Xmas DA!

This Xmas, the DA will be sitting down before an open fire to read and discuss Elaine Fishwick and Heusen Mak's Crime Media Culture article 'Fighting Crime, Battling Injustice: The World of Real-Life Superheroes'.

Elaine Fishwick, of the University of Western Sydney, examines the lives of those 'real-life superheroes' who pursue campaigns of justice adopting the guise of fictional archetypes.

Abstract:
This article explores the motivations, actions and experiences of real-life superheroes, those individuals who adopt a superhero persona inspired by both comic books and films, to engage in a range of activities that involve, amongst others, fighting crime, providing community support and battling injustice. Drawing on 13 in-depth interviews with individuals from different countries, as well as an ethnographic content analysis of online material, this innovative research explores the merging of the fictional and the real, the virtual and the terrestrial in the lives of interviewees. The article also enriches our understanding of the ‘carnival of crime’ and ‘edgework’ by arguing that risk, pleasure, excitement and transgression can also be found in a carnival of ‘doing good’ as well as in ‘wrongdoing’.

Details!
The Xmas DA will take place on Wednesday 14th December, at 6.30, in the Library Bar of the Central Hotel - Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

Prisoners, Solitude and Time

On the evening of Tuesday 14th June, Professor Ian O'Donnell of UCD kindly stopped by The Differential Association, holed up in the Law School of Trinity College for a change, to discuss his new book, Prisoners, Solitude and Time (2014).

Prisoners, Solitude and Time represents the culmination of a decade of work. Ian spoke of an initial idea, in 2004, which he had worked on intermittently, including periods spent on research leave in the United States.

The book explores how prisoners experience, and cope with, prolonged periods of imprisonment, with a particular focus on how prisoners respond to solitary confinement. The work draws on a huge range of material to answer these questions; venturing beyond the criminological, it incorporates accounts of polar and space exploration, wilderness narratives, and tales of isolation and endurance from persons drawn from a diverse selection of backgrounds, to offer an expansive look at the human spirit in adverse conditions. The work also links to the experience of isolation for religious purposes and the solitude of many within religious vocations. In addition to these writings, Professor O'Donnell uses a great many prison memoirs to examine the lived experience of those who have spent long periods of time locked up without everyday human contact.

Prisoners, Solitude and Time offers a number of carefully researched subject-areas for consideration. The book begins with a revisionist take on the history of the separate and silent systems imposed during the 1800s at Cherry Hill and Auburn in the US. Ian writes that the effects of these systems were neither so total, nor so devastating, as critics demanded. In this vein, the book looks particularly at the excoriating account written by Charles Dickens following his visit to Cherry Hill, and notes the public outcry that ensued, and the eventual fall from favour of the separate/silent systems in the UK and the UK.

The book also offers a genesis of the use of 'administrative solitary', now an embedded feature of the US penal system. These chapters offer the fascinating history of 'supermax' (variously labelled depending on the state), tracing it back to prisoner zero, Thomas Silverstein, who murdered a prison officer while at Marion, Illinois, in 1983.

Finally, Prisoners, Solitude and Time, offers insights into how time can be theorised within a prison context and offers perspectives on the subjectivity of time from a range of disciplines. Professor O'Donnell, acknowledging his avowed admiration of alliteration, elaborated the 7 R's of 'doing time' in prison, or as he noted, the seven survival secrets of successful solitaries:

• Rescheduling (live by prison time)
• Removal (remain busy)
• Reduction (e.g. prolonged sleep)
• Reorientation (live in the extended present)
• Resistance (including violence)
• Raptness (absorption in skilled work)
• Reinterpretation (imposing a greater meaning, e.g. religion/spirituality)

Prisoners, Solitude and Time offers examples of persons who have drawn on deep personal reserves of strength to withstand, and flourish, in the adverse conditions of solitary confinement. However, Professor O'Donnell is careful throughout to underline his belief that the use of solitary confinement remains an inhumane practice. Demonstrating the impact of the work, Professor O'Donnell was recently an expert witness in the extradition hearing in Ireland of Ali Charaf Damache, who is wanted in the US to stand trial for terrorism offences. Damache faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted. The book, therefore, does not offer a ground of argument for those in favour of solitary confinement, rather, it examines the experiences of those who have resisted its negative effects, while also offering a nuanced account of its development. The book concludes with the observation that while solitary confinement was initially envisaged as a means to an end (the salvation and moral recovery of the prisoner), it now serves as an end in itself, something which speaks to the cynicism of current US penal ideologies.

We'd like to thank Professor O'Donnell, and all those who came along, and contributed to the discussion afterwards!

Due to a failure in remembering to photograph the event, the below offers some idea of the baked good-goodness of the evening.

Lemon Drizzle cake, a la Colette

'Tactics', Agency and Power in Women's Prisons by Abigail Rowe

The DA recently read Abigail Rowe’s BJC article, ‘‘Tactics’, Agency and Power in Women’s Prisons’. The article was based on ethnographic research and semi-structured interviews conducted in two women’s prisons in England. Rowe writes that women’s agency has traditionally been framed in terms of resistance, and their coping strategies have generally been considered in the context of inter-personal relationships. In contrast to this approach, Rowe focuses on how agency can manifest as problem-solving, and how women engage with the power of penal regimes.

Rowe explores how prisoners and staff manage the constraints of the prison environment, and divides her findings into the issues of: visibility and discipline, dependency and hierarchy, and staff tactics of ‘lending’ and ‘poaching’. These latter terms are taken from Certeau (1984), whose theory Rowe uses to good effect throughout in her explication of agency and power. Rowe writes that Certeau’s ideas emerged in response to the monolithic, everywhere and nowhere, accounts of power proposed by Foucault in Discipline and Punish (1977). Certeau’s work concentrates on how those with limited power navigate these structures. The concept of ‘poaching’ in this context refers to ‘The subversion of a system to fulfil a private goal’ (at 337). Using Certeau’s ‘tactics’, Rowe's research adds to the complexity of the concept of the post-disciplinary prison.

Surveillance and Visibility

Rowe highlights the ‘very public nature of prison living’ (335) and the repercussions of this for relationships. For example, disagreements between prisoners can quickly be escalated and officially labelled as bullying. Although this is a protective mechanism, it is also a label with harsh outcomes for the individual accused of bullying.

Rowe offers examples of poaching which demonstrate how the systems of power in penal regimes can be exploited by prisoners for their own ends. Institutional mechanisms, such as the official response to bullying, can be used by prisoners to satisfy their own goals. The example is offered of one prisoner who was moved to another wing after false allegations of bullying were made against her. Rowe brands this a ‘tactic’, whereby other prisoners on the wing achieved their desired outcome through use of existing systems.

The DA noted that the necessary structure of complaint mechanisms, which in Rowe’s terms created points of invisibility as well as hypervisibility, was one of the primary areas of conflict and tension within prison, for prisoners and staff. It was noted by the group that certain allegations can effectively ruin the careers of staff, and can prejudice the release prospects of prisoners. This use of penal systems for personal ends therefore offers an effective example of ‘poaching’.

Dependency and Hierarchy

The dependency of prisoners on staff, and the hierarchy of the prison, offered another opportunity for the use of ‘tactics’. While the inequality of prison regimes can be disguised when all goes well, any resistance reveals its true nature.

The DA noted that within this fragile environment, prisoners are just as engaged in the business of affective labour as prison officers. Rowe reported numerous instances recounted by prisoners of how they managed the moods of staff, including stories of how they indulged the jokes of staff, and sussed them out as to their current mood.

Contrasting readings of the same incident were also notable, especially with regard to the women’s stated need to repeatedly ask, sometimes asking multiple staff members, to ensure that basic requests were carried out. This demonstrated starkly the dependency and prison hierarchy. However, prison staff perceived this very differently, as annoyance and as potentially humiliating if women went above their heads to request something. However, incorporating Goffman’s (1963) concept of ‘spoiled identities’, Rowe noted that repeated asking was a ‘tactic’ women used to ensure that simple needs were catered to. The DA discussed how women prisoners are perceived as a needier cohort than male prisoners, however from this perspective the stated and restated needs can be reframed as a means of achieving an outcome that might not otherwise happen.

Staff Tactics: ‘lending’ and ‘poaching’

Rowe’s research also looked at how staff resorted to strategies in the prison environment. However, throughout, staff members’ position as agents of power within the prison was noted. One staff member, who recounted that her attitude towards rude prisoners was framed by knowing that they would need her sooner or later, was quick to state that this ‘wasn’t necessarily a power thing’. The DA noted the lack of reflexivity in these attitudes. However, they also pointed to the powerlessness felt by many prison staff, who were often seen as unloved cogs in the penal machine, slotted between the management and the prisoners. The comments of staff offered in this section were fascinating, and could have provided material for an article on this subject alone.

In summary, Rowe states that she has sought to investigate and explicate the ‘relational, intersubjective dynamics through which penal regimes are delivered and negotiated’ (346). The article offers an alternative approach to theorising the experience of women prisoners. The use of Certeau's framework, and in particular the notion of 'poaching', offered considerable insight into how the institutionalised power in prisons can be adapted for prisoners' needs. The offering of this different theoretical slant on prison research provided new perspective on how individuals navigate within broader theories of the structure of power.

AUTHOR EVENT: 'Prisoners, Solitude, and Time' by Ian O'Donnell

The Differential Association is delighted to announce that our next book club meeting will be an author event, with Professor Ian O'Donnell of University College Dublin.

Professor O'Donnell will be talking about his new book, Prisoners, Solitude, and Time, which will be followed by a general group discussion of the themes and ideas in the work. For a description of the book, see below, the first chapter is also available from the above link.

The event will be followed by a small wine reception.

To register, please email Lynsey Black at lblack@tcd.ie

Details
Date and Time - Tuesday 14th June at 6pm
Venue - School of Law, Trinity College Dublin (the School of Law is located at House 39, New Square, on the main TCD campus, see map for details)



Prisoners, Solitude, and Time
Examining two overlapping aspects of the prison experience that, despite their central importance, have not attracted the scholarly attention they deserve, this book assesses both the degree to which prisoners can withstand the rigours of solitude and how they experience the passing of time. In particular, it looks at how they deal with the potentially overwhelming prospect of a long, or even indefinite, period behind bars.
While the deleterious effects of penal isolation are well known, little systematic attention has been given to the factors associated with surviving, and even triumphing over, prolonged exposure to solitary confinement. Through a re-examination of the roles of silence and separation in penal policy, and by contrasting the prisoner experience with that of individuals who have sought out institutional solitariness (for example as members of certain religious orders), and others who have found themselves held in solitary confinement although they committed no crime (such as hostages and some political prisoners), Prisoners, Solitude, and Time seeks to assess the impact of long-term isolation and the rationality of such treatment. In doing so, it aims to stimulate interest in a somewhat neglected aspect of the prisoner's psychological world. The book focuses on an aspect of the prison experience - time, its meanderings, measures, and meanings - that is seldom considered by academic commentators. Building upon prisoner narratives, academic critiques, official publications, personal communications, field visits, administrative statistics, reports of campaigning bodies, and other data, it presents a new framework for understanding the prison experience. The author concludes with a series of reflections on hope, the search for meaning, posttraumatic growth, and the art of living.

'Tactics', Agency and Power in Women's Prisons

Following some months off to attend to pressing PhD business, The DA is making a comeback with a meet-up in May to discuss Abigail Rowe's recent article in the British Journal of Criminology, 'Tactics', Agency and Power in Women's Prisons.

Everyone welcome!

Date: Tuesday 10th May
Time: 6pm
Venue: Mulligan's Pub (we're usually in the back room) (Dublin 2, Poolbeg Street)

Please feel free to get in contact to be included on future mailing lists! Alternatively tweet to @blalygamal for more information.