Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing

The performance of masculinity factors largely in prisoner and officer interactions. Conover repeatedly questions whether he is tough or strict enough as an officer, which usually results in him being rougher or affirming acts of violence used against inmates. Officer Dieter, Conover’s roommate, is one of the more obvious examples of toxic masculinity; he openly expresses that he fantasizes about hurting and torturing women.

Mama Cradle, who Conover begrudgingly respects as a superior officer, is of course not exempt from being the target of misogyny. Cradle’s nickname among the officers is L.B., or “Little Bitch,” and Conover goes so far as to describe his own attraction to Cradle’s shape. The culture of misogyny is so ingrained that it even factors into the celebration of Mama Cradle’s departure: the male guards make crude, offhanded jokes about Mama Cradle’s body.

Patriarchy seeps into the ways that the inmates are intensely secretive about their attractions to the transgender inmates, or to other men. Grandma, also known as Janice, describes to Conover that other inmates have requested to see her breasts; when she threatens to publicly reveal their desires, they swear her to secrecy. Homosexuality is considered to be an insult and an inmate attempts to solicit Conover for sexual favors.