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Our aim in this conceptual article is to theoretically reimagine the concept of 'healthy prisons' in a way that more thoroughly grounds it in the everyday experiences of prisoners. Our point of departure is the observation that there seems to be an intriguing conceptual and theoretical overlap between first‐person oriented empirical studies of two spheres of human experience that are normally seen as separate: serious illness and imprisonment. Our analysis leads us to reimagine the term 'healthy prisons' in a way that increases its usefulness for anyone interested in making prisons healthier and more constructive and reinventive institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While prisons are often described as places of pain, despair and hopelessness, studies show that some prisoners under certain conditions report positive life changes happening in prison. This paper explores the connections between trust and desistance processes, specifically between the experience of being trusted and 'tertiary desistance'. I argue that trust can be an engine of positive change in prison and that the experience of being trusted might even acquire additional value from the low-trust and risk-sensitive environment that most prisons normally offer prisoners. Finally, I discuss whether prisons that manage to get this balance right deserve to be called 'reinventive prisons'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most jurisdictions, immigration detention centres are seen as an important part of the immigration control system. Research suggests that stressful waiting and the experience of uncertainty are common at such institutions. However, few empirical studies show how detainees manage these matters. In this article, we draw on fieldwork conducted at the only detention centre in Norway. Detainees described their situation as frustrating and emotionally challenging; and we show how they as a response developed a set of coping techniques aimed at 'making their own time'. The most important were: (1) living in 'slow motion'; (2) censorious attacks directed at the institution to break the monotony; (3) the use of benzodiazepines to regulate the perception of time; and (4) religious practices to connect the present with the future. We conclude that when investigating coping- and resistance strategies, we should not overlook the temporal aspects of them and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambidextrous states can grasp citizens with both the welfare/support-oriented left hand and the punishment/control-oriented right hand. When people go to prison in such contexts, they may simultaneously face punishment and welfare interventions. Based on interviews with six women serving prison sentences in Norway for violence against their own children, this article discusses certain aspects of the prison experience in welfare-state prisons. Their criminal sentences, and the associated stigma and feelings of shame, weighed heavily on these women, but they eventually felt the state's welfare-oriented left hand was tighter and more punitive than the right hand. This article describes their experiences and strategies in coping with the challenges they faced as prisoners in an ambidextrous state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]