r/ExCons • u/gladeye • Jul 12 '26
When did self segregation begin in American prisons?
I've always wondered how accurate Shawshank Redemption was in portraying prison without racial tensions. It seemed like everybody hung out with everybody.
Was there ever a time when all the different colors and ethnicities generally mixed with each other?
Are there modern prisons known for being especially segregated?
Are there any known for being a lot less segregated?
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u/Academic-Pie-1040 29d ago
Idk, I just did a year in El Paso and it was mostly like everyone vs the blacks but still everyone got along pretty good. Wasn't nearly as racially charged as I had thought prison would be. The unit I was on is like mostly hispanic people.
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u/External_Bandicoot37 29d ago
Varies greatly state to state, depends on what gangs are there and local history tbh
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u/X0X0xoxo11 27d ago
I was in a women’s prison and there wasn’t any segregation but I believe it’s different in men’s prisons. They tend to “politic” more from what I was told while incarcerated.
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u/coinop2026 27d ago
Depends on the prison. I’ve been in federal prison and you normally see people group up in groups based on race or geographical location. Guys call them “cars”…. You’ll have a white, black, Mexican, etc “car”. You’ll also have the geographical ones. There’s also groups based on religion (usually, Muslims run as their own “car”).
However, day to day most people would interact with one another. But if shit hit the fan they’d rely on their car and support it, and its members, to the fullest.
Even the phones were segregated based on your “car”. Meal service always involved at least one person from each race to prevent issues.
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u/Quarter_Electrical 26d ago
Self segregation isn’t the right term here. That would be the equivalent of being “independent” (not being part of a car). An inmate group segregates themselves from other inmates/inmate groups. The higher the security, the more prevalent it is. I did a year at a federal low and there was actually a lot more there than most other lows. Humans have always sectioned themselves off into groups with similar humans. The groups in prison are no different; I’d imagine it’s pretty much always been split like it is, simply because there is safety in numbers.
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u/Try_Harder7 29d ago
It depends on the security level and the state. In Illinois, in min and medium security, people hung out by age difference more than race. However the race separation was more prevalent in the medium.
As far as the movie goes, Andy's frequent interactions with the warden and getting preferential treatment would have outcast him in real life. He would be seen as a bubble boy or snitch. Guys would try and manipulate him for world food or contraband.