Pain During Incarceration: Searching for Safety in Hypermasculine Correctional Settings.

Abstract

Introduction: Hypermasculine prison culture produces hierarchies based on individuals' ability to assert dominance through strength and violence. Pain can impact physical strength, thereby limiting the ability to elevate or maintain social status within such hierarchies.

Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the pain experiences of incarcerated men who were embedded into hypermasculine prison culture.

Methods: Interpretive description co-positioned with relational ethics informed the study design. Twelve males participated in 1-hour interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and analyzed inductively to identify themes. The data analysis occurred in three phases: sorting and organizing, making sense of patterns, and transforming patterns into findings.

Results: We found that correctional settings were characterized by a social culture of toxic hypermasculinity that influenced the pain experiences of people who were incarcerated. Individuals who experienced pain were more vulnerable to self-isolation in situations in which pain threatened their ability to defend themselves and their previously established social status within the prison hierarchy. Yet, those who felt secure in subordinate hierarchical positions and had effective peer relationships perceived greater safety in communal settings, which proved to be a distraction from pain.

Conclusion: In the context of incarceration, positive peer relationships and perceptions of safety positively influenced individuals' experience of pain.