60 Days In

I am several episodes into season five of the TV reality series 60 Days In.  The premise of the show is fairly simple.  Volunteers are planted as inmates inside jails to spy on the other inmates and assess the system itself.

In season five, three men are placed inside men’s detention pods within Arizona’s Pinal County Jail, and three women are placed inside a women’s detention pod within the jail.  One of the men is a police officer.  Another man is a reformed criminal with a history of incarceration.  One of the women is a self-proclaimed conservative republican who is convinced inmates have it too easy.

Each of the volunteers are given a mission.  Some are to determine how drugs are snuck inside and distributed.  Some infiltrate the gangs.  Others examine the jail system and facility.  All enter the facility with the idea of helping the Sheriff establish better control of the inmates and jail.       

An interesting dynamic has occurred over the course of the episodes I have watched.  The “plants” have all become sympathetic towards some of the inmates.  They have also learned to dislike the system and many of the detention officers.

I have adopted similar feelings in some regards. 

In spite of the crimes that landed people inside, and even given the violent nature of many of those incarcerated, the inmates adopt and self-enforce certain codes of conduct.  Thievery is not tolerated.  Inmates are expected honor their own race.

While much of what goes on is brutish and disturbing, the inmates establish a weird and tenuous kind of governance and hierarchy that limits chaos.   

—Mitchell Hegman