Search

Prior work on extended restrictive housing (ERH) has focused primarily on incarcerated persons rather than on potential impacts of this housing on personnel. Drawing on scholarship on the get-tough era, prison personnel, and ERH, we seek to shed light on contemporary correctional management practices and how doing so can illuminate the broad-ranging impacts of the get-tough era. We hypothesize that operational and organizational stressors differ for ERH personnel and may contribute to greater stress and adversely affect their mental and physical health. After presenting analyses from a mixed-methods study of Florida prisons, we discuss implications of the results for research and policy. We conclude that the get-tough era has led to harms, such as negative effects for personnel, that extend beyond those who are punished to those who play a role in systems of punishment and that have implications for understanding and addressing prison system safety and order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sentinel event review systems were created to prevent catastrophes from occurring in complex human organizations, though they have yet to be fully realized in corrections. Sentinel event reviews may be particularly salient for incarcerated people who engage in dual harming behaviors (i.e., self-harm and violence) given their overrepresentation in disciplinary incidents. To explore this potential, incident reports spanning a three-year period for an entire state prison system were examined. Our specific objectives were to assess the prevalence of institutional incidents committed by people who dual harm, and to identify their unique characteristics. Quantitative estimations indicated how dual harmers, in comparison to other incarcerated population members, were responsible for a higher proportion of disciplinary incidents. Further analyses indicated how people who dual harm were disproportionately more at-risk for mental health issues, and more likely to be housed in maximum-security facilities. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, a body of critical scholarship has emerged accentuating the social and cultural importance of food in prison. This article employs a tripartite conceptual framework for contemplating and demarcating food's different valuations in prison. We draw from our interviews with over 500 incarcerated individuals to demonstrate how acquiring, trading, and preparing food is inscribed with use, exchange, and sign values. In doing so, we provide illustrative examples of how food informs processes of stratification, distinction, and violence in prison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most incarceration settings around the world are governed by strong cisnormative policies, architectures, and social expectations that segregate according to a person's legal gender (i.e. male or female). This paper draws on the lived experiences of 24 formerly incarcerated trans women in Australia and the U.S. to elucidate the way in which the prison functions according to Lucas Crawford's theory of trans architecture, alongside Jacques Derrida's notion of archive fever. The paper displays how the cisnormative archive of the justice system and its architectural constructs impact trans women in men's incarceration settings, including how trans women entering the incarceration setting are able to embody gender in a way that is not reified by the insistences of those normative structures. In light of this, this paper advances a theoretical understanding of the prison as an archive and as an architectural construct, providing a new means of understanding how incarcerated trans persons may use and perform gender to survive carceral violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prison officers' behavior is one of the most consequential features of the modern prison. In this article, we introduce an organizational culture conceptual framework and build on previous prison scholarship to develop a model of prison officer workplace culture. We then apply the proposed model to original research in a US prison to investigate the relational aspects of prison officer culture during early 21st-century penal reforms. We find a set of collective norms and beliefs among officers consistent with the "traditional" prison officer culture historically documented by penologists, including high levels of distrust of prisoners, avoidance of relationships, and distancing from rehabilitation goals. We name this culture the "security mindset" because officers use multiple conceptions of "security" to rationalize their behavior. Our findings suggest that prison officer culture in late mass incarceration may work against the positive and supportive relationships necessary for rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the political angle in Bosman's writings as expressed in his language style is recognised, the prison writings as featured in his two late novels, Cold Stone Jug (1949) and Willemsdorp (written in 1951, first published posthumously in censored form in 1977 and in full in 1998), have received less scholarly attention in terms of his political intent. The present study explores his preoccupation in these works with the brutality of the prison system and the power of the apartheid state. Foucault's Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison was employed as a useful theoretical lens in examining Bosman's critique of the prison system in South Africa and the abuse of power within it. An analysis of the details of police brutality and abuse of power in the censored and uncensored published versions of Willemsdorp has also been included, highlighting the applicability of Foucault's theorisation on discipline and punishment in the penal system to Bosman's texts. This study brings to the fore Bosman's political intention behind his writing, through his critique of the state, its officials and unjust practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the study of penal changes throughout history is central to punishment studies, the field has taken little from historical institutionalists' theories of institutional change. One of the most relevant such theories is path dependence. This article outlines path dependence frameworks' most fruitful elements for studying penal change. Drawing on foundational political science and historical sociology texts, as well as several punishment scholars' works, this article highlights the advantages of thinking through stasis and change, mechanisms of inertia such as feedback effects, and exogenous shocks. While path dependence offers a powerful framework, it can also be an unsatisfying explanation at times, particularly when path dependence is itself a seemingly uphill battle, when apparent stasis hides ongoing change, or when institutions survive hypothesized mechanisms of change. This paper closes by discussing some ways in which punishment scholars can strengthen the path dependence framework by blending it with recent theoretical developments in the punishment studies field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The criminal justice system, the criminal enforcement system and the prison system are realities built from an androcentric perspective. The fact that only a small part of the crimes that are prosecuted and sentenced have been committed by women places them in a minority position in the enforcement system, which means they have less access to resources and services. This paper aims to analyse what strategies have been undertaken in recent years in order to introduce gender-based transformations in criminal enforcement in Catalonia and to determine what challenges remain. Firstly, we present quantitative and qualitative data relating to the population of women in prison. We then analyse how the passing of new legislation aimed at recognising and extending the principle of equality and non-discrimination in Catalonia impacts criminal enforcement, favouring the deployment of initiatives such as the creation of gender referents for penitentiary centres and specific programmes for women in prison. After reviewing some interesting initiatives promoted from outside the Catalan territory, the paper concludes with six proposals aimed at improving the situation of women who come in contact with the criminal enforcement system and at introducing a gender perspective in the penitentiary system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the start of the criminal reform movement and during the moment of northern emancipation, a startling phenonenon emerged in which Black children were hypercriminalized. Their treatment within the emerging criminal justice system was unusually harsh, and exceedingly violent. Officials confined Black children and especially Black girls to adult prisons, where they served lifetime sentences or even were executed. This article examines the experiences of individual Black girls in the criminal courts and prisons of Early America and illustrates that their severe punishments were a reaction to the threat of their freedom, and that these practices were an integral part of the development of the racialized carceral state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This integrative review analyzed studies about depression among people imprisoned in the prison system. Bibliographic search was conducted on the PePSIC, PsycINFO, SciELO and Web of Science databases. Papers were selected following the PRISMA recommendations, and then extracted using the StArt software. The search strategy used the terms "inmate," "prison," "prisoner," "penitentiary" and "depression," The final sample included 10 primary studies that met the inclusion criteria and answered the research question. All selected articles indicated the occurrence of depression, assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory. Finally, early identification of depressive symptoms can minimize physical and mental harm in the incarcerated population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this narrative review we consider what is known about mental health conditions in the prison system in Bangladesh and describe the current provision of mental health services for prisoners with mental health needs. We contextualise this within the literature on mental health conditions in correctional settings in the wider sub-continental region and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) more broadly. We augment findings from the literature with information from unstructured interviews with local experts, and offer recommendations for research, policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1841 to 1844, the Auburn Prison in New York State, now the Auburn Correctional Facility, was the location of an early experiment in the manufacture of sewing silk, a type of thread used in garment production. Incarcerated men worked in throwing mills to transform cocoons into sewing silk; they reeled, combed, and dyed silk filaments, added twist, and wound the thread onto bobbins. The Auburn Prison agent solicited cocoons from silk farmers and thereby supported an incipient local sericulture cottage industry. By 1843 the prison had become the leading buyer of raw silk cocoons in the United States. In this report, we chronicle the rise and fall of silk production in the Auburn Prison within the context of the Auburn Prison System, also known as the "Congregate System," and a larger "silk mania" across the northeastern United States in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of administrative segregation in prison is a controversial correctional policy. Proponents argue this type of housing is necessary for maintaining institutional safety and order, whereas critics contend it is damaging to inmate mental health. Despite the increase in academic attention over the last decade, there is much that remains unknown about the uses and effects of this practice. This study addresses this gap in knowledge by content-analyzing the administrative segregation policies of 48 state and federal prison systems. The results provide evidence of consistency and discrepancy across key elements of these policies, including placement criteria and review procedures. Findings further highlight how basic information regarding mental health provisions and conditions of confinement are missing from a substantial number of policies. This investigation emphasizes a need for more governmental accountability and transparency in the use of this correctional policy and identifies several areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explain the phenomenon of low incidence of COVID-19 in Polish prisons. This paper addresses three questions: was the Polish prison system ready to respond to the threats posed by COVID-19; what action has it taken in this regard; and with what effect? Design/methodology/approach: An analysis of the current condition of the Polish prison system was undertaken focusing on items that were the focus of prisoners' complaints, the interventions of the Ombudsman and the bulletins of the Central Board of the Prison Service. This analysis has been juxtaposed with the opinions of experts in epidemiology and medicine and changes introduced in the law relating to prisoners. Findings: During the COVID-19 epidemic – despite serious chronic problems in the Polish penitentiary system – the statistics indicated that 24 individuals were infected and no deaths occurred. When compared to the statistics of non-prison cases, this result is extremely low. Research limitations/implications: Given the newness of the problem, the conflicts of different interests, the "double" isolation of prisons (penal and epidemiological) and the reluctance of the prison administration to provide information about what is happening behind prison walls, researchers must rely on statistics and subjective contacts with prisoners, for example, by investigating their complaints. Practical implications: As a result of the research, the author believes that the transparency of institutions such as prisons should be ensured, primarily expressed in the provision of information to both prisoners and the public relating to methods adopted to prevent epidemics in the context of prison and prisoners. Originality/value: The value of this paper is to show how prisons have managed in a new, exceptional situation to balance the right to health and personal safety of prisoners and warders, with the right to contact with the outside world and humane living conditions in a closed and doubly isolated space. The findings presented will add value to the knowledge and effectiveness of the prison administration's reaction and response to an emergency such as an epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to understand the institutionalization process of imprisoned subjects, identifying subjective effects and strategies they use in serving the sentence. It also contextualizes the work of the Psychology professional in the Brazilian prison system and the debate with the Courts around the criminological examination. The study has a genealogical approach, using interviews and document analysis. The participants are three professionals and three inmates of a male prison located in a southern state of Brazil. The analyses showed that prison, as a total institution, provokes a rupture with the outside world and the previous reality of the inmates and that they abandon their identity and assume an institutional identity. Conducts are prescribed that legitimize hierarchies, and a language that signals to belong to the group is shared. Generally, the family is supportive, but the distance between it and the prisoners is a source of suffering for them, who create adaptation tactics for institutional coexistence. The perspective of freedom provokes feelings of joy and fear because the ex-prisoner stereotype remains with them after serving the sentence. The Criminal Execution Law provides the criminological examination in order to establish a program for the individualization of the sentence and progression of the regime but, the Federal Council of Psychology is against its elaboration by psychologists regarding the criminological prognosis of recidivism, the measurement of dangerousness, and the establishment of a causal link from the crime-offender binomial, and argues for monitoring the prisoner from the perspective of humanization, overcoming the punitive paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles Sanders Peirce argued that we have no right to harshly punish criminals, especially by causing them to suffer and die in prison. Summarily stated, his argument is that the state has only those rights and powers conferred on it by its citizens, and as its citizens do not have the right to but are morally prohibited from harshly punishing criminals, the prison system must be reformed. This essay develops and defends Peirce's argument in the context of his nascent sentimentalism and suggests that as the prison system of Peirce's time is akin to our own, his argument is as applicable today as it was then. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Peruvian State guarantees inmates the right to adequately equipped imprisonment facilities, and the prison regime’s aims to re-educate, rehabilitate, and reintegrate inmates have been a recognized part of the Constitution of 1993. Peruvian Prison reforms, however, have experienced challenges in their efforts to enact and enforce these constitutional provisions. This research explores the Peruvian Prison System as a complex adaptive system to better understand the non- predictable outcomes of efforts by the Governmental Authorities to improve prisons, and considers how such a system has influenced prison reforms in light of the limited capacity of the Peruvian state. Employing the Complexity Theory to analyze prison reforms enacted between 2011 and 2016, as well as the ones during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, we observe that the regulatory capacity has prevailed in prison reforms despite the political context, but met with challenges in areas of analytical, coordination and deliver capacity in the Prison System as a complex adaptive system, due to the limited capacity of the Peruvian state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to analyze the network of powers in prison and the vectors of subjection on the bodies of women arrested in a mixed prison located in the municipality of Parnaíba, Piauí. Through participatory observation methodological strategies; and dialogues with these women, their dimensions of life are analyzed, such as health, sexuality, work, and other behaviors. For that, it uses the concepts of biopolitics, presented by Michel Foucault, and necropolitics, proposed by Achille Mbembe, as key reading concepts to understand the Brazilian prison system, most specifically massive female incarceration. The biopolitical and necropolitical control of female bodies is observed, such as the absence or insufficiency of specific services for female health, the precarious food provided the limitation of their sexualities, in addition to the abandonment or forgetfulness to which many are subjected in prison. It found that the penal system operates through sexist, classist, and racist practices, prolonging the exclusionary and discriminatory social structure, granting women heavier weight in their penalties. But, there is also resistance, such as the organization and solidarity of the group, the transgression of norms, and the friendship building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a rare longitudinal analysis of solitary confinement use in one state prison system: spanning 2002–2017 in the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC). An ongoing partnership with DOC officials facilitated methodological and conceptual improvements, allowing us to construct a dataset that provides a rich description of who is in solitary confinement, for how long, and why. Operationalizing solitary confinement as the intersection of the most serious custody status with the most restrictive housing location, we describe significant changes in ethnic composition and behavioral profiles of people in solitary confinement and in frequency and duration of solitary confinement use. These results suggest how particular policy interventions have affected the composition, numbers, and lengths of stay in solitary confinement. Combining longitudinal analysis and iterative engagement with DOC officials, we provide a roadmap for better understanding solitary confinement use in the United States now and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is it possible for education, in contexts of deprivation of freedom, to become a dialogical education, a practice of freedom? This question provokes reflections about the possibilities of analyzing education in contexts of deprivation of freedom under the main ideas developed by Paulo Freire, in his work Pedagogy of the oppressed. From an analysis of this book, we propose a debate on the education implemented for young people and adults in situations of restriction and deprivation of freedom. Through a dialogue with some academic texts in the areas of Education and Social Sciences on the prison system, we aim for a reflection on the possible readings of Pedagogy of the oppressed for the education in contexts of deprivation of freedom. The findings of our study emphasize the relevance of these concepts for the analysis of a popular education in contexts of deprivation of freedom. Its main aim is to rescue the (apparently obvious) affirmation of the humanity that, when reduced in prison, affects society as a whole, since prison is an institution which is not isolated from the world but part of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of trauma‐informed practice (TIP) across the workforce, especially in a trauma‐laden environment such as prison, has gained credence. Little is documented, however, on the practicalities of responding to trauma within custodial institutions where the potential for retraumatisation and the tension between care and control are complicating factors. This article explores the views of over 200 prison staff on the adoption of a trauma‐informed approach for young people in custody. It identifies a gap between vision and practice and, while acknowledging that prisons can become more 'trauma‐aware', disputes the notion that true TIP is possible within current custodial contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the institution of prison under the British administration in the Penang Prison in the 19th and the 20th century. Penang as an important port in the northern Malaya under the British administration has led to an increase number of people in the state who are immigrants besides the natives. Sudden boast in the population had led to an increase in criminal activities on the island that had disrupted the British administration. Penang which used the local customary law of Kedah Government had failed to control the criminal activities in Penang. Thus British introduced Western law in Penang to control the criminal activities on the island. The objective of this article is to analyze the factors for the establishment of the Penang Prison and its enforced regulations in the prison system of Penang to prisoners and prison officers. The methodology used to achieve this objective is through research on primary sources obtained from the national archive such as the Straits Settlements Departmental Annual Report, Rules And Regulations Under Ordinance No. XIV of 1872, Federated Secretariat 14250 / 49.1949, letters and files related to the prison rules. The study found that the enforcement of British system on the rules and regulations of Penang Prison has an important contribution because it has introduced a systematic prison system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent prison scholarship has employed an integrated model of the developmental/life-course perspectives and importation model to examine prison misconduct. Using longitudinal data from a large sample of inmates incarcerated in a U.S. prison system, this study attempts to validate and expand recent prison research by systematically examining the relationship among inmate characteristics and misconduct trajectories, particularly for the higher/chronic pattern of misconduct relative to other identified clusters. The results show that smaller groups of inmates have persistent criminal careers and continually engaged in high level of misconduct. In addition, several inmate characteristics associated with prison misconduct can also be useful to distinguishing high-risk inmates/persistent offenders from groups that offend at low rates over time. These findings could provide vital information to prison officials in developing and designing alternative prison services, assistance, and rehabilitation programs based on the misconduct trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent prison scholarship has employed an integrated model of the developmental/life-course perspectives and importation model to examine prison misconduct. Using longitudinal data from a large sample of inmates incarcerated in a U.S. prison system, this study attempts to validate and expand recent prison research by systematically examining the relationship among inmate characteristics and misconduct trajectories, particularly for the higher/chronic pattern of misconduct relative to other identified clusters. The results show that smaller groups of inmates have persistent criminal careers and continually engaged in high level of misconduct. In addition, several inmate characteristics associated with prison misconduct can also be useful to distinguishing high-risk inmates/persistent offenders from groups that offend at low rates over time. These findings could provide vital information to prison officials in developing and designing alternative prison services, assistance, and rehabilitation programs based on the misconduct trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers one of the first analyses of the current and ongoing crisis affecting English and Welsh prisons and of recent proposals for prison reform. The article pits the impression of novelty surrounding the current framework of incarceration against the notion promoted by critical scholarship that the nexus between crisis and reform is not new. Building on this debate, we deploy an original theoretical perspective, grounded on the concept of hostile solidarity, to argue that the promise of prison reform is an essential aspect of the utility ascribed to punishment, which allows the prison to be perpetually preserved and seen as unquestionably necessary, even when in crisis. The article concludes by suggesting that our emotional attachment and contemporary reliance on punishment, and its manifestation in the perpetuation and expansion of institutions like the prison, are ultimately self-defeating and self-propelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and deliberate the service development needs required for the improvement of service provision for incarcerated adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in NSW, Australia.Design/methodology/approach: Consultation groups were conducted to bring together n=5 key stakeholders from heath and correctional-based services in the prison system. A facilitated asynchronous e-mail-based discussion occurred amongst group members between consultation group meetings.Findings: Two main themes were identified: detecting persons with ASD and providing appropriate care. Participants discussed current service gaps with regard to the identification of people with ASD at the point of contact with the prison service, and the difficulties associated with diagnosing prisoners with ASD. The need for effective alert systems to detect persons with ASD in custody was identified. The current absence of ASD-specific support services in prison was highlighted, and recommendations for improvement suggested.Practical Implications: Current health and correctional-based service provision failed to adequately support incarcerated adults with ASD. Improvements in prison-entry screening processes, alert systems and diagnostic practices are required. Multidisciplinary collaboration between prison-based and external service providers is required for the development of a model of care based on individualised case management to adequately support incarcerated adults with ASD in prison.Originality/value: Given the lack of reported service provision for incarcerated adults with ASD internationally, other prison-based services are likely to experience similar service development needs and see the relevance of the recommendations made directly from the study findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an interpretation of the evolution of criminal punishment and prisons in China from an historical perspective. The historical investigation reveals that the current ganhua and paternalistic or fatherly approaches to prison corrections are expressions of an underlying cultural tradition that is deep and abiding. However, the existence of the paradoxical goals of punishment and reformation at the level of the implementation of prison sentences, which can erode the protection of the rights of prisoners, is contingent upon political and legal decisions that can be changed by acts of law and legal reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on a semi-ethnographic study in a Ukrainian prison, the first research of its kind in the region, this article discusses the normative and governance system of a post-communist prisoner world. The article offers empirical support for Skarbek’s theory of prison social order by demonstrating how prisoner extralegal governance evolves along with the changing structures in and outside the prison to sustain a predictable and tolerable environment within a dehumanising and intrinsically volatile context. Nevertheless, prisoner self-governance, although generally fairly administered, is itself brutal and institutionalises inequality. As the history of prison ‘societies’ in the US and UK demonstrates, far-reaching penal policy changes can radically transform the inner prison world. Such changes, widely referred to in Ukraine as the ‘humanisation of the penitentiary system’ and ‘Europeanisation’, have corroded the power and legitimacy of the traditional model of social control. Even so, the inability to resolve many inter-prisoner disputes through official channels and the state’s signal failure to meet the demand for protection and arbitration proved the utility of the private justice embedded in the inmate code and the institution of the illicit adjudicators, thus surpassing their legitimacy deficit and retaining the essence of the Soviet underworld. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years “volume” has become a key analytic idea, and tool, for re‐imagining and making sense of historical and contemporary socio‐cultural and geopolitical phenomena. This paper argues that this important work could be pushed in new directions by thinking seriously of how volume might otherwise be interpreted spatially, as capacity. Accordingly, in this paper, we address what we call a “politics of capacity”. To do so, we draw specifically on debates in carceral geography and, in particular, the pressures on the prison system to illustrate our argument. Drawing on notions of “operational capacities” and “capacity building” in the prison setting, we outline a manifesto for volumetric thinking that moves beyond expressions of power that cut through height, depth and angles, to an understanding of how power is conveyed through maximum and minimum capacities; density and mass; and capacity‐building techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attorneys of the Public Defender's Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro (PDORJ) are heavily present in the penitentiary system of Rio de Janeiro, individually meeting the vast majority of detainees and conducting monitoring visits. This article presents the work of the PDORJ in the prison system, focusing on its role in the prevention of torture. Based on semi-structured interviews with public defenders, the article explains the paradox between the extensive presence of the PDORJ in the prison system and the few instances of torture that are officially reported. It also presents recommendations aimed at better identifying and responding to accounts of torture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the impacts of overcrowding on the reintegration of the prisoners with specific focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) jails. Triangulation method was adopted for data collection and analysis. Four central jails and three district jails i.e., seven prison were purposively selected from all the seven divisions of Khyberpakhtunkhwa province. Within seven jails 250 inmates were interviewed through semi-structured questionnaire adopting random sampling technique. Moreover, jail officials, ex-prisoners, human right activists, judges and lawyers were purposively selected and their views were taken through interview schedule. Throughout the study it was found that overcrowding gave birth to various problems such as, spread of chronic diseases, unhygienic environment, no effective programmatic (educational, vocational, religious, psychological etc) interventions, lack of check and balance, prisons' rioting, nonclassification of the prisoners (on the basis of age, sex, nature of crime etc). Moreover, the larger part of the budget as well as the main focus of prisons' staff was directed towards handling the huge prisons' population, rather than ensuring rehabilitative setting. Fair and speedy justice, construction of more jails, extension of existing jails, alternative to imprisonment in petty nature crimes, efficient probation and parole system and the rehabilitative prisons' setting to overcome the cycle of recidivism are suggested remedial measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tunisian revolution against Ben Ali has catalysed the production of an impressive amount of literary works about political detention during the post-independence period in Tunisia. This article investigates how prison literature constructs the memory of these repressive years and provides testimony about the systematic oppression of Tunisian political activists under Bourguiba and Ben Ali. Additionally, the article provides an innovative reading of the workings of prison literature in the context of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prison visitation has been widely recognised as an important feature of a just and humane prison system, providing important benefits for prisoners and their family in maintaining ties. However, emphasis on maintaining prisoner–family ties over the sentence has remained a low priority for the prison service in England and Wales, with prison visits ideologically framed as a ‘privilege’ rather than a ‘right’ for prisoners. This paper contrasts England and Wales with Scotland where a diverging approach to supporting visitation and family contact has been implemented. In Scotland, a strong focus on human rights as a justification for these policies has occurred, in tandem with more palatable historical context of penal welfarism. This paper assesses differences between the two governmental approaches to prison visitation, situated in discussion of some of the broader resettlement outcomes which may be garnered via these policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article opens an empirical window into the practice of imprisonment in postwar Guatemala. It foregrounds the spatial and social components of incarceration that create a combination of improvised disciplinary techniques, what this article calls the practice of "making do." During Guatemala's genocidal civil war, which began in 1960, state officials tended to disappear rather than imprison people. Following the 1996 Peace Accords, rates of incarceration rose dramatically while the state committed less than one percent of its annual budget to managing and maintaining the country's twenty-two formal prison structures. Today dilapidated infrastructure and extreme budgetary constraints characterize postwar Guatemala's penitentiary system, as does the improvisational nature of incarceration. Often extending beyond the penitentiary system itself, those forms detailed in this article include a state-run prison farm; high profile prisoner cells; an extrajudicial police detention center; and a private drug rehabilitation center. By illustrating the manifold carceral spaces in Guatemala, this article highlights the importance of expanding notions of detention beyond the prison proper while also reflecting on improvisational approaches to imprisonment. Este artículo discute de manera empírica la práctica del encarcelamiento en la Guatemala post-guerra. Se enfoca en los componentes espaciales y sociales del encarcelamiento que generan una combinación de técnicas disciplinarias improvisadas; las cuales en este artículo se llaman las prácticas de "arreglarse con". Durante la guerra civil genocida de Guatemala, que inicio en 1960, los oficiales del Estado solían desaparecer en vez de encarcelar a las personas. Luego de los Acuerdos de Paz de 1996, los índices de encarcelamiento aumentaron drásticamente, mientras el Estado invertía menos del uno por ciento de su presupuesto anual en manejar y mantener las 22 prisiones formales del país. Hoy en día, el sistema penitenciario de Guatemala se caracteriza por sus restricciones presupuestarias extremas y mala infraestructura, así como la naturaleza improvisada de encarcelamiento. En este artículo se exponen y detallan algunas de las distintas formas de encarcelamiento existentes, que muchas veces se extienden más allá del sistema penitenciario en sí, como una granja prisión manejada por el Estado, celdas de prisioneros de perfil alto, un centro de detención policial extrajudicial y un centro privado de rehabilitación para las drogas. Al ilustrar los distintos espacios de encarcelamiento de Guatemala, este artículo recalca la importancia de expandir las nociones acerca de la detención más allá del espacio de la prisión como tal. Además, también hace una reflexión sobre las técnicas de improvisación ante los encarcelamientos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research in prison sociology has described prisoners' resistance as an exercise of agency within restrictive settings. This study argues that the emphasis on agency has obscured the role of other factors that contribute to prisoner behaviour, including structure. Using an historical case study, I illustrate several ways in which prisoners' friction and resistance are not only reactions against the prison regime, but are also enabled, constructed, and shaped by it. This study produces a two-dimensional framework that locates friction and resistance within a nexus of agency and structure. Incorporating structural determinants of prisoner behaviour, while recognizing the role of agency, allows a fuller, more accurate understanding of prisoner behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution the author examines overcrowding, one of the chronic problems that affect the prison system in Peru. First, the topic of the growth of the prison population during a determined period of years is addressed. Then, the author discusses three options for avoiding or controlling overcrowding in prisons: sending fewer people to prison, increasing the release of prisoners, and expanding existing prisons or building new ones. Finally, the article presents alternative measures of limiting freedom other than sending people to prison, and proposes a long-term solution which includes the participation of different sectors of the Peruvian government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a dearth of research on the experience of motherhood within the Irish prison system. This paper considers the specific issue of facilitating contact between incarcerated mothers and their children. It is based on a study which explores the views of practitioners working directly with mothers in prison on how the mother–child relationship is accommodated and supported. Data presented are based on eight one-to-one interviews with participants from within the prison system and with participants working in an external support agency. The research findings highlight examples of good practice within the prison system with a sense that participants endeavour to support this relationship whenever possible. Suggestions for improved practice and the associated resource needs are also discussed. Internationally there are many exemplars of supportive initiatives promoting relationships between incarcerated mothers and their children. Such models and the relevant research and literature are considered in this paper. The paper concludes with reflections on the findings of this study with reference to this literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars examining prisoners’ “secondary adjustments” have often emphasized prisoners’ “resistance” to the prison regime, particularly their agentic acts that frustrate the prison’s rules, goals, or functions. While these agency-centered accounts offer an important corrective to the understanding of prisons as totalizing institutions, they may go too far. I argue that scholars have overused (and misused) the term “resistance” to describe certain prisoner behaviors, creating both analytical and normative consequences. Instead, I suggest the concept of “friction” more accurately describes the reactive behaviors that occur when people find themselves in highly controlled environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American prison systems may be shifting away from warehousing towards prisoner rehabilitation. California’s corrections policy, for example, has changed dramatically in response to a variety of pressures budgetary, operational and judicial. What might such changes mean for prisoner rehabilitation and the chances of formerly incarcerated persons leading meaningful, contributing lives? This is an exploratory essay on the possibility of a formerly incarcerated person finding himself through prison work. My primary concern is with understanding and utilizing current shifts in correctional philosophies and practices to create healing alternatives and a more inclusive justice, one with room for my own healing. I pursue this inquiry through the use of an autoethnographic approach to legal storytelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the recent history of prison policy in Sao Paulo, the Brazilian state with the largest number of inmates. From a qualitative approach, was carried out research examining the different contexts and policies adopted, highlighting the difficulties in its institutionalization. The study shows that prison facilities expansion is followed by a tightening rule, ending a brief period of humanization in the 1980's. The hardening actions of "prison gangs", the spread of tough controls, such as the differentiated disciplinary regime, the political and mediatic brunt, reinforced a vicious cycle toward increase repression. We conclude that the paradoxical characteristics were kept in the prison system, in which one side of society takes custody of it's offenders and defends their human dignity as a moral obligation, while failing in the perspective of ensuring their basic needs. Thus, the balance between the strategies of expansion of the prison system and other actions concerning the rights of inmates will only be effective when processes of social inclusion of the inmates are tightly adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the criminalization of immigration and the use of private prisons have increased in popularity. The criminalization of immigration and the privatization of prisons work hand in hand in shaping the American criminal justice response to immigration. Privatization creates a powerful opportunity for the social construction of the undocumented immigrant into a powerful potential source of revenue for for-profit corporations. Private prison corporations, such as Corrections Corporation of American and The GEO Group, stand to profit significantly from the private immigration detention center. Several investigative reports have focused on how these companies stand to profit, but little attention has been given to the psychosocial consequences that impact immigrant detainees and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Colombia the crisis is deep prison system, as al-tered by the ineffectiveness of the criminal policies that the State establishes. Beyond the high crime rates that currently handles Colombia, are the vio-lations of Human Rights and the crisis in the prisons are currently living in detriment to the sense of reha-bilitation which is the goal of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foucault's panopticon has become the leading scholarly model or metaphor for analysing surveillance. Surveillance studies scholars have recently turned away from Foucault in an attempt to understand contemporary social and technological developments in surveillance and society. This article argues against this trend in surveillance studies by returning to Foucault's writing, interviews and lectures on the panopticon. It begins by reviewing the surveillance literature that supposedly goes beyond Foucault. It resituates the panopticon in the broader context of Foucault's theory of power to show how surveillance scholars have misinterpreted both his analysis of the gaze and power. In the second section, it assesses the 'Deleuzian turn' in surveillance studies against Deleuze's own writings on Foucault. By way of conclusion, it returns to Foucault's recently published lectures on security to show how these pre-empted many of the developments in contemporary surveillance studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dostoevsky, Mandela, and others have long noted that prisons expose social realities, often hidden, particularly inequality and gaps between policy and practice. Prisons symbolize, mirror, and shape the communities and countries in which they exist. Although prisons informed and were intertwined with many of the defining moments of 1989, in the 20 years since, societies often failed to recognize the important role prison and punishment play in relationship to democracy. By not recognizing that “prison matters” in relationship to democracy, polities (whether in transition to democracy or established democracies) failed to adequately learn “prison lessons.” Starting with a case study of South Africa, this paper considers prisons during apartheid and under democratic governance. This case is connected to other comparative and international examples (including Russia, Brazil, and the USA) to identify five lessons learned and not learned concerning prison and democracy. First, policies and practices of imprisonment reflect social orders, especially structures of inequality and understandings of legitimate power and opposition. Second, countries transitioning to democracy seldom anticipate rising crime and invariably neglect the relevance of prisons. Third, nations do not adequately grapple with the role of prison in the past, especially the nondemocratic past. Fourth, in established and recent democracies, penal populism resulted as politicians defined prison as a solution to a host of social ills, ignoring the consequences of expanded punishment. Fifth, prisons shaped key substantive realities beyond their walls, from leadership to recidivism, scandals, fiscal deficits, and crises of legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to look at the ways in which women's struggles against domestic violence are criminalized and also how this type of racialized, classed, and gendered violence is connected to processes that fuel prison expansion-including the U.S-led war on drugs, the criminalization of immigration, the rampant policing in communities of color, and the reliance on the police and the criminal legal system to address domestic violence. It is my intent to place domestic violence and its connection to criminalization in a politicized context for two reasons: the first is to repudiate the tendency to look at women's response to abuse as individualized or unconnected to other types of marginalization and the second is to provide a more complex analysis of how women's differing social identities or positionalities, as women of color or immigrant women for example, may affect their experiences of both state and interpersonal violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the factors considered by the Greek prison authorities in administering the home leave scheme. It is shown that the administration of the programme is significantly guided by exogenous factors like media pressure, mounting demand for rationality and accountability and populist considerations on the part of the superior officers at the Ministry of Justice, subsequently reflected upon personal concerns like the possible adverse consequences for decision-makers were they to exhibit 'unwarranted leniency'. Support is lent to the arguments: that the scheme is used primarily as a means of maintaining institutional control; that the selection of participants onto the programme is largely decoupled from their needs, but rather depends mostly on their risk profile, which, however, is not determined by means of any sophisticated actuarial technique; and that the various categories of risk are greatly associated with race/ethnicity-linked knowledges or assumptions. Notwithstanding the constraints of action imposed upon decision-makers, it is concluded that rehabilitative impulses have not been completely supplanted by disciplinary and actuarial considerations, and that criminal justice agents still play a considerable, albeit attenuated, part in forming penal currents in prison. No clear indication of bias towards non- Greek prisoners was found in processing licence applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Method: Given the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD), and the prevalence of SUD among offenders, the inattention to trauma before, during, and after incarceration is troubling. This exploratory study compared those with and without co-occurring PTSD among men (n = 139) and women (n = 60) involved in prison-based substance abuse treatment. Results: More than one ha If the sample met criteria for lifetime PTSD with women experiencing a greater number of events and men experiencing more recent events. Women with PTSD were significantly more likely to relapse than women without. Men with PTSD were more likely to enter community aftercare treatment and reactivate than those without. Conclusion: The findings suggest that trauma-related disorders, among those with SUD, affect postincarcerarion outcomes. Therefore,from a practice and policy perspective, interventions addressing this co-occurring disorder should be available to men and women within the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the emergence of the prison system in Sweden during the nineteenth century against the background of the broader context of prison history. Although the number of prisoners had quadrupled already in the first half of the century, it was in the second half that the system was developed. As in many other nations, a heated debate took place on the question of which of the opposing systems - the Philadelphia or the Auburn system - should be chosen. In Sweden this battle between the systems ended with an almost total victory for a Philadelphia-like system, i.e., on the principle of solitary confinement. During the second half of the nineteenth century, a system built on solitary confinement expanded at the same time as the penal policy took on a more disciplinary character, a tendency that became especially evident at the turn of the century. This expansion continued even after many other nations more or less abandoned solitary confinement. This article argues that this expansion was the result of several factors, the most important being the unprecedented disciplinary possibilities of solitary confinement. The article also argues that this development created a form of 'successful' institutions, i.e., well administered, secure and calm institutions, which became one important reason for the remarkably high degree of legitimacy that the Swedish prisons have enjoyed during the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]