ABSTRACT
This chapter draws attention to a neglected area of penology: the analysis of a key role at the lower levels of power in prisons. It discusses the problem of inertia, or inherent resistance to change, in prison systems, the contribution to it by interest groups low in the hierarchies of rank, and the extent to which this can be explained by the theoretical concept of anomie. The chapter highlights the close relationship between credibility and anomie, and the combination of anomie, ritualism and inertia that seems to characterise most prisons. The chapter further discusses some problems of relating research to penal policy that have arisen from studies of penology in Canada, and suggests that these may be of more general application. Considerable changes of approach and of attitudes are needed if the principle of maximum credibility is to be applied to research and to the social policy that emerges from it.
