CHANGES IN PRISON CULTURE - PRISON GANGS AND THE CASE OF THE PEPSI GENERATION

This article examines recent changes in prison life. Information colle cted from a series of in-depth interviews with a sample of California ex-prisoners suggests an important corrective both to the criminal jus tice literature and to those sociological accounts which have attempte d to explain the culture of prison life. The interview data reveals th at a serious deterioration in the quality of life has taken place insi de California prisons, and that this change results from influences em anating from within the prison as well as from external factors.