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Vasquez was one of tens of thousands of boys that entered the carceral system in the U.S. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, more than 90% of all incarcerated people in the U.S. are male. And nearly a third a Latinx. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once inside, men also must learn to confront the ways that extreme masculinity or machismo extends to the prison institution itself \u2014 including those who police the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn prison culture there are underground rules that are adhered to because of the measure of violence that comes if you don’t adhere to them. Your masculinity is a protection mechanism,\u201d said Lt. Sam Robinson, who worked for more than 15 years as public information officer for the San Quentin News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers are now starting to see masculinity as something that is socially constructed, meaning it can change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Janani Umamaheswar, a professor of criminology at George Mason University, argues that we should care more about the alternative forms of masculinity that are in prison. \u201cI would just love for us collectively as a culture to stop beating that drum of hyper masculinity, because men in prison are so much more than that.\u201d, she says.
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