ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the well-known differences between particular custodial institutions. It describes the idea of the punitive institution that was frequently – and often spontaneously – told to by officers. The chapter shows that the worst possible situation for staff is to find that inmates who reside together are, in fact, 'incompatibile' with one another. Implicit coercion, at the very least, refers to the capacity of officers to enforce any lawful rule by threatening or using force as a last resort. Coercion is often experienced, performed, resisted and displayed between the keepers and the kept. Within the implicit coercion logic enforced by the custodial facility and its organisation, prisoners either learn to be docile and cooperative with staff and strictly follow the rules or they will be coerced by officers, using physical force, to do what they must do, or to refrain from doing what they are forbidden from doing.
