Abstract
The process of incarceration, as a response to violence, in itself represents a violent act of abstraction wherein an individual is forcibly removed from their host social network and transferred to a new setting. This process can be traumatic – and unsurprisingly prison populations experience significant levels of mental distress in comparison to the wider community. Factors driving this distress are numerous and include inequality, drug use, and the prison environment itself. Prisons as institutions – or “total institutions” – have been widely studied in the sociological literature. Prisons emerge as sites of restriction, retribution, rehabilitation, and potentially redemption. Understanding the range of factors and dynamics that inform the psychosocial milieu within prisons is essential to better recognizing the role of these institutions – both for prisoners and wider society.
In this chapter I will begin with an overview of the theoretical work that has been undertaken in terms of understanding prisons as institutions (e.g., Foucault, Goffman), before addressing the dynamic processes that may inform group identity and processes within such settings. The particular architecture of prison settings, and its impact on the contained psychosocial milieu, will be discussed. Finally, the ethical implications of prisons as sites of punishment, practice, and research will be considered. In particular, the role of researchers and practitioners as witnesses versus agents for change will be discussed. A focus on practice and experience in England and Wales is maintained for most of this discussion.
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Notes
- 1.
During August 2022 this #hashtag conversation with varying contributions and themes of violence and abuse espoused toward women in the prison.
- 2.
The intense traumatic dynamics experienced within such work may contribute to the infamous emergence of paradoxical responses among professionals including acts of callousness toward the vulnerable, or the emergence of romantic liaisons between professionals or even between professionals and those in their care.
- 3.
Freudian (1920) conceptualization of a drive, or series of drives, toward negative emotional states such as aggression, formulated as arising in opposition to desire (Eros versus Thanatos). Exposure to this experience can be overwhelming – emerging at times of crisis, trauma, or change.
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Shepherd, A. (2023). Carcerality and Carceral Spaces. In: Frosh, S., Vyrgioti, M., Walsh, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Psychosocial Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61510-9_62-1
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