In the prison system most prisoners are labeled “crazy” or bad.” The implication here is that “crazy” implies that the prisoner is mentally ill and “bad” implies that he is acting on purpose. The main difference is that if the person has the ability to choose to act in a specific way they are “bad” or if they cannot control their actions then they are “crazy”. In this article I will describe how prison workers distinguish between prisoners as “crazy” or “bad” and discuss how social ideas and practices inform prison guards' judgment. Then I will discuss how being labeled “crazy” affects prisoners and why some of them strive to be labeled “crazy.” Prison workers are the ones who decide whether a prisoner is “crazy” or “bad.” This begins when they first enter prison. They are asked some specific questions to decide whether they will need mental help. If these workers decide that the prisoner is not mentally ill they are pushed forward. “Given the prison's limited capacity to provide help, workers “…have no choice but to look for…the “seriously insane…” If they can talk, even if they are squirrels, they are moved” (Rhodes, 2004, 102). Prison guards' ideas and social practices affect how they decide whether prisoners are "crazy" or "bad." Then prison guards will wonder whether the prisoner's strange behavior is a sign of heightened disorders or no they voluntarily act in this way to resist their environment (Rhodes, 2004 Much of the behavior in the control unit could be considered strange, but the issues and intentions underlined are what the prison guard must try to understand distinguish the). “mad” from “bad”… middle of paper… health jacket when they see that its terms create the possibility of this change in how they are treated and, for some, in how they feel” (Rhodes, 2004, 121). The way the prison system is set up does not allow prisons to have any self-respect. They have no reason to want to get better and continue to have a cycle of prisoners treating guards badly and guards treating prisoners badly. Luckily one prison is changing this terrible cycle so that prisoners don't have to be labeled "crazy" or "bad." Works Cited Luhrmann, T. (2007). Social defeat and the culture of chronicity: or why schizophrenia works so well there and so badly here. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 135-172.Rhodes, L. (2004). Total imprisonment: madness and reason in the maximum security prison. Berkeley: University of California Press.