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The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison

gresham m. sykes

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Gresham Sykes wrote the book at the height of the Cold War, motivated by the world's experience of fascism and communism to study the closest thing to a totalitarian system in American a maximum security prison. The book is remarkably short--just 150 pages--but bristles with ideas. Sykes argued that many of the psychological effects of modern prison are even more brutal than the physical cruelties of the past. The trauma of being designated one of the very worst human beings in the world left prisoners with lifelong scars. It also inspired solidarity among prisoners and fierce resistance to authorities as strategies for rejecting those who rejected them. His analysis called into question whether prisons genuinely were, as many believed, "total institutions," where every facet of life was rigidly controlled. Sykes showed that the stronger the bonds among prisoners, the more difficult it was for prison guards to run the prisons without finding ways of "accommodating" the prisoners.



The book set the stage for Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish , among other works. Since it appeared in 1958, it has served society as an indispensable text in coming to terms with the nature of modern power.

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 1,1958

This edition

Format
144 pages, Paperback
Published
February 1, 1971 by Princeton University Press
ISBN
9780691028149
ASIN
0691028141
Language
English

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gresham m. sykes

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Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 12 votes)
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12 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Kriemhild_FE
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I can understand why this has become a criminology/prison sociology classic. It is very well written for an academic text. Sykes' findings read like a novel, and are both accessible and informative.

Due to the time period it was written in, there are some misogynistic phrases used and unfortunately the text reflects the (then legal) fact that homosexual men were classed as sexual deviants within prison society.

However, whilst this doesn't sit well it is probably best regarded as 'of its time' and I don't think it is fair to let it detract from the academic findings, which are still important in understanding the experience of imprisonment.
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wockaflockaflame
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Considered a staple for anyone studying sociology and issues of criminal justice, The Society of Captives provides an intriguing ethnography of life within maximum security prison. Highlighting the cause of strikes and riots behind bars while also explaining issues of prison labor and behavior of prison authority, Sykes presents unbiased narratives that may be of interest to students just beginning their research.

Since it was written decades ago, I can’t help but wonder what a similar project would look like today, especially in the age of mass incarceration. Reading this alongside Foucault’s Discipline & Punish is a must. This book will definitely prove valuable in further research and academic projects.
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Gaboule
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The dedication of this book is to the "man in prison-both the prisoner and the guard." While it shies away from making any philosophical commentary on the effectiveness (and quite frankly, the requirement) of modern prisons, the book does aptly convey the society of a prison as seen from the eyes of both the captors and the captives.

The captors are required to convert seemingly vague and conflicting objectives set out by the free society into actionable policy inside a prison with the primary goal of ensuring the captivity of the prisoners and secondary goals of ensuring order and utilizing the workforce. While it would seem that in a society where the captors have complete and total control over everything, it would be easy to carry out these policies, the author goes into great detail on how even total power has its defects and cracks.

The captives, on the other hand, must endure the mental trauma of living under these seemingly random policies while still finding a purpose in their life. As a result, various personalities of prisoners arise, which although quite dated and reprehensible as discussed in the book, provide an idea of the argot roles that prisoners take up.
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Majoz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This was a book that I learned about at a job research talk at work. I read it and was struck by how much of it was familiar from movies - Cool Hand Luke and the Shawshank Redemption both seem to draw heavily from it, or from the same material.

From a personal standpoint, it was interesting to see how much captivity is similar still. My experiences working at Camp Bucca in Iraq were described quite well in terms of the sociology of prisoners and guards.

It's a dense, but easily-digestible read and is thought-provoking.
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AddabaZZ
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This was a very interesting socio-ethnographic take on the Trenton maximum security prison. Sykes' attention to power negotiations and prison argot is especially useful. Sykes is a good writer, thought provoking and highly quotable. This is a text that will endure as a classic in the field of criminology.
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boiledpasta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The sociological portrait of a maximum security prison is fascinating. However, the book is of its time and includes some bigoted references to homosexual inmates.
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Nyano
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I thought this book was kind of interesting. It was written in the 50's, to me a long time ago; when one of the prisoners did something not good, he was placed isolation with a restricted diet: bread and water. The author mentions deviant behavior: a guards comes upon two prisoners in a cell, both are naked and one is on top of the other. The guards and prisoners have a strange relationship. I gave this read 3 stars, I found myself rereading parts of the book several times to get the full meaning of what the author was trying to say; long sentences that leave the meaning stretched over miles of barren landscapes. Honestly, I wouldn't read this book again; I'm just happy to have finished it, thanking god it was only some one hundred thirty pages long. However, it gives an excellent view of the inside of a maximum security prison.
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