"It's a Race War:" Race and Leisure Experiences in California State Prison (Report‪)‬

... it could go down at any time and usually when it does it's racial. It's not really whites on whites, Mexicans on Mexicans, blacks on blacks. You know what I'm saying? It's basically a race war. Once something goes down, it's a race war. (Mark) Upon incarceration, prisoners are shoved, haphazardly, into an unfamiliar, highly controlled environment with little support to navigate this experience. They no longer make daily personal decisions and must rely on the prison system to feed, clothe, and protect them from other prisoners (Lee, 1996). Surprisingly, they still have exceptional amounts of free time that they must fill with chosen sanctioned activities, in addition to navigating their new identities within the prison setting. Instead of floundering and willingly accepting the regulations imposed by the prison staff, the participants in this study described a peer-imposed system of power that guided daily behavior. The prison setting provides the much-needed opportunity to explore the intertwining topics of race, power, and leisure in an institutional setting. Studying leisure experiences in a controlled environment provides an opportunity to learn more about why leisure decisions are made (Frey & Delaney, 1996) and the role of race in decision-making.