To better understand the sociological perspectives within Shawshank State Penitentiary, we must first understand the environment in which these actions take place. Similar to that of a bureaucracy, Shawshank State Penitentiary has a hierarchy of authority, impersonality among workers, and employment based on technical qualifications. For example, Samuel Norton is an educated man with such qualifications to lead the prison as a warden and by default is responsible for all other employees within the penitentiary. He regularly commands other guards, particularly Captain Byron T. Hadley, to perform various tasks within the penitentiary. In our society, once an individual is convicted of a criminal act, they are often sent to a correctional facility. These individuals are taken out of their family environment and integrated with other deviant individuals. To survive in this new environment, an individual must adapt to their surroundings by establishing a new identity and accepting their role as a prisoner within their community. This could be b...