American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment

As Bauer tours Winn’s segregation unit, he witnesses the aftermath of prisoner unrest: burned mattresses, unruly inmates, garbage littering the floor, and the smell of human feces. CCA has sent in a Special Operation Response Team (SORT) to regain control of the unit, which is a cacophony of angry, threatening inmates and defensive COs ready to retaliate. As Bauer escorts an inmate to disciplinary court, the man resists, confronting Bauer. A SORT officer intervenes, explaining that in the event of resistance COs are authorized to “knee him in the back of the leg and drop him to the concrete” (65).

One day, Bauer and the other cadets tour Winn’s “inmate court.” It is not a criminal court, per se, and unlike federal prison in which inmate infractions are referred to legitimate courts, at Winn, discipline “often remains in the hands of the company” (66). Defendants are represented by “inmate counsel,” fellow inmates who receive state-run training, although Miss Lawson, the acting judge, admits that inmate counsel arguments rarely affect her decisions. These court decisions can also impact CCA financially. If the court rules, for example, that a defendant’s hospital visit was unwarranted, CCA can bill that inmate for their medical expenses rather than foot the bill itself.