Ethnoracial Dynamics Experienced by Incarcerated Youth and Staff in a Male Juvenile Prison

Abstract

Race and ethnicity significantly shape the social organization of juvenile prisons; however, there is an absence of literature on ethnoracial dynamics experienced by incarcerated youth and staff in juvenile prisons. In this qualitative study, we conducted interviews to examine perceptions of ethnoracial dynamics during staff-youth interactions, youth-youth interactions, and staff-staff interactions at a juvenile prison located in the Southeastern United States. Using a semi-structured protocol, we interviewed 19 incarcerated youth and 7 staff members between December 2022 and December 2023. We then used an inductive coding approach to develop a codebook as themes emerged. Youth respondents often reported favoritism by staff based on shared racial identity; similarly, staff reported more leniency and trust with the youth of a shared racial identity. Both youth and staff participants reported systemic racial inequities present at the facility, including Black youth being overpoliced compared with White youth. Meanwhile, White youth also described experiencing certain disadvantages based on their race, including excessive bullying from peers. In between-staff interactions, both White and Black staff observed inequities in framing other staff members’ behavior based on intersectional social identifiers with race (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status, education). Understanding these dynamics is key to promoting ethnoracial equity in treatment across juvenile prisons.