
was . He s a id that he had hopes that the hal fway hous e could
do s ome th i n g for the res idents $ but that hope was unde rmined
because the s t a f f could do nothing 9 I asked h im to exp l a i n
how that was t h e case . He s a id that i t was bec ause the guys
had a l l had long expe rience with " the s ys tem � " (mean ing the
correction a l apparatus ) and s aw the i r r e l a t i onship to it in
terms o f the code � He ind icated that this expe r i ence pro
vided for their see ing a l l the s t a f f as part o f " the s ys tem , "
whi c h meant that e ac h and every s t a f f member was " the
enemy . " Personal re lationsh i ps with ind ividua l s ta f f members
were d is couraged ? but more than tha t ? such r e l a tions hips
were not even conce ived o f as pos s ible in the f irst p l ace .
Whe n I asked h im about particular paro le agents who appeared
to have e s t ab l ished trus t w i th the ir men , h e s a id that that
appe arance was , i n fact , a n exchange . Guys did te l l these
agents about s ome par ts o f the ir l i fe g but that was in
r e turn for particu l a r ly good treatment f rom the agent g i o e . §
par t i cu lar ly not arrest ing the guys when the regu l a t ions o f
parole s a i d he s hou ld 0 Here � the code lllas be ing employed
as a gener a l expl anation for why the h a l fway house could not
alter anyone � s l i fe . On a numbe r o f other occas ions , the
code was empl oyed to explain concr e te e pisodes of behav io r .
One evening a f te r committee mee tings s ever a l parole
agents were going out for a b ee r " They invi ted me and the
18 5
a i de to come a long . The agents sugg e s t.ed s ever a l p l a c e s
t h a t we m i g h t gO r a n d the aid s a id f " No , I don ' t want to g o
there " unt i l they s tarted l i st ing b a r s outs ide t h e immediate
n e i ghborhood . The next day I a sked h im why he was s o h e s itant
about going to the s e var ious bars . He told me that i t was
not that h e d i dn � t want to go to tho s e b ar s ? but that he
d id not want to go to them w i th the agent s . He d i d not think
they shoul d go to tho s e bars because i t wou ld make the
cus tomer s uncomfortabl e ? and he d id not want to be seen i n
that s i tuation with them because peopl e ( r e s idents and other
hype s ) woul d th ink he was n suck ing up to the fu z z n and
cou l d not be trus ted . A l though he d id not concretely mention
the code r the l anguage and the r e l evanc i e s in h i s explanation
lATere unde r s tood by me to b e " drawn f romn i t . More concre te
s t i l l , was the use of the code about an o c c a s ion a r i s i ng out
o f a " ha s s l e t! between a s t a f f member and a res ident reported
b e lo\r'J .
The inc ident began on a �londay morn ing when the program
d i re ctor h a d j u s t come back to the hou s e a f ter the weekend .
I s aw h i m i n the front o f f ic e and a sked h im a bout what had
happened over the weekend . He s a id he d id not know but
apparently t'lfJO r e s ident s f i' Pab l i to " and " Jo s e $ " had been
s u s pect of s ome th ing because there were two urine s amp l e s
from them in t h e outgoing mai l . He went to the o f f ice o f
the weekend duty o f f icer and asked h im wha t i t was a l l about ;
I fol lowed . The duty o f f i c e r s a i d that he had s e e n Pabl ito
1 8 6
and Jose i n the dorms , very c lo s e toge ther , and " appear ing
suspic ious . " When he approached them Jose pa s s ed s ome thing
to P abl i to . He a sked them what i t wa s but they s a id that
they had noth i ng and he ld out the i r h ands for h im to s ee .
Re thought i t was probably a bot t l e o f benny s . He asked them
both to g ive a ur i ne s amp l e and show the i r a rms for inspec
t ion ? and re s tr icted both o f them to the hou s e for not
cooperat ing w i th h im i n the que s t ioning � Jo s e had run from
the house a f ew hours later . When I s aw Jo s e that a fternoon �
I s a id to h im that I had heard that he l o s t h i s weekend pas s .
He replied that he f e l t i t was very un j u s t but he d i d not
l e t i t bug h im . ti l don ' t l e t them get a t me - bug me . They
g ive you a bunch o f s h i t . I t ' s l i ke they are try ing to
force you out of here . But when they ta l k to me I j u s t
don ' t let i t get t o me . I f they a s k me to p i s s i n a bott l e ?
1 1 11 do tha t . I f they a s k me t o p i s s i n the i r pock e t , I ' l l
do that . As long a s I don ' t go t o j a i l i I don l t c are . l i m
c l e an so I don � t have noth ing to worry abou t . The only one
who c an te l l me what to do i s ( h i s agen t ) , not tha t fucking
( other agent who \<>la s on duty ) ? and ( h i s age n t ) doe s n � t bug
me . " I a sked h im wha t he though t the duty agent wa s up to
in re s tr i c t ing h im to the hous e . H e s a id , h The only thing
that would make ( the duty agen t ) happy would have been if I
h ad copped out . He shoul d know that we a re n � t going to cop
out to noth i ng \" he ther we have done i t or not . We a l l c ome
from the j oint and thos e guys have been trying for years to
1 8 7
get us to cop out to s tuff and we won � t , so why does he ( duty
agen t ) think he could get us to do i t " ?
In ways l ike those above ? the r e s idents used the code
and its language to explain the ir behavior and the behavior
of other re s idents when concrete occurrences were pre sented
to them.
The C ode a s an Active Consequential Object in
the Researcher 1 s Environment
The fact that these accounts whereby I learned of the
code were " more " than " d i s intere sted factual a ccounts " can
be seen in the consequence s they had for the course of the
research after I had come to learn of the code in the way
that I d id . That iS g when I examine my exper ience in the
setting as the experience of someone operationg in the setting
rather "than s omeone mere ly wa lking around i rece iving factual
accounts , and thereby f i l l ing a notebook , thes e accounts
can be seen a s active elements of the setting in the ways
they served to de fine my c ircumstanc e s for me , and in that
fashion altered the cours e of my inve stigative behavior .
It \'lOuld be an under s tatement to s ay that I was di smayed
by getting IIput in my place n by references to the code . For
a week or so I thought that I could learn nothing more about,
the l ive s of res idents . I t seemed to me that I had s everal
alternative s . I could e i ther s imply study the work of the
staf f or I could s tudy the res idents as we l l by us ing some
teChniques that wou ld a t least guarantee the production o f
1 8 8
a report that the d irectors o f the re s e arch d i v i s i on wou l d
s e e a s adequate ? even i f I had my o'\,m qua lms about i t f
and/or to s imp ly do that kind o f o b servational work that
d id not require us ing in formants . I f e l t bound by my
promi s e s t o the re s earch d iv i s io n and came to s e e that my
o n l y means o f provid ing them s ome k in d s o f mater i a l s that
wou ld " ex p l i c a te � the l ive s o f the r e s idents was a set o f
interviews w i th re s ident s tha t re l ied o n s tandard i ze d notions
o f r apport as the ir warrent for being � ob j ect ive r eport s . "
Moreover , I had the hope that such a procedure woul d b e l e s s
p a i n fu l than the rather d irec t re j e c t ion I had been exper
ienc ing f rom the re s idents . I dec ided a s we l l to conti nue
in forma l observations o f re s ident a c t iv i t i e s whenever I
could "
As that work proceeded � there are two matters I w i s h to
po i n t out wh ich further i l lu s trate the act ive , " re a l , "
conseque n t i a l character o f the code for me a s a prac t i c i ng
r e s earcher . F i r s t , arrangements for getting the i n tervi ews
done rel ied o n the knowledge o f the code that I had a l re ady
obtained ( and by th i s t ime from s t a f f as we l l as r e s idents )
in both the formu l a t i on o f the interv iew items and the very
ways that the interviews were c arried out . I n the inter
v i ews thems e lve s , we (Mi l l e r and I ) expl i c i tly avoided any
que s tions whi c h a sked (much l e s s required ) the inte rv i ewee s
t o te l l u s anyth i ng about the l ive s o f concrete ( n amed )
other re s iden t s . We a l s o avo ided que s t ions that would a s k
1 8 9
for " copping out " to o f f e n s e s in the recent pa s t . HOv-rever a
we found that even s eemi ng l y innocuou s que s t io n s l ik e �Are
you emp l oyed ll ? and i f so " Where " ? s ome t ime s re s u lted in our
g e tting s to r i e s about where the r e s ident was emp loyed § which
later appea r ed to be f a l se � We rea s oned tha"t the s e f a l s e
s to r i e s were to ld t o u s because what the interv i ewee s aid
to u s was thereby compat ible w i th wha t he had told the s t a f f
about where h e wa s emp loyed .
At f ir s t , the interviews were " vo luntary " in the sense
that whe n I l earned from the s ta f f that a new r e s ident had
moved to the ha l fway hous e w I went around the hou s e looki ng
for h im and on f ind ing him ! told h im who I was and a sked h im
to partic i pate in an interv i ew . In le s s than a week o f trying
to d o i t that waY I I e ncountered many re spons e s which were
variants of " I s it required " ? and when I s a id " no , " getting
a fUrther re s pon s e of tl We l l � then I don S t th ink I want to do
i t . " Even though I was able to per suade a lmos t a l l new
r e s idents t o eventu a l l y come to b e interv:i.e"Vled � the s i tuation
wa s a�!lkward and t ime-consum i ng . I quickly lea rned that thos e
place s whe r e r e s idents were e a s i e s t to f ind provided m e with
the mos t t rouble in t a lk ing to them . I had e a s y acce s s to
them whi le they were on work proj e c t s . But the s e s ame set
tings typ i ca l ly we re popu lated by s ever a l new r e s idents and
my a sking them to c ome to b e interviewed in that context
provided my que s tion as a topic o f mutual conve r s ation and
j ok ing for the r e s idents hear ing the i nv i ta tion . I was mos t
1 9 0
frequently g iven equ ivo c a l repl i e s l e 9 g . $ " I ' l l d o i t i n a
couple o f hour s i or tomorrow . " I qu ickly f ound that mo s t o f
my t ime was b eing taken u p by trying t o per suade them to b e
interviewed 9 Fo l lowing s ta f f � s advice about the res idents '
behavio r v i s ·' s-vis the code , I had staff mak e the interview
part o f the or i entat ion routine . Thereby , the hous e manager
s cheduled appo i n tme n t s for me with the man 'within the f i r st
two days he c ame on to the s c en e . Sta f f i s advice (wh ich I
w i l l explore l at e r ) had been tha t " These guys s imply c an � t
volunteer f o r anything ! but i f you d i rect them to do i t ,
they wi l l happ i ly d o s o . "
The advice worked , and thereby added credence to the
code for me as a pract i c a l device f o r d e a l ing w ith my
c ir cums tanc e s . Nearly everyone showed up for the i r i nter�
v i ews �nd when they got there they 'lylere to l d that actua l
partic ipa t i on wa s not requ ire d , though showing up wa s re
quired and a t that point no one re fused to be interviewed @
Two o f s ixty- four cas e s s a i d they pre ferred that the inter
view not be recorde d .
Thus , i n s ever a l way s , I u t i l i zed the c od e a s I had
l e arned it a nd was continuing to learn it to formu l ate good
s tra teg i e s for gett ing through the r e s e arch in such a way
that I c ould f in a l ly s ubmi t a report to the Departmen t of
Correct ions Re search D ivi s ion .
1 9 1
The Analy s i s
The Code a s Exe�e s i s
One could say that li the tel l ing of the code " was a
formu lation of the organi zed charac ter of res ident l i fe
which res idents provided a s a s ort of narrative which
accompanied the ir a f fairs . As my biographical reporting
shOi-vS I the code was titled or named which would make i t
appear l ike some kind of " oral tradition 11 Ylhich had the
moral force to govern the a f fairs of contemporary re s idents �
Indeed , a s was ind icated in my report , res idents spoke of
the long - s tand ing , "what I was taught a s a chi ld " character
of the code . It was a l s o the case that the code was told
in showing the organi zed character of res ident l i f e . This
was s o in the lilays that the reciting o f the code u formu lated ,j
a partrcul ar occurence be ing pre s ently talked about ( e . g . ,
the poverty aide 8 s " re s istance " to going to a bar with
parole age n t s ) as an instance of a typical occurrence ( e . g . ,
showing where one g s loyaltie s were a s an avoidance o f the
pos s ib i l i ty of being seen as a snitch or other kind o f
turncoat ) �
It would appear that one ££uld speak of the code a s
a n " oral tradition " which was employed t o instruct outs iders
{ l ike mys e l f } a s to the organ i zed character of '�vhat they had
seen r were see ing ? or would s ee . That i s ? one could s ay
that re s idents employed thi s narrative to point out that an
event t or our relationship , or the behavior of that other
1 9 2
r e s ident , or the re s ident ' s own behavior were instanc e s o f
patterns wh i ch were long- s tand ing g which had been s een
before and would be s een again . One wou ld a l s o then say
that re s idents were te l l ing the code in showing , or perhaps
to show , that the particular event under cons ideration would
have been e nacted by " any re s iden t " for person s who were
r e s idents were mora l l y constrained to act in that fashion .
That i s � the code was employed to explain why someone had
acted as they had and that way of acting was nece s sary under
the c ircums tance s 0 I n brief l one would be s ay ing that the
code was employed by r e s idents to analyze for outs iders and
perhaps for themse lves the " social factua l » c haracter o f
the ir c i rc umstance s in Durkhe im ' s u s e o f s o c i a l f act � for
they were not ing particular occurrenc e s a s instanc e s of
regul a�-pattern s -of-action-which-are -produced-by-comp l iance
to-a-normat ive -order .
Wh i le one could propos e such an analy s i s o f the code as
an exigetical organ i z ing narrative , that would be something
l ike a narrat ive '\<yh ich is o f fered by the tour guide of a
museum or the narration for a trave logue . However 8 such an
analys i s ? if it s imply left the matter here ? would be mi s
lead ing i n prec i s e ly the ways that a trave logue narrat ive
d i f fers from the " te l l ing of the code @ " S i nce I f ind the
trave logue narrative helpful by contra s t let me ind icate
what I under s tand as i ts feature s � I n the trave logue s tory
o f a voyage one encounters the s tory shown on the screen and
1 9 3
the ident i f i c at i on s , explanations ; and descr iptions o f the
narrative heard over a l oud s pe aker as d i screet occurrence s -
narrative and picture o One hears the narrative a s an out s ide
commentary on the events depicted v i s ua l l y . In the c a s e s
I a m thinking o f � wha tever c ome s over the l oud s peake r f and
a l l of that which c ome s ove r the loud s peake r ? i s narrat ive .
The narrat ive begins with the beginn ing o f the f i lm and
!1 complete s i t se l f " by the end . Whoever s pe a k s on the s ound
track i s d o i ng narrating . Typic a l ly , explana t i on s are
temporal ly j uxtaposed to the senic o c currence they exp l a in .
F in a l l y � one l i stens to the narra t i on and s e e s the f i lm
pa s s i.ve l y a s a depict.ed scene for one s s e n j oymen t or e d i f ic a
tion ? and n o t a s an ob j ec t tha t o n e mus t nece s sa r i ly engage
and immed iate ly d e a l w i th . Coupled w i th the feature o f the
pa s s iv� audi e nc e , the narrator s pe a k s for whoever l i stens .
The part i e s hearing h im are unknown to h im , do not act upon
h i s fate , and indeed have no invo lvement with h im beyond
the ir l i s te n ing .
" Te l l ing the code " contr a s t s w i th each o f the above
enumerat.ed f eature s of t.he travel ogue narration � The nub
o f the d i f f e rence i s tha t the code wa s not. encountered
" outs ide " the s cene it was purportedly d e s c r ib ing , but was
told within t.hat. s c ene a s a continuou s , connec ted part o f
that s cene , by being man i f e s te d a s an active consequen t i a l
act with in it o Let me brie f ly take up the matter o f the
" ac t ive consequent i a l act " a spect (what Gar f inke l has
1 9 4
d i s cus sed a s the re f lexive propert i e s o f natura l language
accounts ) o f the code as thi s a s pe c t wi l l be fu rther deve loped
in the next chapte r .
The " I nte r e s t ed " Interaction:Guid ing Character
o f " Te l l inq t�_�ode lJ
" Te l l ing the code " was not heard a s a " d i s intere s te d "
report de l ivered in the manner o f a n arrator who wa s s pe ak i ng
to unknown a nd d i s tant persons about matter s upon wh ich they
c ou ld not act . I n s tead ? the code was be ing told about
matte r s wh ich were c r itica l to hearer and l i s tener for " the
te l l in g " f e d into the ir j o int action .
In contr a s t to the narrative whi ch " i s about " the thing
depicted on the s c reen ! the code was o f ten to l d a bout the
behavior o f the hearer or the te l le r . I n s ome o f the inc i -
dents I . h ave reported the r e s ident appe a r s a s ( and I was
indeed under s tanding h im a s ) active ly tea ch ing me about the
ways I shoul d appropriately behave � He was do ing s o by
commenting on the sense o f my a c tion in that environment !
i . e . 1 mak ing out the s en s e o f my acts a s act s - in -·that-
soc i a l -wor ld . In other c a s e s , the " te l l ing " was about the
behavior o f the te l le r . H i s exp lanation enabled me to s e e
that what h e w a s doi ng was a typica l � orde r ly ? s oc i a l l y
a cceptab l e , a n d s oc i a l l y nece s s a ry occurrence in tha t sett ing .
When te l l i ng o f th i s l ater sort occurred � the tale provided
the hearer w i th the s o c i a l ly adequate and und e r s t andab l e
g r ounds for the a lternative the s pe aker h a d cho sen " For
1 9 5
e xample � it made a r e f u s a l ( " I won i t go to your o f f ice , "
II I 'Non. ! t te l l you that § " " We v.ron I t go to the b ar " ) to an
invi tation an " acceptab le " cho i ce - a cho ice about wh ich it
was d i f f icult to comp l a i n . That i s , the r e f u s a l is d i f f icul t
t o comp l a i n about i f t h e explanation " I c an ! t d o that " o r
" you know I can ' t do tha t " i s heard a s a rule . To hear the
exp l anation as a rule deperson a l i z e s the incident by mak ing
i t out a s not some th i ng between the s e two particu lar persons �
and dependent on the s tate o f the i r f r iend sh ip , but mak e s
,th e incident o u t as gove rned b y a r u l e wh ich app l i e s indepen·
dently o f the wishes o f the part i c u l ar partie s �
Thu s ? a s recounted i n the data s e c t i on o f th i s chapter i
the code wa s told s ome time s a s advice ( e . g " � you should not
ask that que s tion becaus e • • • ) , s ometime s as a negative
s anct ion ( e . g . , you are the ' l a s t one I wou ld te l l about
that • • • ) , s ome t ime s as a �/lay of e xp l a in ing or j u s t i. fy ing
a chosen a l te rnat ive ( e . g � t I c an � t go to that bar with you
and the age n t s because • . • ) , or persuad ing cooperation in
choos ing that a l ternat ive (would you p l e a s e drop me o f f
where I c an � t b e seen with you ) .
What vm s heard a s the code wa s heard by me a s per s ua s ive
in the s e n s e that I could s e e that I could not a f f ord to
treat the matter s talked about l igh tly . That i s , the te l l ing
t;!as done i n s uch a "(fay that I s aw that to over look the
advice wou ld be to r i sk my reputat ion as a person who should
be taken s er i ou s ly . Moreover � the r emarks were o f te n
1 9 6
emb e l l i shed with the ind irect thre a t that the t e l ler might
be r i sking h i s 0'l,>7n s a fe ty if I did not take what he s a id
s e r ious l y . Thu s , the code was o f fered with the s anction ,
2 o r perhaps better , � the s anct ion that thos e who do not
s e e the r e l evance of its advice to the ir own c ircumstanc e s
w i l l a c t i n ways that r e s idents s e e a s fool i sh g irre s pon s ib l e ?
o r s tupid . T h i s a l s o me ans that the code was o f fered a s a
method o f f orete l l ing the mean i ng o f the hearer ' s acts i f he
were to choo s e to a c t i n s ome s pec i f i ed way _
I n the ways I took the c ode ser iou s ly a s an a ct ive part
of my e nv i ronment the code did not s imp ly d e s c ribe , analyz e ?
or exp l a i n the e nv ironment , but wa s , a s we l l ; a way in whi c h
othe rs ( re s ident s ) were guid ing my conduct through e f f e c t ive
persuas ion . The code , then ? i s a l s o a device for changing
the topi c o f a conve r s a t ion for what- 50-ever reason a r e s ident
might w i s h to do so . I t was a device for accounting f o r why
one should f e e l or act in the way one doe s a s an expe c t ab l e ,
20n a number o f o c c a s ions in wh ich I heard that the
code was b e ing to l d to me that tel l i ng was an imme d i ate ly act ive part o f the occ a s ion in the d irect s e n s e tha t I s aw that I wa s " be i ng put in my p lace @ " That i s , the te l l ing o f the code was a formu l a t io n , or a re-enumc i a t ion , o r a r eminder o f our role r e l at ion ships and the approp r iate re lat ions b e tween member s of thos e c ategor i e s . I n the s e o c c a s ions a s ingle utterance whi c h I heard a s te l l ing the code ( e . g q i " We won i t cop out , n " Yo u ' re the l a s t one I ' d te l l , " " You c an � t a s k me tha t ll ) was s imu ltaneou s ly �
a . a constraint I f e l t on my a c tivity , b . the th ing the r e s ident w a s d o i ng ? c , a s ta tement o f h i s mot ive s for doing utter ing that
phr a s e ? and d . a formu l ation o f thing be ing don e � e � g . , �' I won ' t
cop out il f ormu.late s " not copping out " .
1 9 7
under standable , rea sonab l e , and above a l l e l se acceptable
way t o feel or act . It was , the re fore i a way o f manag ing
a conver sation in such a way that the te l ler (or even
col league ) i s e f fect ive ly pre sented as a reasonable , mor a l r
and competent f e l low . Th i s would sugge s t that i f the code
is II f lex ible l! with r espect to that which it can account for g
and we sha l l see the extens ive ways i n which i t i s qu i te
" f lexible ; " i t i s then much mo re a method or moral per sua
s ion and j us t i f ication than i t i s a subs tant ive account of
a se t o f patterned ways . That i s , i t i s ( fo r the present
part of the a rgument ; i n way s to be further shown ? only
potentialy) a way , or set o f ways , o f mak ing out a c tivities
as morallY i repetitive l y , con s trainedly , organ i zed 6
This would mean that to the extent th at the way s in
wh ich a�ter ' s activity appears for e go as coherently or
g an i z ed and me an ing fu l ( in the sense of c learly motivated )
i s dependent on a lter ' s ways o f talk ing about h i s own act i
v i t i e s i n terms o f de_scribing them � then ego i s sense for
what alte r i s doing is cont ingent upon a lter ! s n go a l s , "
" pro j ects , " o r � intere s ts " in the course o f h i s interact ion
with ego . This is so for the s ame explanatory and descr ip
tive utte ranc e s often are , and a lways c an be g s anctions ?
j us t i f ication s ! or urgings o f some cour se o f action in the
re lat.ions hip .
Thi s would f urther mean that '-'That a s cene appears to
be in gene ra1 � i @ e . q appears to be beyond the immediate Here
1 9 8
and Now one - s ided perception o f i t , i s continuous ly con
t ingent upon the part icular goa l s o r pro j e c t s of the part i c i
pan t s in the part icular here and now o c c a s ion .
Just how the se and other cont i nge n c i e s operate w i l l be
ana lyzed i n the next s e c t ion . I t wi l l be shown that the
coherent , organ i zed , and mean ingful s en s e o f the environ
men t is cont ingent upon the " de s c r ib i n g �' that member s d0 0
However , i t depends a s we l l upon the a c t ive , s e arch ing for
coherent s e n s e and mean ing that l i s tener s i d o a s a nece s s ary
step i n the i r mm e f forts to d e a l r a t i on a l ly w i th the i r
e nvironmen t f \-lhethe r that e ffort i s d irected toward more
d e s c r ipt ion or is preparatory to mundane goa l accomp l i shment .
To bring the s e remarks to further c la r i ty and d e f i n i
t ion , let m e f ir s t return t o t h e contra s t o f " te l l in g the
c ode " "V,ith the trave l ogue narrat ive � U n l ike the trave logue
narrative v remarks that were heard as U te l l ing the code "
were only occa s i ona l ly iden t i f i ed by the t e l ler exp l i c it ly
a s " te l l in g the code � " The fact that one s ometime s heard a
t i t le (The Code ) o n ly promi s ed that there wa s a code to be
d i scovered and that s omehow it wou ld have general patterns
of behavior a s soc i ated w i th it , i � e . � gener a l patterns in
contrast to the part icular concrete event the t e l le r was
d e s cr ib i ng and/o r exp la ining . The code , a s I found i t , was
to l d II pieceme al ? >I c arne f r om many mou th s , and wa s not nece s
s a ri l y tempo r a l ly j uxtapo s ed with the ob j ec t s that i t was
purportedly about . Mor eove r y when r e s idents were
1 9 9
s e l f-announcedly " te l l ing the code " they a l so expl i c i t ly
s a id or imp l ied that there was more to i t than was b e i ng
told at t h i s t ime . Thus ! in seve r a l ways , what the talk
was " about " and what further i n stance s o f that talk were ,
was for the l i s tener to d i scover . The d i s covery o f the
organ i zed and cohe rent s e n s e i n the r e s ident s ' behavior �
though even persuas ive ly a s s i s te d by the r e s idents t a l k i ng ,
wa s the t a s k o f f inding par t i c u l a r s o r i n s tanc e s for a t i t l e .
The Code a s a Re f lexive S e l f and �e�t ing
E l aborating Device
Equipped w ith what I under s tood to be a pre l iminary and
par t i a l ve r s ion of the r e s idents 1 d e f i n i t ion of the i r s i tua-
t ion (wh ic h was i n i t i a l l y the t it l e , " The Code " and s everal
maxims ) $ I s aw that other pronounceme n t s of re s idents were
u n t i t led extens ions of thi s s ame l i ne o f tal k . I u s ed what-
eve r " piece s " of the code I had col le c ted a t that point a s
a s cheme f o r interpr e t ing further talk as exte n s io n s o f what
I had heard II Up to now . Ii So irJhen I heard a r e s ident who
was vlander ing through the h a l l s a f te r the commi"ttee meetings
s ay to s ta f f and whoeve r e l s e was around F " Where can I ' f ind
that mee t ing where I c an get an overn i ght pa s s " ? I under-
stood h im to be s aying 6 Ii I � m not. go i ng to that mee t ing
becau s e I S m inter e s ted i n par t i c i pa t i ng i n the progr am of
h a l fway hous e . I ' m going to tha t mee ting j u s t because I
would l ik e to col lect the reward o f an ove rni ght p a s s and
for no othe r reas on . I ' m not a k i s s - a s s . Everyone who i s
2 0 0
in hearing d i s tance should unde r s tand that l i m not k i s s i ng
up to s t a f f � my behavior rea l ly i s in con formity with the
code , though wi thout hear ing th i s you might think otherwi se . "
I thereby c o l lected another � piece " o f talk wh i ch , when put
together with utterance s I had heard up to that po int (wh ich
permitted me to see the " se n s e n o f th i s rema r k ) and used
wi th utterances I had yet to c o l lect , was employed by me to
formul ate the general max im " show your loyalty to the
r e s idents " "
Likewi s e i when I heard r e s idents s ay to s ta f f i n group
when a par t icular res ident had been a sked to organ i z e a
b a s eba l l team a f te r he had s ugges ted i t wou ld be good to
h ave one " You know I c an � t organ i z e a b a s eba l l team , " I
heard h im s ay " You know tha t the c od e f or bi d s me to parti c i �
pate in� your program i n that way and you know I ' m not going
to v i olate the code , s o why a s k me li ? And when I heard
re s idents t e l l s t a f f in the i r o f f ic e s " You know that I
c an i t te l l you that , " I und e r s tood that they were s aying
li t'lha t you are a s k ing me to d o i s to cop out ( or s ni tch $
depend ing o n the particular que s tion staf f was a s k i ng ) and
you k nO'lftl what w i l l h appen to me if I do f so don � t a s k � "
Two matters should b e noticed about the procedure s for
c o l l ec t in g f urther i tems o f the code and evidence that the
code wa s cont inuous ly being u s ed by the r e s ident s , and as
sha l l be s ee n , the s e s ame matter s a r i se when behavioral
( non-talk ) evidenc e s o f the code are c o l l e c ted a s we l l .
2 0 1
F i r s t , i t should be noticed that that method o f c o l l e c
t ion wa s wha t Gar f inke l has d e s c r ibed a s " the documentary
me thod of i nve s t igat ion " ( Ga r f in ke l , 1 9 6 7 § pp . 7 6 - 1 0 3 ) in
wh i ch each e ncountered " piece " of evidence h a s its s e n s e for
the inve s t igator when the " piece " i s interpre ted i n terms
of s ome und e r lying theme , and the " p iece " is taken as further
e l aborat in g and g iv ing evidence for the s ame theme ? whi c h i s
requ ired for maki ng s e n s e o f the " p iece " i n the f ir s t pl ace .
In th i s c a s e , I made s e n s e o f the various u tteranc e s I
encountered by i n terpreting them i n terms o f what I knew o f
t h e code thus f a r . I f I had not h ad the code a s an inter
pret ive device for tran s l ating the u t te r anc e s into s tate
men t s whi c h wen t together as expre s s ions of a mora l order ? I
could not h ave c o l lected the utteranc e s into that part i c u l ar
patter� in the f i r s t place � See i ng the s e n s e o f the utter
ance s as r e f er r ing to a n underlying mor a l order depended on
knowing s ome o f the par t i cu l a r s o f that underly ing order in
the f i rs t p l ac e . Further , once the utteranc e s could be seen
a s expre s s in g that under lying mo r a l order , they became
further evidence for me that the und e r ly ing order was con
t inuous ly operative i n the s e tt ing .
Second ly , i t should be noticed that th i s c o l l e c t i ng
work was b e i ng done on indexi c a l expre s s io n s (Garf inke l ;
1 9 6 7 , pp . 4 - 7 � Gar f inkel and Sacks , 1 9 6 9 ) . That ! wa s c o l
lecting indexical e xpre s s io n s mea n s t h a t they were expr e s �
s ions who s e mean ing s were r e l at ive to such contextu a l matters
2 0 2
as ( a ) who was saying i t (e . g . , that it was a re s ident ) r
( b ) to whom it was be ing said ( e . g . � to a s ta f f member or
e . g . mys e l f be ing treated as an auxilary of the staf f ) ; ( c )
where i t was being said ( e . g � p i n the halfway house ) � (d )
on what k ind o f occas ion it was being s a id (e . g . , in a
meeting attended by both sta f f and re s idents ) ; ( e ) the social
re l ation s h ip between te l ler and hearer ( e . g . § a parolee
speak ing to his parole agent ) $ and so forth . My under standing
o f these utterance s depended a s �!le ll on the ir a s soc i ation
with behaviors that were s een as referents of the talk ? but
this matter w i l l be taken up later . Pirs t , the se determina
tions need some c la r i fying i l lustration .
I f a remark l ike " You know I c an � t organ i ze the basebal l
team " had been uttered b y one s ta f f member vi s-a-v i s another
s ta f f member ; I would have heard the remark as s omething
e l se entirely . Depending on ��ich s t a f f member was talk ing
and whi ch s ta f f member was l is tening § the remark could have
been heard as " You know that it i s your j ob s ince you are
on the recreation c omm ittee and I am not $ " Had it been a
case-carrying parole agent who was on the recreation committee
speak ing to the program d irector ! I would have heard the
remark a s s aying " You know that I am already putting in more
time into the program than I can a f f ord as it i S i r couldn ' t
pos s ibly do more . "
Or . had the remark been uttered by a res ident to a
s t a f f member outs ide the hal fway hous e se tting ? in the
2 0 3
sense that their sta f f--resident re lationship was not rele
vant , as would potential ly be the case i f both belonged to
some other 'organization and were talking to each other as
members of that organ i z ation � then the remark could eas ily
have been heard as " I don ' t know enough about baseba l l or
organ i z ing to organi ze the basebal l team . " I f I had known
nothing about the code , then the remark could eas ily have
been heard in just the same way as i f it had been said
" outs ide the setting . "
The matter that these examples are intended to i l lustrate
is that e ac h of the utterance s upon which the formu lation of
the code was based had no s ingle sense ; but had a meaning
as a constituent part of the setting in the ways a consituent
part of a gestalt has funct ional s ignificance in the sense
developed by Gurwitsch ( 1 9 6 4 ) and further deve loped by
Garf inkel ( 19 6 5 ) in the idea of indexical particulars .
Putting i t another way , e ach utterance was mean ingful in
the ways it was said-social ly- in-a-context . The utterance ,
then , gave sense to the context and obta ined sense from i t t
in exactly the same way that a portion o f a gestalt f igure
( e . g . ? the l e ft-hand member of a pai r of dot s ) ob"!:ains it
sense ( a s a left-hand member ) by its perce ived relat ionship
to the other member s of the f igure ( e . g o t r ighthand member )
whi l e giving those other members the ir sense through thei r
perceived relation t o i t . I n the particular cases I am
talking about here � the se utterances v i s ib ly d e f ined the
2 0 4
r e l ation s h i p between s ta f f and r e s idents wh i le obta ining
the i r c le a r sense from the ir place i n that s ame r e l at ion�
ship , an unders tand ing of whi ch was parti a l ly formul ated
through s imi l ar utteranc e s , and further e l aborated on the
bas i s of the utteranc e s in que s ti on .
For the purpos e o f the argumen t I am deve loping , the
mos t c r i t i c a l c ontext for " te l l ing the code " was the " be -
havior pattern s " that that code wa s und e r s tood t o be d e s c r ib -
ing � ana lyz ing and e xp l a in ing . I t i s in the ana ly s i s o f
th i s " re f eren t i a l context " i n wh i ch we c an mo s t c le a r ly see
the embedded character o f members ! talk . I t i s i n the
ana l y s i s o f the " re feren t i a l context " wherein the f u l l
potency o f t h e r e f lex ive character ( Gar f inke l , 1 9 6 7 , pp . 7-
9 � 1 1 -1 8 ) o f accounts c an be mo s t c learly seen , f o r here
i t can , be seen that the perce pt ion that member s are behaving
in pa"l:terned and motivation a l ly coherent ways is dependent
on i n s tructed s e e ing of those ways o f behaving . The " in -
s truct ion " occurs from within the s ett ing by attending to
the ways in wh ich members are talk ing about the ir a f f a i r s .
However f t,he dependenc i e s go further than th i s f for atte nd-
ing t.o s omeone l s ta lk a s " ins truction " is i t s e l f dependent
on see ing , in actual percept i on g the ob j ec t s of the ir t a lk
for that talk to be ident i f i ed a s u a cou r s e o f instruction "
and ident i f ie d for i t s particular s e n s e .3
3I t may we l l be the c a s e that the f u l l c ir c l e o f
depe nden c i e s o f t a lk and i t s ob j ec t s i s a charact:e r i s t i c o f the s o c i a l world in ways that. a r e not the c a s e for "" ha t
2 0 5
The r e l i ance o f a cour s e o f o b s e rvation on the s e de-
pendenc i e s , i . e . , the ob s e rve r s � re l i ance on the " re f lexivity "
o f account s ( that they are i n a se tting whi l e being about
i t ) can be seen by c on s ider ing the c i rcums tan c e s of an
observer who is depr ived of e ithe r " hearing t al k " or " seeing
a c t ions . " I n such a c o n s ideration i t w i l l b e s een tha t :
a . I f an obs erve r had nothing to work on except the
r e s ident s i t a lk ( attended only a s talk about s omething and
not as a c t s in the s etting ) ?4
he could not d e c ide whi ch o f
thos e part s o f the ir ta lk \'1a s I I te l l ing t h e code . II
we typ ic a l l y regard a s the phy s i c a l wor ld . One cou ld argue that orde r and me aning in the soc i a l wor ld a lways is dependent o n the ob s e rvab i l ity o f motivated act ion . Mot ives are nece s s a r i ly hidden in way s that no e lemen t o f the phy s i c a l wor l d i s h idde n . Th i s means that the o s te n s ive s howing of a mot ive c annot extend beyond the p l au s ible conn ection between s ome kind of s t a tement o f a goa l and a v i s ib l e a c tion . I f the obs e rver c an imag i ne the ways that the a c t ion wh ich he doe s see c ou l d b e e i ther a mea n s to rea l i z ing the s t ated goal o r s ome k i nd of expr e s s ion of " th a t " mot ive he has done as much obs ervat ional work as c a n b e done ; i � e � , no more could be done except other mod e s which are extens ions of the ones I have p o inted out .
4propo s a l U { a ) " ha s a poten t i a l ly unc l e a r s e n s e i f it
">l/sre interpreted a s mean ing tha t an ob s erver with a trans c r i p woul d f it the cond i tions of the propo s a l q Th i s woul d n o t a lway s be t h e c a s e s ince conve r s at iona l i s t s s ometimes " formu l a te " what they are do ing i n t a lk i ng a s acting � I n such c a s e s , the obs e rver m i g h t f i nd the " re ferents " o f the talk in t h e trans c r ipt i t se l f � G a r f inke l and Sacks ( 1 9 6 9 v p � 1 7 ) provide an examp l e t
JH � I sn � t i t n i c e there � s such a c rowd o f you i n the o f f ice?
SM � ( You s re a s k ing u s to l e ave r not te l l ing u s to l e ave � r ight ? )
In the p a r en thes i z ed s entence the " re ferent � i s in the previous conve r s at iona l i st ' s utteranc e . I mean to exc lude such
2 0 6
b . I f the ob s erver encountered the s ame s e tt ing but
wa s depr ived of the talk tha t was going on , he cou ld not see
wh ich behav i o r s were to be treated a s n instanc� s n of the
s ame behav i o r s that were be ing produced by comp l iance to
the s ame ru l e .
c @ I f one g ave an obs e rver a l l the maxims o f the code ,
but otherw i s e depr ived him o f the s etting . he could not
p roduce a d e s c r i pt i on of a s ing le set of behavioral outcome s
that woul d be the product o f comp ly i ng with tho s e maxims ,
but i n st e ad woul d produce many such compet i t ive s e t s .
d . I f one gave an ob s e rver a d e s cr iption o f a l l the
behavio r s analyz ed as to type s of behavior , then such a n
obs e rver coul d n o t produce a s ingle set of rules wh ich would
ana ly z e thos e behaviors as the outcome o f comp ly ing w i th
that set o f rule s , but i n s t e ad could produ c e many compet i -
tive sets .
'l'he c ircumstance o f a " deprive d u ob server c an be ex-
amined by r e turn ing to the r emark Il you knm>l I can I t organ i z e
the baseb a l l team" and the rule it was s e e n t o e xpre s s " show
your loy a l ty to other re s idents . "
with r e spect to propo s it ion " ( a ) " , i f one had only the
remark one could not see that it was an i n stance of " te l l ing
c a s e s in propo s a l " ( a ) " such that the obs e rver examine s a transcript o r hears a tape i n only a " re fe rentia l " way , l i s tening to what the conve r s at ional i s t s are talking about and exc luding f rom h i s attent ion the var i e t i e s of ways that the s ame talk can be unders tood as interactiona l act s f e . g . ? in the f a s h ion tha t Bal e s might tre a t i t �
2 0 7
the code " : the remark i s seeable a s " te l l ing the code " i n
i t s d i scovered j uxtapos i t ion w i th s ome fu l f i l l ing a s s oc iated
behavior s , i � e . , behaviors whi c h c an be und e r s tood a s comp ly
ing w i th the rule that the remark expre s s e s . I n th i s par
t i cu l ar c a s e , the remark , i n fact � was uttered i n a Monday
n ight group i n wh ich re s idents d id make sugge s ·tions about
what the program could con s i st of when they were a sked to
do s o . w i th overwhe lming typ ic a l i ty ; howeve r � r e s idents
d i d not vo lunteer o r even agree to t ake part i n the organ i
z a t i onal work that a n y add i tions t o the program would imp l y .
��e n the remark in que s tion wa s uttered i n that behavioral
context , i t was seeable as an expre s s ion of the under ly ing
rule " show your l oya lty to the other r e s idents . " The rule ,
thereby ? not only accounted for the refu s a l o f t h i s par
t icula� re s ident to vo lunteer a t t h i s t ime , but a l s o accounted
for the general pattern of not vo lunteering i n genera l . The
rule had been tentative l y a s sembled be fore this point ? and
i t had alre ady been tentat ive ly ob s e rved tha t i t h ad s ome
thing to d o w i th not he l p i ng s t a f f w i th its work . In th i s
i n s tance r v olunteer ing t o a s s i s t i n r e s ident or ientated
programs and even r e s ident i n i t i ated program s wa s seen to
be an aspect o f the genera l rule . That i S I the hearing o f
t h i s remark s e rved t o s pe c i fy s ome o f the app l i c ations o f
t.he rule tl s how your loyal ty • � .
An o b s e rver who had not witne s sed a s e r i e s o f Monday
n ight group s e s s io n s r however , could a lterna t ively imag ine
2 0 8
that re s id e n t s typic a l l y d id vo lunteer to organ i z e recre a -
t iona l activ i t ie s f or at l e a s t the i r own recreational
a c t ivitie s . Such a pos s ib i l i ty could not be d ismi s s ed by
merely attend ing wha t the re s idents were t a l k ing about .
Faced \vi th thi s pos s ible and plaus ible context o f volunteer
ing , I f ind ( and propose that the reader w i l l f ind ) that the
remark i s not hear-ab l e or see-ab l e a s a rule or e xpre s s ion
of a rul e . I n s tead ? it i s heard a s s ome k i nd o f excepti on ,
e . g . , " You know that I cannot volunteer to orga n i z e the
b a s eba l l t e am 9 " (with the und e r s tand ing " g iven what you. know
about me in particular and ? e . g . p the �lay I get a long with
the s e guys . " )
Thus ? the ob servers work o f trans forming r emarks wh ich
he h a s placed i n his f ie ld note s , into s tatemen t s o f rule s ,
or h i s t a s k o f s imply hearing talk a s expres s ions o f rul e s
d d 1. b � d ' 5
f t f b h J e pen . s on tIle 0 s e rver s l. s c overy 0 s ome s e 0 e av .... o r s
wh i c h a r e th e fu l f i l lment o f thos e rul e s . T h a t i s , o n e c a n
s e e a n utterance a s a r u l e with a determinate s e n s e b y
locating those behavior s wh ich would be the outcome o f
-----------.-------------,--,�--.-,----------------,-----------------------
5The d i sc overy o f the behavior s which g ive an utterance
its rule - l ik e character need not occur s imul taneou s ly with the utterance i t se l f � I n the exampl e that I propo s e , the utterance wa s retro s pectively used l i . e . s the behaviors had occurred be fore the occurrence o f the utterance . I t c ould j u s t a s wel l occur pros pe ctive ly such that the obs e rver f in d s that h e had previous ly uncovered a remark that i s a rule o n the occ a s ion of ob s erving behavior s which c an be seen a s 'thai: remark- a s - a-ru l e i s fu l f i l lment . The temporal f ea tures of this k ind of d is covery i s treated i n Gar f in ke l � s d is cu s s ion o f the documentary method o f inte rpreta tion (Garf inke l v 1 9 6 7 ? pp . 8 9 , 9 0 ) �
2 0 9
comp lying w i th such a rule .6
Propo s it ion " (b ) " propos e s that the observer 1 s col lec-
t ion o f actu a l i n s tance s o f behavior i nto c ategor i zed type s
o f behavior i s dependen t on hear ing the r e s idents talk .
Through the r e s ident s ! talk , the ob s e rver i s ab l e to tenta-
t ive ly formu l at:e what the i r " ru l e s " might b e . The pre -
formu l ated o r tentative ly f o rmul ated ru l e s wh ich are
grounded in r e s idents ' ta l k permi tted t�e r e s earcher to see
\-,hat mot ive s any par t i c u l ar behav i or a l d i sp l ay was l ike ly
to b e " expre s s ing @ " Th i s permi tted me ( and would permit
any o ther o b se rve r ) to organi ze par t i cu l ar behav i o r s into
c oherent � c l a s s i f i ab le $ type s of behavior @ That i S g knowing
s ome th ing o f the ru l e s by means o f re s ident talk wou ld te ll
an o b server s ometh ing o f the k inds of mot ives he would en-
c ounter. i n the s e tt i ng . On knowing what k i nd o f mot ives
he might f ind ? an obs e rver would then be able to see the
me an ings o f behaviors he had encountered � Without suppos ing
s omething about typ i c a l motive s , the particular c oncrete
behavior s are equivoc a l in the i r s en s e , i . e o , any par t i cular
d i s p l ay could be cogently depicted as contr a s t ive k inds of
acts . Suppo s i t ion o f d i f f e rent mot ivationa l s chemes a l te r s
the perce ived s e n s e o f encountered behav i o r s i n such a way
that d i f fe r e n t i tems of concrete behavior wou l d be s ee n to
---------------------------�--�------------------------------------------
6T h i s would mea n that Weber ' s rule o f adequate c au s a l
a n a ly s i s i s not s imp ly a rule for d e c id ing the adequacy o f the match o f a rule t o s ome set o f behavio r s f but i t i s through the search for such l inkage s that one d i s c over s rul e s a n d behavior s that c a n meet t h e c ri ter ion .
2 1 0
go together a s an expre s s io n o f the s ame unde r l y i ng motive .
The behavior a l particu l a r s accounted for by the rule
" show loya l ty '1::0 your fe l low r e s ident s " were previou s ly
a n a l y z ed under the head ing s o f doing " di s t ance , " " di s intere s t
and d i s re s pe c t / " " pa s s ive c omp l i ance ? " and " demands and
reques t s . " Without the o rg an i z ing mot ivational scheme o f
the rule " show loya l ty to your f e l l ow re s idents u " the par
t i cu l ar ob s e rved behaviors orga n i z ed under the n amed t i t l e s
would n o t h ave been c o l lected unde r thos e t i t le s , and would
in turn have been s een by me and anyone e l s e who looked ,
e o g . $ the s t a f f 8 a s me aning s ome thing d i f f e rent than they
were seen to mean �
Thi s can be s een by con s ide r ing the c i rcums tance s o f
a n observer who was " depr ived " o f re s ident talk and was
thereby " un guide d " in h i s tentative formu lations of r e s ident
ru le s . Without re s ident talk to appe a l to he cou ld propo s e
that r e s ide n t s operated under rul e s o f s tr i c t e conomic
rational i ty and max imi z at ion of democra t ica l ly organ i z ed
therapy j u s t a s cogently a s he cou ld propo se the rule o f
showing loya l ty towards one i s f e l l ows 0 That i s ? h e could
cogently propose that re s i dents o r i ented the ir b ehavior to
maxim i z e the i r advantages and they wer e a l s o p l ay ing a game
in which rec e iv ing a particu l a r type of therapy was the i r
goa l "
Unde r the s e ru l e s : the s e behavior a l part i cu l a r s which
were organi ze d unde r the t i t l e of " d i s inter e s t and d i s r e s pec t "
2 1 1
such a s the mode o f re s ident s ' appe arance at g rouP r ( the
s louch , fac i al inattention , unre s pon s ivene s s to s t a f f que s
t i o n s and invi tations t o talk � the i r nongroup d irecte d t a lk 1
the i r e a t i n g in group , the i r denounc ing the idea l s o f the
group ) wou l d s hape up as orga n i z ed unde r d i f ferent heading s ,
The s e i tems woul d shape up , i n s ome c a s e s r in con j unct ion
with s ome behaviors portrayed previou s l y under the t i t l e o f
" pa s s ive comp l i ance " whi c h inc luded be ing unre s pons ive t o
r eque s ts for vo lunteers j be ing particularly r e spons ive to
s an c t ioned d emand s , l eaving the room imme d i a t e ly a fter group ,
s aying in s o many words that one i s c omplying because o f a
s an c t ion , a s k ing about wha t i s required , and do i ng on ly. what
i s requ i re d 0
Unde r the rul e s o f therapy and economic rat iona l i ty ;
behavi�r that had been d e p i c ted a s s louch ing , f ac ia l in
a t te n t ivene s s , and extreme ly c a sual dre s s , might we l l be
seen and portrayed a s appropr iate the rapeutic permi s s ivene s s ;
comfort ! and re l axation that i s s ome t ime s r ecounted a s
e s s e n t i a l to therapeu t i c contemp l ation � Be ing unre s pons ive
to s ta f f t a l k ( from " d i s intere s t and d i s r e spect " ) and be ing
unre s pon s ive to s t a f f pleas for volunte e r s , ( from " pa s s ive
comp l i anc e ?! ) as we l l a s s howi ng up for only those activi t i e s
that li'lere r e quired 7 wou ld b e organ i z ed unde r a t i t l e wh i c h
ind i cated t h a t re s idents wou ld negatively s an c t ion forms o f
therapy that they d id not think bene f i c i a l , ( and they d i d i n
f a c t a r gue t h a t much o f wha t s t a f f d i d i n g roup could not
2 1 2
be bene f i c i a l because i t suppo sed that a s group they woul d
attempt to control e ac h other ' s behavior rather than each
memb e r be ing s ingly r e s pons ib le for his own a c ts ) . I n that
t i t l ing o f the behavior a l par t icular s , the ob s e rver woul d
c a l l atten t i on to t h e suppo s ition t h a t re s iden t s did not
d i s l ike therapy programs guided by s ta f f , but i n s te ad ,
s imply d id not approve o f much o f what s ta f f put forth a s
therapy . S imi l a r lY t their d enoun c i ation o f group ide a l s
wou ld b e seen a s a s traight- forward a s s e r tion by re s idents
that the way the staff was runn ing group d id not perm i t the
democratic partic ipat ion o f r e s idents i n dec i s ion s r e l evant
to the group .
Res idents ? tard ine s s in pay ing b i l l s ( from my c l a s s i f i
c a t ion " pa s s ive compl iance " ) and r e s idents tending to dr i nk
wine in. the house ( from " patterns o f violation s " which
r e s idents o f te n j us ti f ied a s a cheaper way to get h igh or
s tay high than drinking in a bar ) wou ld be organ i z ed under
a t it l e l ike " minim i z ing monetary expend i ture s . 1i Behavior s
wh i ch minimized economic expend i ture s would b e accounted
for under the rule of s tr i c t e conom i c rat iona l i ty as woul d
behaviors c la s s i f ie d a s " minimi z ing expended e f fort . 1i
Min im i z ing e xpended e f fort would b e a co l lection o f b ehaviora l
type s l ik e r e s ident attent ion t o s an c t ions which reduce
" ha s s le 1 11 their cont inual attempts to detect v<lha t was re
qu i red ( bo t h from " pa s s ive compl iance " ) and the i r c l e ar i n g
o u t o f t h e room a s s oon a s group was over ( from " d i s in tere s t
2 1 3
and d i s re spect " ) .
I t IN'ould a l so be the c a s e tha-t s ome behaviors woul d
s imply g o b y unnot i ce d under th i s hypothe t i c a l s chema , e . g . �
eat ing in group roight be such a " non-event . " Thus , how the
behaviors are s een as mot ivated conduc t i s dependent o n
s ome suppos e d mot ivational s cheme ( i n c a s e s l ike th i s , one
supp l i ed by rule ) wh ich is i t s e l f dependent for i t s deter
minancy on hearing talk .
Propo s i tion " (C ) M propo s e s that an obs erver o r ana l y s t
who h a d been g iven a l i s t o f maxims which made up t h e c ode
cou ld not theore t i c a l l y generate ( 1 ) a set o f behav io r s
wh ich matched the observed behaviors a n d j us ti fy n o t g e n
e rating other s t h a t were , i n fact , not observed l and ( 2 )
could not g e nerate a s ingle c omp l eme ntary s e t of behaviors
and j ust i fy h i s " pred i c t i on . " I f he s impl y knew that r e s i
den t s were s uppo s ed t o s how their l oyalty to other r e s idents ,
he coul d p l au s ib l y then " pred ict ti that they \<V'ou ld thereby
( a ) a s sume a d i s t inct ive style of dre s s and talk wh ich s e t
them apart f rom s t a f f a n d any other s ; ( b ) take every oppor
tun i ty -to s h ow the i r d i s t a s te for s t a f f through ? e . g . r
impo l i tene s s , ( c ) do phy s ic a l violence a g a i n s t s t a f f ; ( d )
never ta lk t o s ta f f ; ( e ) not engage i n attack s o n one another
e i ther verbally ? phys ical l Y f or by attack s on the other ' s
propertY t a s in stea l ing ; ( f ) not i nform on one another .
I f he pred icted th i s s e t o f behavior s , a s one could p l au s ibly
do from the maxin i -!:s e l f , the " pred ic t i o n " wou1d b e correct
2 1 4
with respect to in forming , would be partially correct with
re s pect to " not attack ing one anothe r " in terms o f verbal
and phy s ic a l abus e � b ut steal ing from one another seemed
rather common . With re spect to the other po s s ib le pred ic-
7 tion s , the plaus ible generat ion would be wrong o
I f s ome of the behaviors actu a l ly propo sedly encompas sed
by thi s rule are examined , the nonp redictab i l i ty of the be-·
haviors i s even more dramatic � From the rul e " Show your
loya l t ie s to your f e l l ow res ident s , " how shou ld an analyst
propose that r e s idents wou ld sit a t g roup ? Would they be
" te n s e a nd hos t i le " in the ir po s ture , or would they be so
re laxed that they appear d i s intere s ted ? How shou ld he expect
them to r e s pond to reque s t s put fOl:'th by the s ta f f ? Would
they be very res i s tant to d irect orde r s and le s s re s i stant
to per�i s s ive ly g iven sugge s t ions that they do s ometh ing ,
or would they undertake no action un l e s s they were " forced "
to do so? In both of the s e ins tances , e i ther chosen alter-
native would be equally p l au s ib ly interpretab le in terms of
the s ame rule � even though the a lternative propo s e s oppos ite
actions . Th i s means that whi le one cou ld take the ru le and
a s et of actua l ly occur r ing concrete behaviors and see that
those behaviors could have been produced as outcome s o f
7Wh i l e it wa s the c a s e that s t a f f and r e s idents d i d
dre s s d i f ferently inasmuch a s re s ident s dre s s ed l ike other work i ng c l as s Mexican-Ame ricans in the ne ighborhood l and s t a f f dre s s ed in coat and t i e l when re s idents had occas ion t.O " dre s s up " as they d id for Mexi c an Independence Day i they d id not dre s s in ways that d i st ingu i shed them f rom s taf f .
2 1 5
c omp l i ance \vith that rule � the rul e i n i t s e l f doe s not te l l
the i nve s t igator what to expe c t . I n s tead o f a " pred icting"
behavior , the ru l e is actu a l l y emp loyed a s an interpre tive
device . I t i s emp loyed by an obs erver to render any be
havior he doe s encounter inte l l ig i b le , i . e . ; to see i t s
meaning i n terms o f coherent patterned mot ivat ion .
Conve r s e ly , propos it ion " (d ) " propos e s that an ob s e rver
o r analy s t � fl depr ived of r e s ident talk t' who wa s g iven a
d e s c r iption o f re s ident behav iors which were a l ready analyzed
and c l as s i f ied a s to type s o f behavior could not theoret i c a l ly
generate a s ingle set o f r u l e s which wou ld ana l y z e and explain
the s e behavi ors . I n s tead , the a n a l y s t wou ld f ind that h e
coul d produce a variety o f plau s ib le and compe t i t ive s e t s o f
ru le s � Th i s c an b e seen by con s idering the c i rcums tance s
o f an �na l y s t who attempt s to theore t i c a l l y generate a r u l e
whi c h woul d account. for t h e behaviors I have c l a s s i f ied a s
"doing d i s intere s t and d i s re s pe c t . " Thi s col lection o f
behaviors i n c luded the typ i c a l patt e rn s o f s louching a t
group , d re s s ing for group with extr eme c a s u a l ne s s ? d irec t i ng
one i s attenti on away from t.he topi c o f the group by eye move
ments $ unr e s pons ivene s s to inquir i e s ; and s ugge s tions o f the
group leader ; s ide conve r s at ions , shoe- s h i n ing ? moving i n
a n d out o f g roup ? a n d verb a l ly degrad ing t h e p o i n t o f the
g roup . In my analy s i s I e xp l a i ned the s e behav iors a s a
means to real i z ing the code e g inj unction " Show your loya l ty
to your f e l low res idents . " In that a n a ly s i s one ' s loy a l t i e s
2 1 6
t o the r e s ident group are demo n s tr ated by a re j e c t i on o f
the s t a f f g roup b y a s how o f U d i s inte r e s t and d i s re s pe c t "
toward s t a f f programs and propo s a l s .
An ana ly s t who was " depr ived " o f the guidance o f re s i
dent talk i n formulating p l au s ib l e ru l e s could j u s t a s
p l au s ibly propo s e � among a variety o f pos s ib i l i t i e s , that "
d o i ng d i s i n tere s t and d i sre s pe c t jt wa s a ction i n c omp l i ance
wit.h the s ty l i s ti c maxim tl be cool . " C omp l i ance w i th the
maxim " be c oo l " r e qu i r e s tha t one show h i s dominance over
h i s c i rcum stance s by suppr e s s ing any s how of a f fe c t and
intere s t in occurrence s in h i s s i tuati on . Persons c omply ing
with such a rule do s o out o f mot ivations to obtain the
r e s pect and admiration o f the ir f e l l ows ? in contrast to
mot ivations to obtain the tru s t of the i r f e l lows , whi ch i s
the mot ivation t o c ompl y with If sho ... v your loya l ty to f e l l ow
re s ident.s . "
Moreover . an ana l y s t who was open to other kinds o f
e xp l anation o f the de s c r ibed and c l a s s i f i ed behaviors be
s id e s the i r pos s ib l e contra-cultural product i on could e a s i ly
d i s c over and port.ray tho s e a spec t s o f the h a l fwo.y house
regime which \vould produc e apathy and/or depr e s s ion in the
r e s idents . For examp l e , the r e s ident.s ! mate r i a l c ircum
s tances we re degrad ing lflhen comp ared to tho s e of the ir non
paro lee f riends ; the ir occupation a l pros pe ct s were not
b r i ght � the program could b e repres e n te d as d u l l and unin
tere s t ing 1 e -c.c �
2 1 7
To re i terate 1 an ana lyst f a ced with the task o f inspect ing
an array of c la s s i f ied behaviors of r e s iden t s in order to
theoret ica l l y generate a set of rule s or cond i tions whiCh
could produce thos e patterned behav iors could e a s i ly do s o .
He wou ld f ind i howeve r ! that ,,,i thout the gu idance o f r e s ident
talk that h e could have many compet i t ive sets of ru l e s and
cond i t i on s , and that h e wou ld have no way of argu ing which
s ingle set among the many wer e g in fact g operat ive in the
s etting .
Summary and Conclus ion
The s e t t ing ( the s i tuated talk and other doings of the
r e s idents ) c on s i s ts entirely of equ ivo c a l d i s p l ays � That i S a
any particular d i splay , e ither an a c t , a repeti tion o f the
s ame behav ior ( e 0 g . � repe t it ively seen " s louche s U ) e an
e n s emb le o f behav io r s col lected as to type ? an utteranc e � a
repe t i tion o f the s ame utteranc e l the naming o f a c o l l e c tion
of utterance s ( i . e . , naming them " the code « ) : in i ts e l f i s
equ ivocal $ They c an be both de s c r ibed and explained in a
var i e ty o f compet ing terms . The f ormu lation o f talk as
talk-of-t.he � code and the f o rmu l a tion o f behaviors a s code
re levantly-de scr ibed and code -produced , When employed with
inte rpretive work on the vi s ib l e s c e n e s o f h a l fway hou s e ,
make s the var ie'cy o f lI expre s s ions " o f the scene through ta lk
and other c onduct a s sume a more or l e s s unequivo c a l , coherent ,
we l l-orde red , under s tandab l e , mutua l ly e luc idating form . The
s etting i s ordered in percept ion and d e s cription in a way
2 1 8
par a l l e l l ing th at o f a good gesta l t .
The code � then , i s a t i t l e o f a normat ive order in
s earch o f i ts compon e n t maxim� and behav ior s wh ich i t a n a ly z e s
and e x p l a in s . The act ivati on o f the s earch � which the code
t i t l e sugge s t s ; is ach i eved by an ob s e rver who act ive ly
interpret s the index i c a l particul ar s 8 ( the imb edded " b i t s and
p i e c e s II vlh o s e s e n s e is d etermined by the i r s een r e l evance to
s ome contex t ) of talk and a c t ion ? and ln s o doing cons"t;it;ute s
the s etting a s an ordered s e tting for h ims e l f that he c an
l iv e i n and with 0
The interpret ive search ing guided by the code a s a
sugge s t ive t i t l e ' cont inuou s ly ach i eve s a d e f in ite s en s e for
what woul d otherwi s e b e equ ivoca l d i sp lays by ( a ) s pe c i fying
par t i c u l ar ways that succe s s ive ly encountered d is p l ay s are
re lated to each other and by (b) locating o r iden t i fy ing and
n aming par t i cu l ar concretely encountered d i splays a s typ i c a l
d i s plays i n the s e tting and a s patte rn s o f t h e s etting �
De f in i te s e n s e for what wou l d otherw i s e b e equ ivoca l
d i s p l ays i s a ccomp l i shed by the f o l l owing procedure s for
r e l at ing one d i splay to another :
1 & The s e n s e o f an u tterance and the s e n s e o f s ome
behavior or b ehavior s i s a c h i eved by j uxtapo s ing each e l emen t
i n ima g ination such that the utterance i s a r u l e f o r produc ing
tha t behavior .
-�.-- ---_ .. _--, -----------,�'"--------------
8The idea o f inde x i c a l particu l ar s has been deve loped by Gar f inke l in large ly unpub l i shed wr itings @
2 1 9
2 . Seve ral d i f f erent behav i o r s c an obta i n a spec i f i c
s e n s e by ima g i n ing them a s a lternative me ans o f accomp l i shing
s ome goa l � The goal i t s e l f i s par t i a l ly sugge s ted by the
f a c t tha t one c an d i s c over such r e l atable behav i o r s and par
t i a l ly by the code as i t i s deve l oped as a texture of mot iva
t i o n s .
3 . Behav iors can be posed a s r e lated to an intended
outcome by u s i n g the deve lop i ng s e n s e of a c od e for s e l ec t in g
one outcome o f an act from i t s many outcome s a s t h e in tended
outcome and hence the me aning of the ac t o
4 . Behav iors o f two d i f f e rent part i e s can obt a i n a
de f inite s e n s e by seeing par ty A ' s action a s the cause o f
party B � s a c t i on . I n doing that kind o f immed iate or con�
crete c au s a l analy s i s , the deve l oping s e n s e o f the code i s
empl oy?d and further e laborated by i t s u s e i n ima g i n i ng what
sort of a c t that party A doe s to party B would obta in a
r e s po n s e " l ike that " f rom party B � In such a c our s e o f
imaginat ive work , the s e n s e o f " caus a l re l ation s h ip , " " party
A ' s a ct , " and " party B l s ac t " is obta ined as we l l as a
further s pe c i fication o f the s e n s e o f the code .
5 . Behavior s and utterance s obtain a de f i nite s e n s e
b y the obs e rver � s a c t o f r e f l e c t ing o n the ir production a s
ro le-bound behaviors i n wh i ch the deve loping s e n s e o f the
c ode is emp l oyed as pre scr iptions for interac t io n s betwee n
the a ct.or '(r/hose behavior i s i n que s t ion and the party toward
,,,hleh he i s v i s ibly or ima g inatively ( a s in the c a s e o f
2 2 0
r e turning to the hou s e a f ter cur f e w ) a c t ing .
6 . The l i s t i s inde f in i t e l y extendab l e .
In a l l the s e ways o f ach ieving the de f i n i te s e n s e o f
a c t s and t a lk i the re s idents occas ional though expl i c i t advice
that such s t ruc ture s were to b e f ound and that they were
formulatab l e in terms of the convict c ode , funct ioned as a
guide for imag ination . The s e n s e that encountered appearance s
were typ i c a l patterned appearanc e s was a l so gu ided by re s i
dents ' f ormulation s .
The actual ways i n which the r e s idents used what wa s
b e ing und e r st ood a s the code to d e s c r ib e events i n the s e tt ing
formu lated those concrete occurren c e s as typ i c a l occurrence s
such that m an i fe st ly d iverse behaviors could b e s een a s i n
s ta nc e s o f the pattern . When the c o d e was o f f ered i t
expl i c i, t l y formulated s pe c i f i c occurrenc e s i n t.he s e tting a s
typical s s tandard i zed f a n d repeti tive occurrence s whi ch were
i ndependent. of the particu l ar personne l in the s e t t ing at
the t ime . That i s , it was propos ed and s een that what
happened would have happened regard l e s s o f who in particular
was doing i t . So the formu l ation wa s o f fered a s a formu l a
t ion o f t h e " so c i a l f ac t s " o f the s e tt ing , i . e . , f a c t s o f
l i fe about our v.fay s i o u r behav ior f s omething about ",yhi ch we
h ave no choice 3 matters in which 'Vie a s ind ividua l s have no
a lternat i ve $ matters about which you or I cannot change .
Thi s " in s tanc ing li formu l a ting work i s e s s en t i a l to the
see ing of a pattern both i n the s e n s e of r ecurrent events
2 2 1
and sequentially related events � by providing which occur
rences are to be counted as particular to the organization
or " within the organization as an event in it, " rather than
an event which obtains its sense in the particular way that
the actor ' s day has run off ? or meaningful in its place in
the particular historical relationship between that resident
and a particular staff member , or is meaningful only as the
unintended ou"t.come of something else the resident was doing Q
etc � That is? it formulates what is part of the pattern and
what is accidental to it �
In a ll o f these procedures the real (experiencially
real) stable organi zation of the halfway house is the attain
ment of guided imagination which searches for sense through
concretely experienced scenes . There are known and unknown
ways iQ wh ich the setting could be constituted as the
observer � s structured life world through the use of other "guides OF interpretive schemes over the same set of partic
ulars ? i. e ' f other guided searches would relate the partic
ulars in other ways with another sense �
Yet , as was noted in the earliest section of this
chapter f the code is not obtained as an alternative guide or
scheme of i nterpretation among others @ The code was not
offered as merely about the setting § but was offered within
the setting "1::0 the researcher as a sanctionable scheme of
:i.nterpretation for operating wi thin the setting . That is §
the observer \'las told that if he were not to acceed to the
2 2 2
code a s the legitimate formulation o f the setting in both
h i s talk about the s etting and in h i s conduct toward the
setting , ( i � e . � act in ways compatible with the code ) then
he would not be treated as a competent party to the setting .
I t was not the case that my l i fe was threatened � or even
that I was faced with c lear insults . I t was s imply the c ase
that I wa s led to bel ieve that I would not be treated
serious ly and receive some kind of cooperation if r were not
to pay serious heed to the code .
The s e tting f than s become s con s t i tuted for a new party
to 'the setting through the common interactive work of parti e s
in that s etting � It i s through their persuas ive presentational
'\.'\1ork that the s etting becomes knollln as a coherent , meaningfu l ?
round of activitie s @
A xe s i dent ' s employment o f the code $ s moral rhetori c
in depicting h i s own a f fa irs brought h i s l ines o f action
under the auspices of an enforcable r impersonal ( in the sense
of not h i s choice ) order , irrespective of whatever he , in
:eact f thought he was up to . Moreover , the occas ions for
" te l ling the code " mos t frequently occurred when j us t i fy i ng
accounts were reques ted o S ince mee ting the demand for
j u s ti f i cation could have been the s ingle goal of " te l l ing
the code '� in every particular case in which it was told �
thex's i s no way of saying that the code s poke to the II actual �!
motives o f the res idents � For example 1 for whatever " reason"
a particular res ident d id not want to go to my o f f i c e at the
2 2 3
t ime I inv i ted h im , te l l i ng me that he could not be f r iends
with me was an e f fect ive way o f cutting off my invitation "
I s e e no cogent ground s for suppos i ng that such a r e s ident
even knew he had a " re a s on . " He may we l l have s imply not
found the pro s pe c t of ta l k inv i t i ng . I n such a c a s e " te l l ing
the code " could serve to manage the reque s t .
Th i s me ans that any a ttempt to make out what you are
up to ( or what s omeone e l se is up to ) as c lear or s e n s ib le
i s s imul taneou s ly making mor a l ( or immoral ) wha t you are up
to . The point i s not that " expl ic a t ion " i s done in the
s e rvice of " moral j us t i f ic a t i on " of some accomp l i shed a c t
o r " urging t h e d e s ireab i l ity" o f s ome future act , but rather
that the s e are a spects of the s ame acts . To d o one is to do
the othe r .
Thi s dua l useab i l i ty o f " te l l ing the c od e " was no l e s s
acce s sab l e t o me"
a s a practic ing r e s e archer ina smuch a s
" te l l ing t h e code t! became rou t i n e ly empl oyed b y m e a s an
a ccount of my unavo idable c i rcums tance s . I t e xp l a ined my
fai lures i n way s tha t could b e cogently told to other s � I
a l so employed i t as a s trategy i n s e e ing what could be done
to r e search the setting and as a guide to how i n part icular
that further research was to be c a r r ied ou t .
How o th e r s in the s e tt ing , i . e . , the s t af f , were emp loy
ing the code in ways para l l e l to the r e s earcher , w i l l further
expand the sense o f how the code was a ctua l l y i n te ract iona l ly
employed i n the sett ing to d e f ine and j us t i fy that setting
2 2 4
for the par t i c ipants . I sha l l nmv turn to u s e s to wh ich
the code was put in interac t ion with the s ta f f and in
inte ractions by the sta f f .
2 2 5
CHAPTER S IX
THE CODE IN STAFF-RESIDENT INTERACT IONS
To say that " te l l ing the code " was a persuas ive activity
in the setting as we l l as being about it means that it
occurred a s a regular , a lbeit occas iona l , conversat ional
event in which the concerting of actions was taking place .
As I wi l l indicate ? " te l l ing the code " was employed by res i-
dents as a way of dea l ing with confrontations with the staf f .
" Te l l ing the code " was further employed by s ta f f in genera-
ting explanations to the researcher and to each other . F in-,.
a l ly , " te l l ing the code " was done by staff in their dealings
with and on beha l f of the res idents .
"Te l l ing the Code " as a Res ident ' s Adequate
Explanation for Sta f f
Sta f f regularly encountered res idents " te l l ing the code "
as a way i n whi ch their questions and sugges tions were met .
Res iden'cs explained why they had done something 1 what they
would " have to do " under various c ircumstances , why they
could not do what staff had a sked of them by " te l ling the
code . II In group and in private encounters staff was told
by residents that ? for example , " I can l t tel l you that , that
2 2 6
lflOUld be snitching ll : " It ' s not safe for me to inter fere with
someone ' s l i f e , I can ' t be my brother ' s keeper " ; lI you know
I c an ' t organ i z e the pool tournament because i t would look
l ike 1 1 m k i s s ing a s s ll ; or " I don ' t think that I had better
te l l you any more about the mari j uana market cause it would
look like I � m j oining your s ide " ; e tc .
Replies to s taff ! s sugges tions and questions which were
phrased in this way were interactiona l ly suffic ient to ter
minate the reque s t , i . e . ; sta f f d id not pursue the matter
further . On the many occas ions in which I heard res idents
make thes e repl ies I never s aw s ta f f question the relevance ?
legitimacy , or factual character of the reply . S ta f f d id
question other kinds o f replies in j us t those terms . That
i S r if res idents proposed that they d id not want to do some
thing Qecause it was an ine f f i cient use of the ir time , that
they had some other obl igation which they had to mee t in
ste ad , or tha t they preferred to do something e ls e l e tc . $
sta f f would cha l lenge the relevance and/or truthfulne s s of
the res ident s ! s tory .
Thus , a res ident � s naming o f a proposed act ( l ike
talking or participating in something ) as a code-re levant
event was a prac tic a l ly adequate answer to s ta f f ' s requests ,
i . e . , it e f f ectively countered a reques t or d emand in such
a 'Vlay that the res ident was not required by s ta f f to further
j ustify h i s refusal . Moreove r ? on some occas ions s ta f f
would go further than merely hear ing the code and accepting
2 2 7
it , but would a l so acceed to res ident requests when the code
was o f ferred as grounds for action . Thi s is i l lustrated in
the following epi sode .
On many occas ions I saw residents attempt to obta in
release f rom the ha l fway hous e before they had met the con
ditions for release r i o e . , had obta ined a j ob and paid their
b i l l . Res idents told thei r agents and house staff that they
could save money by l iving e l s ewhere . They complained that
they found it d i f f icult to abstain from us ing drugs when
others around them were us ing . Some b lack res idents com
plained that the chicanos would have nothing to do with them
and that they were therefore very uncomfortable at the hous e .
Other res idents argued that they could get a j ob more quickly
i f they l ived with their relatives who would lend a s s i s tance
and tra,nsportation in finding a j ob . Staff did not acknow
ledge the s e grounds a s acceptable . However , when one res i
dent , Joe f told his agent that h e was fear ful that another
res ident fe lt that he was a snitch , s temming from an incident
some years before , the agent had Joe released from hal fway
hous e even though he had no j ob and not yet paid his b i l l .
When the agent spoke about the incident with other s ta f f
members and with m e h e repeated Joe i s s tory that h e was not
rea l ly a s ni tch . Joe and his former friend had been arres ted
together . After ques tioning , for reasons that Joe said he
d id not under stand r Joe was re leased whi l e h i s friend was
prosecuted . In te l ling me thi s s tory the agent insi s ted
2 2 8
that I under s tand that Joe was not real ly a sni tch .
In thes e ways s ta f f was acceptant and supportive o f
res idents " te l l ing the code " as the real grounds of their
action . Staff thereby acknowledged that the code was en-
forced and that res idents were acting reasonably when they
were respons ive to the meanings o f events which r e sulted
from formulat ing them in terms of the code . Thi s does not
mean I however , that the s ta f f " agreed with " or 1l l iked " the
code . I t mer e ly means that sta f f recogni z ed that the code
was operative . For example ? when in an inte rview I a sked
Joe � s agent what he thought a res ident should do if he dis-
covered that his j eweled watch had been s tolen r he replied
that :
I think he should do the same thing I s hould do . Number one , see if he can recover it hims el f . I f there i s a po� sibil ity that i t can be recovered by reporting it -report i t . Thi s ( reporting i t ) i s going to be i n conf lict with h i s code , but I don ' t approve of this code anyway . I think thi s code i s kind of stupid , but i t ' s neces sary because he never knows when he r s going to walk in the yard at San Quentin and i f i t comes to l ight that he snitched on some guy s te a ling his gold watch r he ' s l iable to f ind a shiv in his gut �
I n general $ sta f f was persuaded by thes e accounts in
the sense that they accepted them at the time - ( in the in-
teraction itse l f ) and they acted on the accounts when o f fered
by residents ; at least in the sense that they o f fe red these
s ame accounts as the I! good grounds '� for their ( staf f � s ) ac�
tion . There were several conditions which made res idents !
accounts which invoked the code persuasive r in the sense
2 2 9
that they would have been d i f f icult to refuse . Thes e con-
d itions involved cons iderations operative in the interaction
in which the code was of fered as an account .
I nteractional Condi tions Which Made the Code
Persuas ive : S ta f f ' s Responsibility
I have a lready noted that when res idents exp lained their
behavior i n terms o f the code r they e i ther directly s aid , or
it was under stood i that i f they were to behave d i f ferently
they might be beaten or k i l led . S i nc e sta f f were profess ion-
a l ly respon s ib le for -the res idents � f ate s and s ince they
profes sed at least concern , i f not f riendly feelings i toward
the residents , thi s c lause to the code s tatements could be
and was c i te d by s ta f f to render the residents e s tory rele-
vant to s ta f f ' s profess ional ob ligations . I f the story were
true p then staff had no choice but to count it as good
grounds for their action i f they were to continue consi s -
tently to present themse lves a s " humane i• and " competent
profess ional s , ,,l
This c lause to the code was so cogent that
it would have been d i ff icult for s ta f f to d i scount a code
lThi s can be understood to say that staff have a " code "
or set of rules in terms of which their actions vis-a-vis res idents and the pos s ib le outcomes of thos e a ctions are a s se s sed for the ir II humanene ss , " and " competence . 1i A " complete " analysis would require that such rules on the part of s ta f f also be analyzed as interactional ly manifested talk o That task would undoubtedly uncover further " rule s " which would require the s ame treatment � i . e " the involution would never cease . Also , the notion of con s i s tency would need inve s tigation .
2 3 0
formulation even i f they had s trongly suspe cted that in the
particular c a s e they had before them it was in fact f a l s e .
I n this regard , it would have been l ike a f ire department
that found out that three out of four times they were
summoned to a fire it turned out to be a f a l s e a larm . Each
s i gnal to respond has to be responded to because of the
seriousne s s of not responding if the s ignal turns out to be
valid . U n l ike the case o f the f ire department , however f
when s ta f f responded to the code a s a truthful account ,
there was no veri f ication of the truthfulnes s o f the account
s ince the action s ta f f took prec lude s the unfortunate event
that would have occurred o Even i f staff had not accepted
the account , (which as I sha l l show below was except ional ly
unlikely to have the consequence of the res ident then answer
ing the , ques tion or fol lowing the reques t voluntari l y ) the
unfortunate event that was portended would l ikely have been
enacted in such a way that staff wou ld never see it . For
example , the res ident would have been beaten or k i l led much
late r , or beaten out of s ight o f s ta f f in such a way that no
res idual evidence was available f and so forth . I n thi s
fashion res ident explanations employing the code were accom
panied by an untes table threat .
Interactional Cond itions Which Made the Code Persuas ive : Reputational Sanctions
I nteractiona l ly , the acceptance of the code as an ex
planation was supported by the pos s ib i l ity that the s ta f f
2 3 1
member would be undermining h i s own competence in the eyes
of others by not accepting a tale phrased in terms of the
code . The pos s ib i l ity of los s of perceived competence was
a vocalized concern in the setting . Sta f f s poke with each
other and with me about sus taining and retaining the respect
of res ident s . S taf f g seeing that I regularly talked with
res idents f inte rrogated me about how they were s een by res i-
dents . Staff , seeing that I regularly talked with res idents f
inte rrogated me about how they were s een by res idents . What
they said they wanted to know was , were they respected , were 2 they taken s e r ious ly , were they seen a s c ompetent? Sta f f
s anc tioned e ach other about being a fool in front of the
res idents , and about being taken in by res ident manipulations .
Res idents spoke to me and to s ome staff members in my presence
about some s ta f f who were proposedly not in the know about
the a f fairs o f hype s , res idents of halfway hou s e , and crim-
inal s in general . They were described by those res idents as
s tupid , s quare , fool s , naive , and could not be respected .
Re s idents coined derogatory nicknames for s ta f f members that
were particular ly troub le s ome for them . They passed thes e
names o n t o other s ta f f members accompanied b y demeaning
stories about the s ta f f member in ques tion � s competence .
Staff employed the s e names and s tories to degrade each other .
_____________ u __________________________ � ____________________________ _
2 They a l so wanted to know i f they were seen a s humane and supportive g but in mos t c a s e s thi s was secondary I and in some c a s e s treated as absolute ly irre levant .
2 3 2
Staff would s ay of e ach other things l ike "John i s rea l ly a
square � He thought he could get thos e guys to help h im s e t
u p a play ; you should hear what the res idents have t o s ay
about him . "
Interactional Conditions Which Made the Code Persuasive � Conversationa l S anctions
When s t a f f que s tioned a res ident account which did not
deal with veri f i able matters , 3 s ta f f ran the r i s k of being
openly ridicu led . The use of the code a s an explanation was
such an explanation , and s igna l led the fact that the res ident
was thereby s ay ing or doing a l l that he was going to s ay or
do " For s t a f f to attempt to pursue the matter further meant
that staf f f aced the poss ib i l i ty that they would hear the
reply " I f you can ' t see what I � m ta lking about , there ' s
nothing ' that c an be done for you , ll il Have it anyway you l ike
then , that ' s a l l I � ve got to s ay . " For thos e k inds o f
replies t o occur not only would bring the conver sation to
a halt , but would leave that s ta f f member ' s reputation
damaged for a l l thos e that were there to hear and for thos e
to whom the s tory might be told .
§Emmary o f Interactional Condi tions Which Made the Code a Persuas ive Account
Explanations based on the code were not ver i f iab le
3That i s , did not deal with concrete deta i l s which could be turned into observables . For e xamp le , the s tory " I was n ' t here because I worked overtime !! could be made observably veri f iable by phoning the man ' s employe r .
2 3 3
matters . The only way that a s ta f f member could know that
a particular activity was prohibited was because res idents
said so . For the s ta f f to r e fuse to accept such an account
meant that he faced the r i s k of organi zational troubles re-
4 suIting f rom a beating or death , or that he showed that he
was ind i f ferent to the res idents I safety , and he also r isked
the s trong pos s ib i l i ty that by refus ing to accept the account
he would be making a fool of himse l f $ By offering such
accounts of their behavior and the i r c ircums tances g res idents
e f fective ly dealt with staff demands that they s ay more about
what they and their f e l lows were rea l ly doing , and such
accounts dea l t effectively with s ta f f demands that res ident s
participate i that they engage in s ta f f -sponsored activities
wi l l ingly , and that they become invo lved in the p lanning and
execution of the program . These accounts d id tha t j ob
irrespective o f whatever it was in the setting that prompted
them in the f irst p lace . That iS q a particular res ident
might not have cared to put out the e f fort to organize the
basebal l team 1 but for him to s ay that was to show bad
faith in j o in ing the program which got him out of pri s on
early in the f ir s t p lac e . I t would mean that he was not
l iv ing up to his part of the bargain . I t would open h im to
a ttack ,by the s ta f f on thos e grounds . But for h im to s ay
4Thi s i s a bit ove r s tres sed s ince the res ident would
typ ic a l ly re fuse to tel l or refuse to ask l so the matter would end be fore s ta f f had succes s fu l ly encouraged the res ident to engage in what the res ident portrayed as deviance from the code .
2 3 4
that ? in e f fect , such a thing was prohibi ted for him , did
the j ob of getting him excused from doing the thing staff
wanted in a way that s ta f f would accept . I n general , getting
staff to accept the res idents � account of the convict code
as contro l li ng the res idents � c ircumstances meant that s ta f f
demands for res ident parti cipation were reduced wel l below
the leve l proposed by s ta f f in formulating the program .
Sta f f Use o f the Code in Generating the
Sense of Events
The materials I wi l l present i n the rest of thi s chapter
a l l deal w i th the usefulne s s of the convict code for the
s taf f . That i s , its usefulne s s as an account which explained ,
described , interpreted , and found the pattern in res ident
conduc t . S ince much accounting work of describ ing , exp lain-
ing l e tc . is done both in and about the s etting , the burden
of the materi a l s is intended to show the ways in which talk
employing the code ( talk c i ting the code ) re flexively con-
s t i tutes the expectable , typical 1 ordinary character of an
occurrence i n the s etting for the participants , i . e . , both
s ta f f and res idents . Such talk s imultaneou s ly e s tabl i shes
respon s ib i l i ties for the occurrence and identi fies what the
event is and how it is to be treated by members of the
organ ization .
Sta f f employed the code as an explanation and descrip
tion o f res ident behavior when talki ng with the researcher
and when t a lk ing with themse lve s . Although the s i tuated
2 3 5
uses of such accounts are more cogent to our intere s ts when
they occur between s ta f f and s taf f , s ince only those accounts
which were given to the researcher were recorded , I wi l l
f i r s t examine some s amples of those accounts to show s ome o f
the feature s of accounts employing the code a s explanations
of resident behavior .
S ta f f Accounts EmEl�ing the Code De l ivered to the Res earcher
S ta f f d id not cons i s tently explain the " bad behavior M
o f res ident s a s motivated-by-a-code-compliance-with-which-
was - required- for-res ident s - i f-they-were-to-avoid-negative-
s anction s -by-their-peers . That i s , they did not cons i s tently
use that who le construction . I n s te ad , their explanations
employed the code in the fol lowing way :
a o ' s ome explanations employed the whole construct ion of motivated compliance to a set o f rules and made reference to s anctions .
b . S ome explanations made reference to motivated comp l i ance to a set of idea l s , principle s , and the like , without making reference to s anctions other than being labe l led a negative type f and without making reference to exp l i c i t rule s .
c . SOIDe explanations employed the s ame mot ivational s cheme a s provided by the code f c a l l ing that s cheme " de linquent mot ives " producing l' de linquent actions , " without making any direct reference to a code .
When I was in the setting I under stood thes e a s a l l
variations o n the same theme . S t a f f employed the same k ind
of explanations of res ident behavior that r e sidents employed
in explaining their behavior to researcher and to s taf f . The
2 3 6
concrete character of thes e explanations i s di splayed in ex-
cerpts from tape recorded protoc a l s of conver s ations between
mys e l f and the staf f .
The ways that s ta f f members used the code to character-
ize what respon s e s a r e s ident would l ikely make in particular
c i r cumstances , and the consequenc e s that would a r i s e from
that c ircumstance , i f the r e s ident did not comply with the
code , can be seen in the fol lowing excerpted protoca l s .
W : Suppos e a guy d i scovered that h i s j eweled watch had been sto len from him here in the house ; what do you think he should do about it?
FA : I think he should do a l i ttle inves tigating on h i s own and f ind out who took it . OK , and then after he did that he should confront the guy with it and te l l him to g ive h im back his watch or otherwise he wi l l take care o f the j ustice himse l f . I do not think he should tell s ta f f .
W : OK , why?
PA : 01\. , we l l , if he tel l s s ta f f about it � he l s going to be branded as a f ink . The ma j or ity of them ( the r e s idents ) would think that way . Any t ime you tel l staf f anything l ike that 1 you ' re a f ink ? you know .
W : What consequences do you see for him?
PA � Oh , you know , he ' s l iable to get k i lled . Yeah , that � s a 6 0 - 4 0 pos s ib i li ty . There ' s a 6 0 - 4 0 pos s ib i li ty he a d be a - his s tatus in the eyes of the r e s t of the people - it would d imi n i s h because he did s omething you ' re not suppos ed to do and s t a f f would have feelings about i t too . They WOUldn ' t know whether they should take h i s s ide or s ay "what the he l l i s the matter with you , you violated the rules . "
The above res pons e s are a lmo s t identical to inmate
a.dvice about the s ame matter . S ta f f renders the s i tuation
e l aborated in its meaning for the r e s idents by invoking the
code as relevant to the pos s ible a lternatives a victim o f
theft would face .
2 3 7
In thi s case the moral and consequenti a l meanings of
a s i tuation of action - what to do about a s tolen watch -
are generated by looking to its pos s ib le actions that such
a res ident could take , and then assess ing thos e actions in
terms of thei r like ly meaning s , when unders tood in terms o f
the code .
The fact that these meanings o f the s i tuation of a man
whos e watch has been stolen are generated meanings i s
5 apparent in the reply of another agent who " knew" the code .
W : Suppose a guy d i scovered that h i s j eweled watch had been s tolen from h im here in the hous e .
PA : He should bring i t to the attention of h i s agent .
w � Of h i s agent .
PA : And hous e s ta f f .
W : ( Since I was surpri sed that he answered in thi s way I probed ) .. What k inds o f things could they do for him?
PA : Actual ly not too much . He should report i t to the pol ice too , i f he feels that it has been s to len �
W : ( St i l l s earching for the consequential ity o f a parolee doing that , I asked directly) OK , do you think he runs any risks with the other guys i f he does that?
PA : I don � t know - I don g t know - he might and he might not .
In another case , the ideal s of the code which are rep
re sented by the regular , or the real man � were employed by
staff in explaining res ident behavior , i . e . § in locating i ts
real meaning . In the example below i t i s used to explain
5 That he " knew" the code was apparent to me inasmuch as
I s aw him teaching the former agent about the relevance of the code to some aspects of his work .
2 3 8
res ident behavior in re lation to s ta f f and s ta f f-promulgated
regulation s .
W : Do you think there are any s pe c i a l problems guys coming here to the house have to face?
PA : Yeah , yeah . One o f them obviou s ly i s over exposure to the Department of Correction s . You see , thes e guys have a rather exaggerated idea of what manhood i s , you know , being a real man . (A real man i s an equivalent term to " regular , " one whose behavior i s in conformity with the code ) 5 They come here g on the one hand they have to l ive up to that vers ion of manhood , you know , no one i s going to te l l them what to do . And on the other hand t everybody here i s tel ling them what to do and everything g so a l l k inds o f ambi guous things occur . That depres s e s the chance of making any gains with these guys . I n other word s , they are chal lenged more (by being here ) and i t � s d i f f icult for them not to accept
that chal le nge . Now , s o , s omething l ike cur few , for instance v they have to be in by midnight . I f they were l iving at home r they might be in by midnight anyway , but here they might feel that nobody is going to te l l me I have to be in by midnight , so they ' l l try to manipulate .
As in the c a s e s c i ted before , the code or its der ivative
conceptions ( in thi s case being a " real man n ) i s o ffered a s
the typical res ident � s def inition o f h i s s ituat ion . The
code , in part , is reci te d as the s tandpoint of the res ident .
Then the meanings of the rule s , regulation s , and directives
of halfway house s ta f f are e l aborated from that s tandpoint .
What that analy s i s accomplishes i s to g ive meaning to the
trouble-making behavior of the res idents ( the " ambiguous
things " ) making it s en s ib le by tying it to the res i dents i
supposed concern for l iving up to their s tandards o f manhood
which are d e fined in terms of the code �
I n another case , I encountered a s ta f f member who em-
ployed thes e. s ame idea l s to characte r i z e the unpleasant
patterns o f r e s ident behavior and the k ind o f re lationship
2 3 9
those patterns and their underlying motives required s ta f f
t o have with res idents . I n the example below � I had a sked
an agent to c larify the s ta f f terminology of " ho s t i l i ty to
author ity " by tel ling me about the k inds of things a par-
ticular res ident he would identi fy a s " ho s t i le to authority "
would do . The agent ends the rec itation by attributing the
underlying motivations of the unpleasant act to the princi -
pIes by which thi s man l ive s t spec i f ically ( under s tood ) the
code . The agent propos e s that he mus t adapt to thos e prin-
c iples if he is to have tolerable dealing s with the man .
w � Tel l me s ome o f the things h e does in particular .
PA : Wel l , l ike for example , in the group s i tuation where you have a lot of freedom , he wil l , you know , be very rej ec ting or he � ll r idicule you , or he ' l l be uncooperative , or he l ll ridicule someone e l s e in the group who i s cooperative - for be ing cooperative , j u s t thi s sort of thing •
. • . He � ll be late for group , you know , a s a rule , and t.hen walk in.to group and s tate that he was on the phone - which he knows is k ind of not a legitim�te reason for be ing late for group $ and he ' s s aying to you , IIWel l , what are you going to do to me as a result of it? " and then i f you don W t do anything , we l l then it ' s a coupl e o f s trokes for him l you see . And you know you usua l ly don 5 t do anything , i t i s a couple o f s trokes for h im . OK and then o f course h e i s never going to s ide with s ta f f on any i ssue , whether it ' s having buttered popcorn or having plain popcorn , you know , which they could really give a shit about les s . I f s ta f f says buttered popcorn , h e says p l a in popcorn , you know , thi s kind of thing . OK , and then he ' l l p lay one s ta f f member against another s ta f f member . (Agent then c ites example . )
OK , and s o you know he ' ll be uncooperative within l imits ; j u s t to demonstrate that he really i s reluctant , he wil l drag h i s fee t ; he l ll make those funny remarks that h e make s ; and the only k ind o f re lationship that you can e stab l i sh with him , i f you ' re the type o f person that can tolerate any of that k i nd of thing , - I mean i f you are the type of person that can tolera"te that sort � • • if you $ re not you I I I go out to get him , and when you do that he � ll run ? c ause you could make things pretty unbearable for h im .
2 4 0
W : Yeah
PA : OK , i f you can tolerate i t F then he i 1 l e s tabl i sh a re lationship w i th you whos e leve l of interaction is character i z ed by k i dd ing , h igh- leve l k idding , and that ' s a l l . You know , in other word s r " What ' s happening today ,
ll n Oh , nothing muc h , God I feel terrible " "No wonder you f e e l terrible , you ' re working , " " I t ' s a lousy j ob " and I W l l say " You i l l get used I
to i t . You haven ' t worked a day i n your l i fe , i t ' s going to take a long t ime to get used to i t . I , You know I and l ike that , but noth ing deeper than that .
w � Doe s hav i ng a guy that i s hos ti l e l ike that make for d i f f iculties for you?
PA : ( He repl ied that as long as he cou ld s tand the backbit ing and could make i t c lear tha t there were s ome things l ike nalline te s ting and f i l ing the month ly repor t , that such a guy was not real ly d i f f icul t to dea l w i th o ) And then of cour s e , you are a lways going to run into the s i tuation where h e is going to need you , becau s e he is invariably going to get into troub le s ome t ime s , and you are h i s mouthpiece and you ' re the guy that 5 s got the s ay-s o about wha t ' s go i ng to happen to h im . • • • OK , s o then i f you r e s ign yours e l f to the fact that you are going to e s tab l i sh your re lationship on a supe r f i c i a l leve l and that t s the extent o f i t f then when you get involved in any s i tuation where he does need you , you ses , then he won ' t change h i s mode , and you .. won ! t expect him to change h i s mode . He wi l l s ay " l i m in a b ind " and then I l l l s ay " you ' re i n a b i nd . " Then I ' 1 1 s ay " Thes e are the "things you wi l l have to do . Do you want to buy it:.? " and he ! 11 say , " Ye s , I ! 11 buy tho se things and I l ll try to uphold them 6 " And then I ' l l s ay " Remember l a s t t ime ? " and then he � l l j us t laugh and s ay , " Li s ten , l e t i s not go into that" and then I ' l l explain to him how I th i nk i t w i l l go and when he ' l l probab ly get out of j a i l . I won � t need le h im in that s ituation , becau s e i f I do , he ' l l have t o say " Fuck YOU , " i f he wants to hold -keep my re s pect , you know , wh ich i s k i nd o f a s tr ange thing , but that � s true .
w � Lose r e s pect from h i s point o f view?
PA � No , f rom my point of view . I COUldn ' t respect h im any longer i f I said to h im !10K you a s shole Q you remember a l l that shit you u s ed t o pul l and a l l that l i tt l e backbi ti ng remarks you u sed to make and how uncooperative you were and thi s and thi s and th i s and now you ' re snive l l ing becau s e you ! re in a bin.d and you want m e to h e l p you o u t but before I help you you ' re go ing to have to eat s hi t . D o you want to eat shit or don � t you? tI You don ' t a s k him 8 but you are feed ing i t to h im and j us t see how he takes i t . OK , if he
24 1
take s it , then he has lost e s teem in my eye s , you see . You know , he has already to ld me he want s to keep our re lationship a certa in way . He is a certain k ind of guy , take me or leave me .
W : A tough guy?
PA � Let ' s say a man who says that " these are my princ iples and thi s is how I live and you ' re not going to change the way I live . " OK , i f he backs down and starts doing that sort of thing then I can � t very wel l respect him any more . I t & s the s ame kind of thing i f a guy informs . Now why should I not respect an informer? He ' s hel ping me do my j ob , in a s e ns e , but yet I don � t respect an informer � He violated the codes of his group 0 & • • I f ee l , OK , you want our r e lationship to be l ike thi s , then I l l l say OK , I ' ll accept this re lationship on thi s bas i s p you know , and OK , this means that I can p lay you so much , you know 1 bec ause you ' re playing me so much , you know , but if I c atch you , not in the l iteral sense , we l l , OK r thos e are the rules of the game and you lost . You have to abide by the rules of the game by not snive l l ing and not changing or doing anything kind of pecul iar out of your mode of ordinary re sponse &
Here an agent portrays many detai l s of a man ' s behavior
as having the s ame motivational sourc e . The man i s depicted
a s l iving by a set o f princ iples which i s a s trong ver s ion
of " the code of his group . � In leading h i s l i fe in terms
of these principles the man is con s i s tently demons trating
his reluctance to comply with s ta f f demand s . He i s con-
s i s tently demonstrating his oppo s ition to the order proposed
by s t af f . H i s d i s agreements with s taf f l h i s r e j ection of
s ta f f , hi s r idicule o f s taf f , h i s r idicule of other res i -
dents ; h i s uncooperativene s s with s ta f f r his latenes s and
other rule violations , and h i s imperviousne s s to s ta f f
e f forts to e s tablish a more intimate re lationship with him ,
are a l l analy z ed a s having a common meaning . The behavior s
are thereby s een and depicted a s patterned . C learly , the
2 4 2
pattern could accomodate more particulars . Anything the man
did which was not to the liking of sta f f could be accomodated
along with the others . The common pattern s een through
these behavioral events is that they are all shows of the
re luctance and res i s tance to s ta f f and s ta f f directives
which s tem f rom his comp l i ance to the code .
As a neces sary consequence of referr ing this col lection
of events to a motivational s cheme which is rea l i zed in each
concrete occurrence r the s ta f f draw attent ion away from
whatever " subs tantive and s i tuational ly loc ated sense " the
events might have had for the participants at the time . By
" substantive and s i ,tua tional ly located sense " I mean such
things as what the res ident was di sagree ing with ; what he
was res is t ing ; and the sense of his uncooperativene s s a s a
response to h i s agent for what his agent was doing . I a l so
mean that the appeal to pa<ttern excludes such pos s ibi l i t i e s
as seeing the rule breaking in terms o f the particular course
of action that the res ident was leading out at the time that
the rule was broken , e . g . , that he was late because he was
involved in s omething he r in fact ; found more valuable .
The pattern extends beyond particular s i tuations ; whi l e
be ing real i zed in them , i t i s not competing with explana
tions which appeal to the meaning of events in this particular
s i tuation . Instead , the use o f the code propo s e s a common
meaning to a l l these events from the point of view of the
actor o For him , they have their meaning a s a demons trab le
2 4 3
show o f h i s princ ipled oppo s i tion . They are means to the
end of mak ing tha t show , or they are the veh i c l e for mak ing
that shmv .
In a c onver s a tion w i th another s ta f f member I encountered
the employmen t o f the s ame pattern of aggre s s ive re s i s tance
to s ta f f ( a s seen i n the above c a s e ) as a characte r i z ation
o f troub l e s w i thout any exp l i c i t r e f erence to the code or
" a s e t o f p r inc iples . " Sta f f o f ten c a l led the s e mot ives
" ac ting out de l i nquency" and the produced behavior " de l in-
quent ways o f acting . " Although the c l in i c a l termino logy o f
" acting out U was some t ime s u sed ? th i s typ ic a l ly did n o t meaD
tha t a per sona l i ty d i sorder wa s i nvo lved , but i n s te ad meant
that person s were act ing in terms of con s c i ou s ly held mot ives
wh ich were antagon i s ti c toward s t a f f .
W : Are there ways the s e guys act that make i t d i f f icult to run th i s organi z a t i on?
PA � Oh yeah ? they can burn mattre s se s and they may burn the the house down s ome day ; they s te a l thing s ; they s te a l things from each other . Presents manageme n t problems . They f ight $ get staf f ups e t o K i l l each other oc c a s iona l ly ; caus e s one to sweat a l i tt le b i t , lo s e s leep . Yeah ; thes e k inds o f th ings tha t c ome out � they make i t d i f f icult to run a place . Bec ause you have a de l i nquent popu l a t i on , when i t needs to act out i t does it i n de l inquent ways - not j u s t irrespon� s ib l e way s - you know , actua l ly damag ing ways that hur t people ; phy s i c a l ly hurt them . I n mos t c a s e s I suspect that i t i s con s c i ous . I don ' t th ink mo s t of the k ind o f condu c t w e see i s uncons c i ous . I think i t i s a consc ious attack against: the e s ta.b l i shment .
In an.other part o f the s ame conve r sa tion ? the s ta f f member
emph a s i zed that pa"tterns o f phy s i c a l violence <were not a c tu-
a l ly t:.yp i c a l o f the k ind o f a ttacks on the e s tab l i shme n t
that were u s u a l ly s een . I n th i s portion I a sked the s t a f f
2 4 4
member to c larify a motivational term I had s een the s ta f f
frequently use . A s seen below , that motivational term -
being hos t i l e to authority - i s the s ame motivational s cheme
that i s embedded in the code �
W : What does it mean to be hostile to authority ?
PA : That could manifest itsel f in a number o f d i fferent ways . I n groups you can see it by withdrawal into abj ec t s ilence r rea l ly kind of removing themselves phy s ic a l ly f rom the group would be another way . Or when a man gets up and walks away from you and the group _ That kind o f hos t i lity . Or he could get up and walk out of your o f f ice , that would be a very hos t i l e act . So , hostility towards authority can be withdrawal from the scene ? or it could be what people more o ften think about , but which happens more rarely , i s where you get a verbal outburs t direc ted at you . And in some very rare c a s e s i an act o f violence . But I think in mos t c a s e s that what we s e e a s hos t i l i ty toward authority takes place in a k ind of aggre s s ive res i s tance - not pas s ive res i stance , because pas s ive re s istance can be very cons tructive , like the c ivi l r ights movement ? but I am talking about where you have aggre s s ive negative res is tance - l ike withdrawal from partic ipation , or other k inds of subvers ion that might go on between the peer group . You know , running down the program , running down the hous e , running down the staf f ? running down whatever there is to run down . Maybe in s ome cases j us ti f ied , but I would see that a s a k ind o f hos t i lity , pos s ib ly legitimate ? but s t i l l hos t i lity .
Here a s ta f f member collects a wide array of d iverse
behaviors by re ference to the s ame mot ivational s cheme that
is provide by the code l c a l ling the s cheme II del inquent acting
out " and " di s playing hos t i l i ty to authority " without making
any reference to the code in s o many word s . A motivational
s cheme which " could manifest itself in a number of d i fferent
way s " provides for the col lection o f d iverse events under
that s ingle s chema � The diverse events (withdrawal into
s i lence � leaving the s cene s walking out o f s ta f f i g o f f ice ,
verbal attacks on s taf f ; rare acts o f violence , withdrawal
2 4 5
from partic i pation , verbal ly running down the hous e , the staf f ,
and the program , the ft from the hous e , the burning o f mat
tre s se s , e tc . ) are thereby made out a s part o f a common pattern .
Again , the , events obta in their s en s e a s part of an orderly
scene through their portrayal a s man i f e stations o f a common
underlying motivation & In both o f thes e cases the attribution
of a s ingle l ine 9f motivation ( these are con s c ious attacks
against the e s tab li shment , an aggres s ive negative res i s tanc e )
thereby does the fol lowing : ( a ) i t provides for the patterned
character of d iver s e event s ; ( b ) it portrays these event s in
terms of the ir proposed meaning from the point of view o f
the person engaging i n the action J ( c ) i t " explains « thos e
occurrenc e s b y placing them in a n unders tandable means -ends
framework ; e . g . , they withdraw from group in order to show
the ir hps t i l i ty towards US a The action i s under standab le
inasmuch as i t would be reasonab le for anyone who wanted to
show thei r host i l i ty towards u s might there fore withdraw
from group 4
On s ome occas ions the ways that the code provided for
labe l ling vio lators of the code were employed by s ta f f to
explain why res idents re s is ted engaging in particular activi
tie s . S ta f f spoke of res idents not wanting to be seen a s a
square ? a s n i tch � a snive l le r , or a k i s s a s s . For example �
a staff member explained to me the way the recreational
program was going and the reasons for it in the following
way :
2 4 6
Wel l , i t gives them a chanc e ! under a certain amount of - we l l ; I don � t want to u s e the word f but under a certain amount of dures s they wi l l participate and yet , some o f thes e guys do want to participate i n s ome of thes e activities but they don S t want to because they don ' t want to be seen a s , you know , a bunch o f squares and a l l this and that .
The meaning o f staff- sponsored recreationa l activities
from the r e s idents 1 point o f view is analyzed a s " something
that squares would do . " That res idents would not want to
partic ipate i s thereby explained because they do not want
to be seen acting in that de fined way . That d e f inition i s
a derivative o f the code . I t i s a l s o noted that res ident s S
per s onal f e e l ings about particular recreation can be diver-
gent from thes e normative meanings . F inally , s t a f f can
as s i st thos e residents by ordering them to do the thing in
ques tion ? s ince then doing the recreation is comp ly ing with
s anctio�ed orders rather than doing s omethi ng s quare s do
because they want to do i t .
The c od e was employed a s an exp lanation without topical ly
re ferring to i t . In the case be low ? the code was used to
characte r i z e relationships between res idents and to explain
why they could do nothing about each other s ' deviance a s
a partial explanation for why drug u s e was s o common �
PA � You know ; they ' re in a very pecul i ar pos ition � I don ' t know i f i t r s a pos i tion that can be j us t i f ied , but I ' d probably j us ti fy i t . They rea l ly can * t take respon s ib il i ty for the fact that thi s house i s c lean or dirty because there i s always going to be that s ometime when they are going to get into troub le again and have to face thes e people ( other res idents of the hou s e ) in pri son . I know enough about parole that i t � s a very precar ious thing g depends on the whim o f the parole agent ; the supervisor , the tempo o f the time s . So there fore that could conce ivably happen ( go ing
2 4 7
back to prison ) . So they can ' t take respons ib i li ty for keeping thi s place c lean .
W : I t s ounds l ike they told you that i s why they can i t do anything about other guys u s i ng .
PA : Yeah . that 1 s what they told me , you know , and I ' m s aying I bought i t but I � m not very comfortab le with i t .
W : So therefore they couldn ' t snitch ? for instance , or do anything about trying to s top another guy from u s ing?
PA � Therefore they couldn 9 t snitch or the res t l r ight .
Here the e l ement of the code Il Don ' t interfere with
other res iden"cs 1 deviant interes t s " is employed ? but not
labe l led a s a rule in so many word s . That that rule i s
enforced i s a l s o inqicated � Through the s e two propo s i t ions ,
the s taff member portrays the res ident s ' c i rcumstance s from
the ir point o f view . From their point o f v i ew p they are
prohibited from s topping each other s ' drug use . From the ir
point of view , they are endangered for doing s o , particularly
i f they are returned to pri s on where violence i s more commonly
employed . Through that portrayal p a s tate of a f fa i r s - the
house is a lways dirty - is thereby explained a s an outcome
of re s idents having a s ituation that appears to them in that
fashion .
Summary o f Staff U s e of Code to C la r i fy the Setting for the Res earcher
All. of these remarks were d irected toward the researcher
:1. n pr ivate t that i s , whe n no other s ta f f members were pre sent .
They show that the code was not s imply known and avai lable
to s taf f r but that they could employ it to ana lyz e that part
2 4 8
. . . . . ... ;/ . . .
o f the i r c i rcums tance s which was the behavior o f r e s idents 0
The code and its mot iva tiona l s cheme wa s emp loyed by
s t a f f in the s e conve r sations to co l lect d i s parate behavioral
events l ike : break ing hous e r ul e s � s i tting pa s s ive ly in
grouP i burning mattres s e s � stealing from the house , disrupt
ing the prog ram ! being late to group � e tc � , as instances of a
pattern o f c o n s c iou s ly mot ivated r e s i s tance to s ta f f and
its program � perhaps a d irect attack on the correctiona l
e s tab l i s hment . That i s , the code and its accompanying
mot ivation a l s cheme was emp loyab le as a device for c o l lecti ng
d i s parate behav iora l events a s i n s tanc e s o f the s ame pattern
of behavior .
The code was a l so ava i lable to s t a f f a s a method o f
por traying the c au s e s o f troub l e s ome r e s ident b ehavior by
i t s use' in analyz i ng the meaning s of a l ternative cou rs e s o f
act ions that r e s idents could take ( report a thef t or not ,
f o l low the r u l e s or not , par t ic ipate i n ha l fway hous e
recreationa l activ i t i e s o r not � inte r fere in other people ' s
drug use o r not ) f rom the r e s idents � point o f view . T h i s
was accomp l i s he d b y emp loyi ng the code a s the r e s ident s t
d e f ini tion o f the i r s i tuation . Re s ident bad behavior i s
then inte l l igible a s what a r e a s onab l e pers on would do i f
that were the way h i s s ituation appeared .
Notice that w i th r e spect to not repo rting a the f t , one
s ta f f memb e r says tha t he does not approve of it � but s e e s
that f rom the r e s ident � s po int o f v i ew that tha t a l ternative
2 4 9
i s neces sary . With respect to res idents not trying to inter
fere with e ach others ' drug use ? one agent s ays that they
can not do it because of the consequences they face when
they go back to pri son . H e i s not comfortable with that
explanation ? but he bought i t . It appear s , then s that a
s t a f f member hears res idents ! explanations of the ir own
activities and i s able to take thos e explanation s , e l aborate
them , and extend them to c ircumstan c e s beyond thos e for
which the explanations were original ly given . In doing 80 s
when s ta f f members are asked to talk about res i dent a f fa i r s ;
they have a more or les s coherent way of analyz ing them .
The Uses o f the Code in Sta f f - S ta f f Interactions
Ta lk about the code between s ta f f occurred with greates t
regularity when res idents were doing s omething troublesome
or unusua l . On the occas ion that s omeone had to te l l of the
troub le , explain it and/or propos e s ome remedy for i t g the
code among other s tories was invoked as an account of the
source of the troub le � The fact that s ta f f used the code
to explain troub le when trouble arose instead of employing
i t a s an omn i-re levant def inition o f res ident concern s r moti
vation s , orientations 1 and the l ike ? sugges t s that the
v i s ible phenomena of the code is a way of portraying and
explaining res ident or inmate action when explanations were
cal led for rather than a def inition of the res ident as
continuous ly experienced by s taf f .
2 5 0
The Situated or Occasioned U s e of the Code by S ta f f
I f one attempted to hold s ight of the code a s a c on
tinuou s ly re levant def inition of the res ident * s s i tuation ,
then most o f what res idents d id would e i ther not make s ense
or s imply would not be re levant to the vi s ible scene 4 Whi le
it was the case that large numbers o f res ident were troub le
s ome , mos t of the res idents mos t of the time were ilwe l l
behaved . " They came to the hal fway hous e ; abided by the
rule of cur f ew , group attendance , and the l ike @ They found
a j ob in about a week , paid their b i l l , and go·t out . While
they were not particularly friend ly to staf f l neither were
they overtly hos t i le . Though they did not s eek out s ta f f ' s
companY f n e i ther did they overtly take action to avoid it .
They were j us t there , doing what was required o f them . The
code became relevant for s ta f f as an explanation for a l l the
ways that things went wrong when f inding an explanation
for the unpleasant of d i s turbing action was the task at
hand � Whe n no such action was i n ques tion , s ta f f proceeded
in the ir convers ations mak ing descriptions and sugges ting
strategies for the program wh ich would have been in con
tradiction to what the code propos ed had it been introduced �
So ? when r e s ident behavior was not particular ly overtly
res i�tant , s ta f f ta lked about the ways that they could make
the program more interes ting to the res idents ? more u s e fu l
t o them ? more relevant t o their l ives and to their fami lies ,
2 5 1
as i f the extent to which the res idents would participate
in the program had to do with the s e matters rather than the
meaning that participation would have for res idents in terms
of the code .
For example � at a time at which the committee s had not
been particularly active in the i r planning of events r so
that there was little to re s i s t , the program director sug
ge s ted in a s ta f f mee ting that halfway hous e hold a picnic ,
at least for the res idents and perhaps for the famil i e s of
res idents . The s ta f f a l l concurred in the value of the idea .
Some agents s aid that it would give the res idents and per
haps their f ami lies a new rec reational experienc e . They
said that the men should f i nd the idea appe a ling . When the
event was f ir s t announced to the men in Monday night group ,
they gr�eted the proposal a s " nice . " Through s everal weeks
o f planning , staff talked about various technical problems
in arranging for a park , in arranging for transportation for
fami l ies ( later deciding that they could not invite famil i e s )
and in d iscuss ing the poss ib i l i ty o f having beer at a s tate
s ponsored function . All referenc e s to the res idents por
trayed them as anxious ly awai ting the picnic . Starting the
week before the event was actua lly to be held , many res idents
began to s ay that they did not want to go . When the s taff
member who ran Monday night ' s group announced to the other
sta f f " The tone of group is ' why do we have to go to the
picpic , i t � s for s ta f f O " he was answered by another o fficial
2 5 2
of the program " I think we have learned the le s son that
thes e guys are bas ical ly res i s tant to being around non
de l i nquents . They do not want to do it and they are un
comfortable in doing it . They won 9 t get involved i f they
can f ind any way of avoiding i t . But ! they can have a ball
if they go when we absolute ly require i t . I f w e require
them to go , then they don ' t have to worry about looking
l ike they want to be involved If.rith nondel inquents . Ii Thi s
was the f i r s t mention of the pos s ible mean ing o f the p icnic
a s interpreted by the code . This was the f i r s t mention o f
poss ible r e s i s tance t o the picnic . The d i s cu s s ion up to
thi s point had been i n terms of the technical problems o f
holding a picnic and what would make for having a picnic
that the res idents would want to go to . For example . would
they li.ke i t better i f they could have beer? Would they
rather have their f am i l ie s there or not? Al l of thes e
matters , o f cour s e ? are irre levant i f the important thing
about the picnic for the res idents was that it was a s ta f f
sponsored event and one i n whi ch their loyalties would be
que s t ioned by thei r attendanc e . Once thi s pos s ib i lity had
arisen r however ! the code was avai l able as an explanation
for what was happen ing in s ta f f-res ident interaction and i t
was available a s a prescription for what s ta f f could do
about it " I f the pi�nic was to be held with r e sidents
r e s i s ting i t ? the only means ava i lable to s t a f f was to order
the res idents to attend @ S i nce the code propo s e s that i t i s
2 5 3
permi s s ib le for its adherents to avoid pun i shment ? the code
thereby provided for the reasonab lene s s of s ta f f ' s require
ment "
As w i l l be seen in the material s below , it was in uses
l ike thi s that sta f f employment o f the code was mos t v i s ib le .
That iS I it was on the occas ions in whi ch organizational ly
troublesome events were the matter of focus that the code
was employed in interpreting $ causal ly analyz ing ? and anti
c ipating what res idents were doing . There may have been
other occas ions of the code ' s use by s taf f � but on the bas i s
o f my observations thes e were surely the most prominent .
The C ode a s an EXElanation �f Trouble
The mos t common trouble sta f f was cal led on to explain
was the lack of progres s in committees and group s . Each
evening a f te r comrnittees one staff member who l ed a committee
reported on what the committee had done that night and what
plans they had in the works . When s ta f f members reported
that they were not accomplishing much � they explained that
the res idents could , not and would not participate in any
active way and that there was nothing that staf f could do
to alter that fact . Therefore I whatever the committee cou ld
accomplish had to be done by s ta f f and s taf f d id not have
enough time . Frequently other staff member s would j oin in
with sympathetic remarks showing that they understood that
the men would not participate and that they were del iberately
motivated to not participate . When thos e i n charge attempted
2 5 4
to undermine these accounts , that i s § not accept them � they
d id so not by arguing against the c laim that res idents
refused to c ooperate � but by arguing against the c la im that
staff did not have enough time to do what res idents would
not do . The s tories " res idents refuse to participate » ,
" they regard group as a crock of s h i t ll � " they think i t ' s
square to participate in committee s " ; " they s ay going to a
pool tournament at halfway house i s for kids , u were left
intact as reasonable accounts of res ident participation .
As long as the extent o f res ident partic ipation was acceptable
as an explanation of the fact that a committee was doing
very little j such accounts were accepted by the other s ta f f
who heard them a s good enough grounds for accepting the tale
that your committee has not accompl i shed anything but we
can s t i l l see that you are doing your j ob .
This i s not to say that the code was s imply avai lable
as an excuse for re l ieving s ta f f of respon s ibi l i ty for the
productivity of a committee or group ? for the code was
employed to analyze occurrences in group in which there was
no question about the group l s productivity . For example g
Monday night ' s house management group had no product that
was accounted to the rest of the s ta f f , yet the code was
employed to account for events there . I t was a place where
troubles in the house s this week ' s agenda , complaints and
sugge stions about the house and its administration ! were
d iscussed between a s ta f f member and a l l the residents s The
2 5 5
res idents were invited to talk about anthing they wished .
On s ome occas ions a number of res idents would j o in forc e s
i n arguing agains t the way the house was being adminis te red ,
leaving the s ingle s ta f f member a lone in defending the ad
min i s tration pol ic i e s . The s ingle s ta f f member sometimes
analy zed what had gone on in group with me and another s ta f f
member i f o n e were around after group had been held . The
code was prominent in the analys e s "
On one such occas ion a number o f res idents had argued
that it was d i f f icult for them to f ind j ob s because a f ter
the first few days they had exhaus ted their funds and had
no money for transportation . Even residents who were em
ployed j oined in the argument in support of the unemp loyed .
They argued that the hal fway house should regularly supply
transportation money . The s ingle s ta f f member argued that
e ach res ident who came f rom prison had $ 4 0 . 0 0 or s o in r e
lease funds and h e was suppos ed t o s ave that money f o r j us t
that purpo s e . I f the money was exhausted , then the parole
agents had funds that they could release in sma l l amounts
for j ust this purpose . At every turn a r e s ident would argue
against thi s claim l s aying that not a l l res idents were
re leased f rom prison , paro le agents were o f ten not around ,
and so forth .
In the rump s e s s ion the s t a f f member interpreted the
2 5 6
occurrence a s " 1 1 f d l ' 6 . f . a c ear examp e 0 e 1nquency re1n orC1ng
its e l f ll which was h i s terminology for s aying that the l ine
that the res idents were arguing was a del iberate attack on
the program i rather than s imp ly motivated by a des ire to
obtain transportation fund s , and that what the other r e s i -
dents were doing by j oining in w a s s anctioning that attack .
I n another rump s e s s ion the s ame analys i s o f another incident
was proposed in which res idents j oined each other in arguing
against payment of the b i l l before they were terminated from
the house .
Incre a s ed rate s of rule-violating behavior was explained
in the s ame way . For example ? in the regular weekly s ta f f
meeting v one s taff member brought the others up to date about
events in the house by s ay ing " We have ten new men enter the
house thi s week ? drink ing has increas ed , and u s e has increased
6 In thi s example and tho s e that fol low , staff uses the names del inquency , delinquent orientation � and delinquent . Sta f f not only app lied thi s language to the men , but to each other as wel l . That it meant action in compliance with the code is mos t c learly seen in the ways they applied thes e labe l s to each other . An agent would be cal led a delinquent or del inquently oriented when ( a ) he re fused to give other s taff information about a res ident , mos t o f ten that a res ident was us ing ; i . e . , he refused to " snitch � ; ( b ) when he balked at taking actions to interfere with a
parolee ! s i l l icit pleasure , a s for example , in actively prohibiting a man from per s i sting in a common- law r e l ationship ; ( c ) when he refused to take serious ly someone � s ruleviolating behavior , shrugging it o f f a s nothing much ; ( d ) when he took the res ident s ' s ide i n a n argument against other sta f f , All o f thes e matters are provided for by maxims of the code , When s ta f f appl ied thi s language to res idents , the particular thing being noted involved thi s s ame s e t o f cons iderations .
2 5 7
now that we have ten men testing the limits .7
When they do
that they reinforce each other ' s de linquency . " Aga in , the
example is phras ed in s taf f ' s pro f e s s ional rhetor ic instead
of the language of the code . However , what is meant i s
identical with the code way o f putting i t l which would be
"a group of new men j us t came in and they have to f ind out
j us t what is required and puni shed so that they won ' t be
doing anything more for s ta f f than they have to . t�en they
do that they pos it ive ly sanction each other ' s deviant acts . "
In s ome cases attacks against the s ta f f and the program
and the tendency for res idents to violate rules were de-
scribed in thes e rump s e s s ions and in staff meetings as
being promulgated by de linquent leaders who very de l iberate ly
be li ttled res idents who were cooperative with s taf f . That
they we�e leaders was descr ibed as s eeable in the way they
led the attacks , that i s ; in the way in which they enforced
the code . After the leaders had been identif ied � the s ta f f
member doing the iden<tif ication took s teps t o have them
removed f rom res idencY I which he explained as nec e s s ary
because they were leading i l legitimate oppos i tion to the
program and encouraging other s in leading out del inquent
7To " te s t the l imits " was rule-break ing activity and
other ant i - s ta f f activity that was presumably engaged in as a device for detecting what rule s would be enforced and \..rhat would not be enforced . Thus , the one who " te s ted the l imi ts " would comply with those rul e s that turned out to be enforced . The ident i f ication of an act as " te st ing the l imits " has more than one sense for correctional workers . I t can also mean that the per s on has a character s tructure which leads h im to break rules unt i l they are enforced . I found that usage to be rare at halfway house .
2 5 8
patterns .
Sta f f Use o f the Code for Identi f ication
and Anticiea tion of Behaviors
The code was also employed to account for and to extend
( in the manner of prediction ) the pattern of behavior of
particular res idents r as wel l as app l ied to the activity o f
the group . For example , one a fternoon I had been in the
dormitory area talk ing to some new arriva l s to the ha l fway
hous e . The program director came up and told one of the new
men " I need to orient you . " The new man repli ed " I don i t
need it ; I ' ve been here be fore . " The program d irector told
him to come a long anyway , some of the rules may have changed
and he t,.7anted to be sure that the new res ident knew them .
The new man s aid ; in- what I took to be a hos tile tone o f
voice , that h e would corne to the program director ' s o f f ice
a f ter he had shaved and c leaned up . The new man walked o f f
toward the shower room and I accompan ied the program d irector
and another s ta f f member on his wa lk toward h i s o f f ice . One
of them said " Th i s guy has to be to ld what to do , not asked .
Limits wi l l have to be set for h im . He � s a typical Folsom
man . " For the s ta f f member to say that he was a typical
Folsom man was to s ay that he was an old hardened con , whi ch
was to say that the code accounted for his behavior �8
The
--------------"-----,--,--------------------------------------
8 Whenever s ta f f depicted " old hardened cons , " they d id
so in terms of elements of the code .
2 5 9
s t a f f member ' s account was not a ltered whe n , on examining
the man l s " j acke t '! ( f i l e ) � he saw that the man was from
San Quentin . In the above case , the staff member attributes
the source o f the unpleasantnes s of the encounter to the
under lying pattern of re lationships which obtain between
s ta f f and inmates at Fols om ( the cod e ) in which thi s en�
counter is mere ly an ins tance of that pattern , having nothing
to do with the here and now demand s being placed on the res i -
dent and having nothing t o d o with thi s particular s ta f f
member . S ince thi s is an instance o f the k ind o f behavior
this res ident engages in , the s ta f f member propo s e s a
s trategy for dealing wi th him , i . e . , s pe c i f ic a l l y " setting
l imits " for the man or ordering , rather than a sking him ,
to do thing s .
Staff U s e o f the Code in Advi s ing Each Other and Urging Strateg�es
S ta f f not only explained troubl e s to e ach other in
terms of the code but they a l s o adv i s ed each other about the
e ffects of the code and urged s trategies for coping with the
code to each othe r . For examp le ; in one instance in which
I sat in on a case conference , an agent was being told that
one of h i s parolees had mis s ed group . House s ta f f was
urging the agent to lecture the res ident about it . " You
a lways have guys like thi s te s ting the l imits . They are
j us t delinquents . I f you let him mis s a meeting without
confron't ing h im with it , you are giving him a pas s 0 You are
2 6 0
tel l ing him i t V s OK to mi s s group , so he i s gonna continue
doing it unt i l you check him . II From other remarks the ad
vis ing s ta f f member had made , it was c lear in the context
that the meeting-mis ser would continue mi s s ing meetings
because he could not appear to his fel lows a s vo luntar i ly
complying with s ta f f i s mere reques t s to attend group .
In another case conference , one s ta f f member advi sed
another that the code extended to the kind of men you f ind
in pool rooms . An agent was reporting about a case that the
roan had been arres ted with h i s brother . Both were arrested
for hitting a man in a bar with a pool cue . But no charges
were pre s sed , so the agent was going to d i s regard the in
c ident � f i gur ing that nothing had happened o He was advised
that thos e in the pool hal l y j us t l ike the guys in the hal f �
way house , would not snitch o n one another so the agent could
not take i t that nothing had happened . He was further ad
v i sed that " Thes e people don i t pre s s charges because it
deve lops into a fami ly feud . You had better a s k the pol ice
what they think happened in thi s c a s e , before you decide
you don l t need to write a report on i t . "
Through these examples ; i t can be seen that the code
was usable by staf f in explaining g describ ing 1 and strate
g i z ing about res ident behavior , not on ly in ta lking with
the researcher , but a l s o in deal i ng s between themselve s .
On t:he occas ions in which the code , its categories and
analogue s ; was o ffered by staf f to s taff it was accepted
2 6 1
a s factual . That i s , i t was unques tioned , and , to the
extent it suggested action ; i t was usable a s the soc i a l ly
s anctioned grounds of action .
Through thes e account s f staff identif ied actual or
anticipated actions and events a s instances "of the s ame k i nd
of troublesome occurrenc e s they had s een before and a lready
knew how to deal with . Couching the accounts in the language
o f the code portrays the occurrenc e s as independent of the
particular personnel that were invo lved ? e . g . ? it was not
thos e particu l ar ten new res idents who were " te sting the
l imits ; " but any group of new res idents would " te s t the
l imits . " The occurrence s were also thereby made out a s
:J.ndependent o f the particular i s sues over which they had
occurred , e . g . , res ident res is tance to the committees was
i ndependent o f the particular work o f that committee § or
d i s putes w i th sta f f over transportation were made out a s
independent o f res idents ' actua l needs for transportation
money , etc . The occurrence s that were accounted for by use
o f the code and i ts analogues were also thereby made out as
independen t o f the s ta f f member who was involved . That i s �
i t was not that thi s particular s ta f f member had done some
thing to the res idents that received hos t i l i ty or r e s is tance
i.n respon s e . In.stead s the code account provided that r e s i
dents would behave that way toward any staf f member .
2 6 2
S ta f f Use o f the Code i n Sta f f-Re s ident Inte ractions
The code was a l so employed by staff in talking to the
res idents . I t went full circle r be ing mostly employed by
res idents in explaining themse lves to staf f , then in s ta f f
explaining r e sidents t o s taf f , and f i na l lY i o n some occas ions r
staff active ly promoted the s tory of the code to the res i-
dents .
Although I s aw only l imited d i rect evidence o f i t g
staff apparently d irectly intervened to prevent what would
appear to b e direct violations of the code . I n te l l ing me
about his concern for snitches and snitching g for example ?
one sta f f member s a id :
I f Gonz a le s ( one of h i s case s ) c ame in here and s tarted blabbing about somebody in such a way that other people would know about i t , l a d be concerned for him Q I WQuld try to prevent him from doing that .
W : Why?
PA : Becau s e I have a concern for h im . I wouldn � t want anybody k i l l ing him .
In one c a s e ! observed staff consulting each other
about a r e s ident for whom they had fears . The res ident was
taking thei r s ide in group . They s aid that he was a bit
stupid and d id not see that it looked l ike he was being
d i s loyal to the other res idents . They proposed that they
should tel l the res ident to be les s cooperative because his
l i fe might be in danger .
Sta f f openly talked about their low regard for snitches
2 6 3
in the pres ence of res idents . Sta f f warned res idents about
s n i tches in the community that they learned about from
pol ice and from other parolee s . Staff treated the matter
of snitching as recogni z ab ly immora l in the community from
which the res idents came , so that when a mother c a l led a
parole agent about why she could not s ee her son in j ai l ?
he told the fol lowing to me and t'ltlo other parole agents in
the room 'itJho had overheard h i s end of the phone c a l l . U I
told her her son was s ick . How could I te l l her that her
s on was in a s pecial s ec tion for h i s own protection because
he had sni tched " ?
Copping out f o n the other hand , was not a matter about
which parolees said that they would be phy s ically or s er
iou s ly soc i a l ly puni shed for . It was regarded a s a bit
square �nd s tupid for them to do s o . When parolees did cop
out y ( typi ca l ly conf e s s to having used drug s ) agents treated
it as something spec ial . I t was a good s ign . I t showed
that the res ident was becoming square . I t showed that he
had good wi. l l .
Agent s proposed that " copping out!1 was a particularly
d i f ficult and rewardable act becau s e of the code prohibition
against " copping out . 1I They were much more likely to treat
drug use uncovered in this way by more gentle mean s � They
did this by te l l i ng the man that he mus t s top his use o f
drugs and mus t demons trate that f a c t by tes ting i n four
days instead of j ai l ing the man and reporting h i s relapse
2 6 4
to the adul t authority .
Thus s t a f f not only accepted res ident accounts of the
code and employed those and s imi lar accounts in dea ling with
their own troubles , but a l so employed code accounts in the ir
dea lings with res idents v such that they s anctioned the code
for re s idents . Staff showed their understanding o f the
moral meanings and the threatened sanction of the code .
They discouraged " snitching " and " as s-kiss ing . " They did
not encourage shows o f friend l ine s s or " exces s ive i' voluntary
compl iance f rom res idents v so that res idents could contin
uou s ly show the ir loyalties to each other � S ta f f made i t
pos s ible for residents t o do "what they real ly wanted t o do
a fter a l l " ( i . e . ; partic ipate ) by ordering them to do i t ,
or by openly o f fering rewards ; the rece ipt of which could
s tand a� the understandab le motive in i ts el f for res ident
participation . In thes e ways s ta f f recogni zed or acknow
ledged the code as a legitimate mora l order in the s etting .
Summ��
The materials o f thi s chapter show that there were a
variety o f ways in which s ta f f was not only able to hear
and make acceptable res ident accounts of their activi t ie s ,
which were phrased in terms of the code ? but a lso that s ta f f
themse lve s ac ·t.ively employed formu lations of the code i n
their conver sations among themse lve s ! with the researcher ?
and the res idents . In each of thes e uses the c ode was not
a s imple description of how res idents acted but it served
2 6 5
s imultaneous ly as we l l in a s s igning respons ibi l it i e s , and
in dev i s ing mora l ly j us ti fiable and argueab ly e f fective
s trategies for deal ing with res idents .
2 6 6
CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUS ION AND SUMMARY
The l i terature o f organ i z a t ion r e s earch , and in par-
t i cular s tud i e s o f pen a l and other correc tional i n s t i tution s ?
i s r ich i n re f erenc e s to var i ou s normat ive s truc tur e s , e . g . ,
the " inmate sub-culture , " li the conv i c t code 6 u and the l ike .
T h i s s tudy has examined one type o f cor rectiona l i n st i tu -
t iOD f a hal fway hou s e f o r paro led narcot i c add i ct s , whe re
a s im i l a r normative s tructure 't'la s found � examinat ion o f the
re l ation s h i p s between re s idents and s t a f f in the h� l fway
hou s e revea l ed a form o f organ i z at ion hav ing many of the
feature s portrayed in previous s tud i e s of pri s on s .
The behavior o f r e s idents o f h a l fway hous e para l le l s
the behavior o f i nma te s reported by other r e searchers i n a
number o f r e s pe ct s . The behaviors were observab le a s repe t i -
thre � patterned � and imperv ious to change s i n the par ticular
popu la.t ion o f parol e e s that were i n re s id ence at any g iven
t ime . L ike the act ions o f pri son i nmate s $ the a c t ions o f
res idents appeared t o be d irected aga i n s t t h e s t ated a ims o f
the organ i z ation " T h e s ta f f ? l ike the s t af f o f p r i s on s 3
recogn i z e d the behavior o f the i r charg e s a s deviant and
treated it as a matte r o f chronic concern .
2 6 7
Moreover , res idents were found to have a code of proper
conduct "" hlch is ind i s tinguishable from the " convict code "
that has been reported in the c l a s s ical s tud ie s . The code
appeared as a potent organ i z ing device for interaction
between re s idents and staf f , and explained the various
patterns of r e s ident behavior " With re spect to the s e f ind-
ings , the present s tudy f i ts within the tradition of s tud i e s
of inmate organ i z ations .
However � when attention is turned to the activity of
e thnographic observat ion and analy s i s itse l f , certain
c r itical matter s about the phenomenon of the convict code
and the behaviors it order s f which alter the sense of the
phenomena $ are brought to l ight " I t has been seen that the
featuresl of the s etting which furni sh the bas i s for the
d e s cr iption of the " convict code " and make it useable for
analyz ing the activi ties in the setting , are features which
are made avai l ab le through interactions between members of
the hal fway house . In conversations which occurred between
the res idents and the staff , the r e s idents and the re searcher ,
the sta f f and the researcher ! and a l l three kinds of parties
s imultaneous ly ? members instructed one another on how to
" se e n the behavior of res idents by c iting the re levance o f
the convict code to any re s ident i s c ircums tanc e s and the
lAttention is cal led to the comparabi li ty of the use o f " feature s " to Garf i nke l i s conceptions o f accountable structure s ? formulations , s i gn functions , and indexical particulars "
2 6 8
ways that the behavior under d i s cu s s ion wa s mot ivated by i t .
Mos t important in th i s regard i s the f a c t tha t re s idents
persuas ive ly taugh t both the s ta f f and the r e s e archer s ome
of the u s e s o f the conv i c t c ode . Re s idents u s ed wh at sta f f
and r e searcher unders tood a s portions o f the code and i t s
l anguage to s how the r a t iona l and r e a s onable character o f
the c onduc t o f thems e lve s and the ir f e l l ows . In the s e ways
that r e s idents made out the i r conduc t as goal-d irected ?
chosen b e c au s e i t provided the l e a s t unp l e a s ant consequenc e s ,
and required by other s � r e s idents a l s o thereby pointed to the
particular a c t ion i n que s tion a s an " in s tanc e " of a pattern .
In pre senting the groun d s o f mor a l requiredne s s by the i r
peer s , r e s idents provided s ta f f and r e se archer w i th the
under s tand ing that conduct o f the sort being d i sc u s s e d wou ld
have been done by any r e s ident ? and that there would be
s imi l a r k i nd s of a c tion tha t they had s een be fore and would
s ee again that would be motivated in an iden t i c a l f a s h ion .
Thus re s idents taught s ta f f and r e s e a r cher how to s e e the
s e n s e o f r e s ident conduct by provid ing them the means to s e e
t h e environment o f h a l fway hous e " fr om t h e s t andpoint o f the
res ident . il
Ho"',ever I �"hen the s pe c i f ic ways in "'J'hlch my own account
of both the r e s ident behav i o r s and the conv i c t code were
o. s s emb led are e xamined ? i t i s c le a r that " tak ing the s tand
point of the r e s ident. 1I requ i r e s muc h mor e than. merely re
peat ing wha t one has h eard . The code wa s ava i l ab l e in only
2 6 9
occ a s iona l ly ident i f ied b i t s and p i e ce s . Hear ing r e s ident
talk a s " te l l ing the code " required that the l i s tener attempt
to f ind s ome c o l lec tion of remembered behav iors whi ch that
t a l k would mot ivate 1 if tha.t talk were � in fact 3 a rule for
doing tho s e remembered things . O f cour s e ; talk could become
heard a s a ru le retrospe ct ively whe n s ome behavior s occurred
that made previou s ly heard t a l k nOv.l under s tandab le a s a rule .
In the se s ame a ttempt s at e s tab l i s h ing the s e n s e o f t a lk a s
pos s i b le rule s j the behavior tha t i s observed and h a s been
obse rved acqu i r e s i t s spe c i f ic s e n s e a s instanc e s o f s ome
repeti t ive pattern I i . e . t i t s spec i f ic sense a s a matter o f
s oc i a l l y argueable fact . Thus , s e e ing and d e s c r ibing the
b ehaviors of res idents a s coherently and more or l e s s s tably
mot ivated required the work o f a c t ive ly interpreting the
p i e c e s ,o f t a lk and a.c tion that one heard and s a\Ol . I n s o
doing , an ob s e rver con s ti tute s t h e we l l organ i z ed character
of the s etting for his report and a c t ion .
The examinat ion o f s ta f f c onve r s at ions with the r e se archer
and with e a c h other i ndi cate s that s ta f f d id th i s interpretive
work as we l l . That i s , s ta f f d e s c r ibed and exp la ined events
in the s e tt ing by u s ing the code as the res ident s ! de f in i -
t ion o f the s ituat ion . Sta f f d id th i s for the r e se a rc he r ,
for each other , and s omet ime s even for the r e s ident s . When
they d id t h i s explanatory work � they too ident i f i ed events
a s " 1n s tance s " o f a pattern � They too tied together d i f ferent
kinds of a c t ion as being e s s e nt i a l ly the s ame through a n
2 7 0
a scr ibed pattern o f under lying mot iva t ion whi c h made d i f fer
ing actions e s s en ti a l l y the s ame ? s ince they were a lt e rnative
ways of a c c omp l i sh ing the s ame goa l . For e xamp l e , burn ing
a mattre s s § b e ing re luctant to partic ipate i n group : r i d icul
ing a cooperat ive re s ident ? " a l l have the s ame meaning , "
f o r they a l l s how the r e s idents ! hos t i l i ty to s t a f f and
loyalty to other r e s idents " Thus $ giving explanations by
way of the code drew together event s in the s etting as or
gan i zed and repe t i t ive .
By u s e o f the under lying mot ivat ional scheme to a s s ign
s imi lar or identical meanings to d iv e r s e even t s p r e s ident s �
s ta f f t and researcher thereby a l s o portrayed the meanings o f
tho s e even t s f rom the supposed po int o f view o f the actors
doing the a c t ion . I n thi s te l l ing o f s ub j ec t ive mea n i ng ,
the de,,!,ice employed was a s s er tedly a normat.ive orde r . Tha t
i t was a normative order provided for the requ ired character
of the event s � the f a c t that it wa s none o f the res idents I
choos ing o r the s ta f f ' s or the re searche r ' s choo s ing or the
s t a f f � s or the re s e archer ' s doing that made the even t s occur
in that f a s hion ! and t.hat the regularity and repe t i t ivene s s
o f the even t s was impervious to turnover o f b oth s ta f f and
re s i dents � Both s ta f f and r e s idents exp l i c i t ly ! though
o c c a s iona l l y , provided for these prope r t i e s in the ir a ccount s .
In thi s f a s h ion member s o f the s e tt ing a s s erted the conv i c t
cade f a n d the events tha t thereby c ou ld be s ee n a s patterned §
by re f e rence to them a s soc i a l f a c t s in Durkheim ' s sense in
2 7 1
. . . . . . . ....... ;�.:.:.: ....... . . . . ... · .. :.:.x:.: .. ::::T..:.: ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . "' . . . .
that they s howed exte r i or ity and con s tra int .
Thus , the who le range o f s o c i o log i c a l explanation ( the
ident i f icat ion of observable , regu lar , repe t i t ive patterns
of behavior - the ident i f i c ation o f s oc i a l f a c t s 1 doing
analyses of mernbe r s i de f init ions o f the i r s i tuation s , ex
p l a ining those regular factual patterns o f behavior by re
ferring the i r product ion to c i ted d e f i n i tions o f the s itua�
t i on s which woul d requ i re per s o n s ·to act in that obs e rved
f a sh ion if they were to act r e a s onable and rationa l l y ) i s
work that members rout ine ly d o in ge tting through intera c
t i o n s in which re s pon s ib i l i t i e s are b e ing a s s i gne d f c ho i c e s
a r e be ing d e f ined a n d made , s trate g i e s a r e being chose n ?
advice about how to tre at othe r s i s being g i ve n f and i n wh ich
demands for act ion are b ei ng a s serte d .
Th,e pra c t i c e s invo lved i n giving mot ivational explana
t ions. axe methods which are emp l oyed wi thin concrete here
and no", o c c a s ions �" h i ch make thos e occ a s ions organ i z ed a5'
pee t s o f the sett ing for membe r s . They are a means whereby
d i s c r e te here and now events are s een and named as parts o f
a pa ttern wh ich tempo r a l l y and s pa t i a l ly extend s beyond the
here and now � They are means whe reby the nec e s s ary or
inevi tab le character o f the f l ow o f eve n t s are seen and
e f f e c t ive ly a s se rted . Through the ir accoun t ing pract i ce s ?
members make the i r c onduct and the conduct of others
recogn i zable as events i n a s o c i a l orde r . Jus t wha t thos e
a'ven t s are soc i al ly exp l i c i t ly Y'ecogn i z ed t o r merely
2 7 2
acknowledged ? as ? depends on the production and acceptance
of such accounting work .
Neither the production nor the acceptance of ordering
accounts l ike the convict code are done as a matter of mere
e l ection of the most plau s ib le story " Instead , in the
particular case of the hal fway house r both s taff and re
searcher found that the i r competence was at stake in their
treatment and elaboration of re s ident accounts of the code .
�\Te have seen that in t,hel.r respons e to thes e accounts s ta f f
acknowledged their c red ib i l i ty , 'I'hat: i s i they treated them
a s factua l for a l l practical purposes by accepting them .
Sta f f took these accounts as adequate responses to the i r
que stions and demands , i . e . , they treated thei r ques t ions as
answered and the ir demands as met by accounts which stood in
p l ace o f answers to thei r ques tions and a ful f i l lment o f
thei r demands . Staff took these stories about res ident
c ir cumstanc e s seriou s ly � They acted with those account s as
showable or te l lable grounds o f the ir { staff ' s } act ioD @
The r e s idents ; employment of explanations for their
refusal to te l l about thems elves and others ; for thei r
refusal t o partic ipate , for the ir refusal t o b e invo lved in
the program ? for the i r refusal to be friendly ? for the ir
re fusal to e s tabl i sh " intimate " relations to staf f which
were based on the code � d irectly invoked or was understood
to invoke a cogent , untestable threat of terrib le events
for which staff ( and on some occas ions the re searche r ) would
2 7 3
. . . :7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. :1l: .. . .
be he ld a c countab l e . I f the account were t rue and s t a f f did
not treat it a s factua l , then deaths and beatings might
r e s u lt . I f the account was cred i te d by s ta f f a s true but
none of the ir bus i ne s s p i . e ' $ not adequate as good r e a s on s
f o r doing a s the r e s ident propo s ed � t hen s t a f f would h ave
appeared as s howing i nd i f ference to the s ecur ity of the
re s ident s , which was contrary to the ir pre s umed concern for
the hea l th and happines s o f the re s iden t s . I f the account
were f a l s e , there was no way for s t a f f to a s sure i tse l f that
i t wa s indeed f a l s e .
Denial o f the code a s a n adequate explanation was a l s o
d i f f icult because the a c t o f denying the c re di b i l i ty o f the
code meant that s t a f f ran the r i s k of h av i ng the i r c ompetence
b rought into que s tion . They f aced the pos s i bi l i ty that r e s i
d e n t s �nd o ther s t a f f a l ike wou ld make them out a s na ive ,
square ; and not knm"ing about the l i fe patterns o f c r imina l s ?
convicts , and hype s . Like soc iolog i s ts , s t a f f took i t that
the only author itative source o f in formation about the l i fe
pattern s of deviants was devi ants themselves 0
Thu s , the f ragments o f the conv i c t code which res idents
o f fe red a s account s o f the ir a f f a i r s were o f fered in s uch a
way that i t was d i f f icult for s ta f f and r e s earcher to refuse
to accept tho se a ccoun t s and s t a f f and r e s e archer found them
s e lve s pos i t ively encouraged to e laborate " the s tandpo int o f
the re s ident U on the b a s i s o f the fragmen t s they had obtained
when they were a sked to te l l about the i r dea l ings wi th the
2 7 4
res idents . " Hearing the code " and " te l l ing the code " a s
grounds for re s ident act ion � whi ch were understandable and
acceptable under the c ircumstance s ; \'>lere thereby devices
which were available to s ta f f and researcher for dec iding
what some piece of res ident conduct " really was u when te l ling
others what the event " re a l ly was " was a show of the ir
knowledgeab i l ity cif res ident a f fa ir s and a show of their
competence in deal i ng with res idents �
Thi s means that the code , a s an obs ervab le phenomenon !
i s a scheme of interpretation whos e use in determining and
a s se rting what res idents are doing , have done ? and w i l l do
i s s anctioned in the setting by both res idents and o f f icial s .
As a sanctioned s cheme of interpretation � it d i f fers from an
exp l anation o f actual patterns of res ident conduct in s everal
important respects . Its employment s imultaneous ly ident i f ie s
and " explain s u the particular events i t identi f ie s . I t
cannot have the form o f a n explanation for its explanatory
u s e s by part i e s to the setting are done in such a way that
the sense of a particular event is interactional ly identi f ied
as an inter s ub j ect ively recogni zed occurrence by e f fectively
a s serting that t.he event s tems from adherence to the convict
code � The particular occurrence has its sense a s part of a
pattern because it can be explained a s s temming from con-2 stantly operating motivational sourc e s �
Yet observable references to thi s U constantly operating --------<-<-«-'"-----�-'"--,-.------------------------------------------
2 A more e laborate forma l discu s s ion o f thi s contrast may be found in Wi l s on ( 19 6 9 ) .
2 7 5
mot ivation a l s ource " i s ava i l ab l e $ in any par ticu lar i n stance ,
i n a mere ly e xemplary form . That i S t every maxim and eve ry
l i s t of max ims a s we l l a s every " exp l a ined " behav ior and
every l i s t o f explained behaviors are o f f ered a s i l lus trative
of the kind s of maxims and kinds of behaviors the code con
s t r a i n s and exp l a in s . The code thu s h a s the feature s that
Gar f i nke l has e laborated at length in h i s unpub l i shed d i s
cu s s ions o f " a c o l l ec tion o f i n s truc t ion s " and the i r pro
pertie s ? P 1 and tha t Z immerman and Polne r ( 1 9 6 8 � pp . 1 6 - 2 7 )
d e s c r ibe a s an " oc c a s ioned corpu s " who s e language I a d apt in
the points b e l ow .
( a ) I t doe s not con s i s t o f a s tab le c o l l e c t ion o f maxims .
( b ) The ""lork o f d r a1tling up a l i s t o f max ims con s i st s i n an
ongoing e f fort of a s s erting that some i tem of t a l k i s or i s
not a furthe r ins tance o f the code . The appearance o f
f in i te ne s s and tran s - s i tuat ional ity ( i . e . ! that a particu l ar
propo s i tion i s a part o f a s e t which governs conduct over a
s e t o f s ituations and was in force prior to thi s part i cular
o c c a s ion ) is achieved by c it ing the propos ed maxim as ex
emp lary of a s e t which could be further e l aborated i f one
chose to do so . ( c ) I f the analys t focus e s attention on
f eatures ( a ) and {b } the code , ( or any other set o f maxims
o f a s ub-cu l ture � informa l organ i z a t ion ? or f orma l organ i z a
t io n ) become s uni que to the part icul ar cour s e o f the mutu a l ly
e l aborating interpret ive work whe reby talk i s heard a s
" te l l ing rule s ll and 'behav ior i s s ee n a s governed by thos e
2 7 6
ru le s , �llia t soc iolog i s ts d e s c r ib e a s the convict code in
the ir wr i t in g s i s , then , one further i n s tance o f the product
whi c h results from the uses o f the practices whereby " te l l ing
the code " i s achieved . Such accounts then h ave the s ame
log i c al s ta tu s as " te l l ing the cod e " in the very settings
i n wh ich the code is to ld o Furthe r , i f the s o c i o l og i st ' s
account we re read a nd tre ated a s a s ourc e o f advice or
j us t i f ic a t i on by persons i n tho s e s e t t i ng s � the account
woul d have the s ame phenomenal s tatus as we l l .3
( d ) The
very fact that memb e r s take for granted ? i n s i s t upon � and
talk about. feature s of the ir c ir cums tances wh i ch tran s cend
any part icular here and now appearanc e , and the fact that
any here and now occurrence i s an appearance of such a trans-
s ituation a l order is an a c h i evemen t of such pra c t i c e s a s
encompas sed within " te l l ing the code , " where in par t i c u l ar
here and now appearance s obta i n the i r s e n s e a s typica l §
regu l ar , c onnec ted to othe r event s , etc .
Thus , " te l l ing the code " and any particular i n s tance o f
formu l a t i ng the c ode ? a s i n the pro f e s s ion a l s o c i o log i c a l
l i teratur e � exhib i t s ? rather than d e s c r ibe s or exp l a in s �
3 It s eems l ikely that many soc iolog i s t s � a ccoun t s o f pri son c u l ture and the conv ict code have $ i n fac t � been read i n th i s way � I t is c lear that C l emmer � s The Pr i son Commun i� h a s been � G i l l ( 1 9 6 5 ) 1 wr iting a s a pr ison 'admInistra tor , c ites C lemmer a s prov id ing a cogent formulation o f what pri son l i fe is r e a l ly l ike and emp loys that formu l a t ion to argue w i th h i s c o l league s for change s in pri so n orga n i zat ion wh ich might a lter tha t way of l i fe .
2 7 7
· . . .. ;1.. . .
the order that memb e r s ach ieve through the i r prac t i c e s o f
showing a n d t e l l ing e ac h other tha t particular e ncountered
f e a ture s are typic a l ? reg�l J. ar � ord e r ly � c oherent I mot ivated
out o f con s iderations of norma tive c on s tra int , and the l ike .
Th i s work has s hown that th i s i s s o by demonstrating that the
i n te rpe r s o n a l exi s tence of a s oc i a l order that c a n be seen
and d e s c r i bed is an achievemen t o f employing prac t ic e s l ike
thos e encompa s sed within the work that I have d e s c r ibed as
" te l l ing and hear ing the code . "
2 7 8
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2 7 9
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2 8 6
Program Rev i s ion of the Hal fway Hous e , undated , dittoed manuscr ipt . An o f f ic i a l Ha l f'Nay House document w:citten in late 1 9 6 5 ,
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2 8 7
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