Thinking Sociologically

     This week, we went on a field trip to the Dupage jails. While there, I realized that the people in jail needed to be desocialized and resocialized to adapt to the new and completely different environment. The people in jail are all put in small areas with only the essentials needed to live (toilet, sink, bed, food, etc.). They no longer have any privacy and must obey the officers. People put in jail are cut off from most of society and no longer have many of the freedoms they had previous to entering jail. Many, when first entering their cells, need to be put on suicide watch because they are frantic about the new environment they have been placed in. However, after time, they get used to their situation and become completely resocialized.
     Also while in jail, I thought about the reasons behind acts of deviance. I remembered the idea that people act deviantly because of a label they feel is put upon them, as if to act a certain way because society expects that of them. This can be applied to those in jail because many who leave jail end up coming back because of another crime. After being in jail and returning to society, the person has the label of being a criminal and so they act the way a criminal would act.