Friendship among prisoners
Geoffery Truss
Dixon Correctional Center

Contrary to some observers, friendship among prisoners exists, and a few 
friendships may even be forged in steel.  However, most are forged through 
some form of self-gratification, security consciousness, or peer pressure. It 
is only through time, trials, and tribulations that friendship develops among 
prisoners.

The most prevelant and successful friendships are formed similar to those in 
a free society, where people of similar nature, skills, interests, or 
education bond. Depending on the nature of the institution (federal or state), 
or the security level (maximum, medium, minimum), friendships are also forged 
through race, through geographical location, and social ties inside and 
outside of prison.  Regardless of a prisoner's immediate emotional needs, most 
friendships are tempered and controlled by the authoritariansm of prison 
control and by peer and clique pressuers. These pressures tend to shape
friendships on the basis of racial prejudice, sexual orientation, and even fear. 
Friendship among prisoners thus becomes a pseudo-bond that must be continually 
tested and nurtured and allowed to breathe to prove its qualities. Among 
prisoners, the ties that reinforce bonding include shared gratification, 
security and protection, the need to belong, sex, fear, and sometimes even 
greed.

Friendship among prisoners, then, is not a fallacy, and if nurtured, it can 
lead to respect and equality while incarcerated. The ultimate test of 
friendship, however, is longevity, and whether it endures beyond the prison 
walls.

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