Abstract
Based on ethnographic data generated in establishments that house long-term prisoners sentenced to indefinite incarceration in Switzerland, this chapter provides insights into the prisoners’ ways of inhabiting a cell. While cell furnishing and maintenance is highly constrained by the prison’s accommodation regime, it also provides room for manoeuvre. Inspired by Michel Lussault and Mathis Stock’s (2010) ‘pragmatics of space’ approach, this chapter explores the prisoners’ individual ways of (re)arranging spatial elements and shows how they ascribe new meanings and values to the prison cell and create personal and intimate space. At the same time, their ways of inhabiting a cell reflect the prisoners’ different ways of dealing with their life situation that is characterised by a high degree of uncertainty.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The project End-of-Life in Prison: Legal Context, Institutions and Actors was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (http://www.p3.snf.ch/Project-139296).
- 2.
The PhD project Living the Prison: An Ethnographic Study of Indefinite Incarceration in Switzerland was also funded by the SNSF (http://p3.snf.ch/project-159182).
- 3.
In Switzerland’s federal political system, legislation in the field of criminal law is a matter for the federal government. The execution of sentences, however, generally falls under the responsibilities of the cantons (FOJ 2010).
- 4.
All fieldnotes and quotations from prisoners have been translated from German by the author. All names have been replaced by pseudonyms.
- 5.
See also Herrity (this volume) for a discussion of the significance of sound in cell space.
- 6.
Here it is important to note that the significance prisoners attribute to the cell can change over time and according to the situation (see also Lussault and Stock 2010: 17). For instance, during our first meeting within the scope of a formal interview in 2016, Markus vehemently expressed the position that he would never call his cell a home. In 2017, after several more meetings and informal discussions, during the walking interview I conducted with him, he first showed me his cell, which he named ‘my home’ (Markus 28.8.2017).
References
Baechtold, A., Weber, J., & Hostettler, U. (2016). Strafvollzug. Straf- und Massnahmenvollzug an Erwachsenen in der Schweiz (Dritte, vollständig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Reihe KJS-CJS, Band 17). Bern: Stämpfli Verlag.
Baer, L. D. (2005). Visual Imprints on the Prison Landscape: A Study on Decorations in Prison Cells. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 96(2), 209–217.
Bundesamt für Justiz (BJ). (2016). Handbuch für Bauten des Straf-und Massnahmenvollzugs. Retrieved October 31, 2017, from https://www.bj.admin.ch/dam/data/bj/sicherheit/smv/baubeitraege/hb-erwachsene-d.pdf.
Cohen, S., & Taylor, L. (1972). Psychological Survival: The Experience of Long-Term Imprisonment. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Crewe, B. (2011). Depth, Weight, Tightness: Revisiting the Pains of Imprisonment. Punishment & Society, 13(5), 509–529.
Crewe, B., Hulley, S., & Wright, S. (2016). Swimming with the Tide: Adapting to Long-Term Imprisonment. Justice Quarterly, 34(3), 517–541.
DeWalt, K. M., & DeWalt, B. R. (2002). Participant Observation: A Guide for Fieldworkers. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.
Douglas, M. (1966). Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Federal Office of Justice (FOJ). (2010). The Execution of Sentences and Measures in Switzerland. Retrieved October 31, 2017, from https://www.bj.admin.ch/dam/data/bj/sicherheit/smv/dokumentation/smv-ch-e.pdf.
Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
Hall, E. T. ([1966] 1982). The Hidden Dimension. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
JVA Lenzburg. (2011). Hausordnung 2011. Kanton Aargau.
JVA Pöschwies. (2016). AGE-Info. Kanton Zürich.
Künzli, J., Eugster, A., & Schultheiss, M. (2016). Haftbedingungen in der Verwahrung—Menschenrechtliche Standards und die Situation in der Schweiz. Bern: Schweizerisches Kompetenzzentrum für Menschenrechte (SKMR).
Leder, D. (2004). Imprisoned Bodies: The Life-World of the Incarcerated. Social Justice, 31(1/2), 51–66.
Leigey, M. E., & Ryder, M. A. (2015). The Pains of Permanent Imprisonment: Examining Perceptions of Confinement Among Older Life Without Parole Inmates. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 59(7), 726–742.
Lussault, M. (2007). L’homme spatial. La construction sociale de l’espace humain. Paris: Seuil.
Lussault, M., & Stock, M. (2010). Doing with Space: Towards a Pragmatics of Space. Social Geography, 5(1), 1–8.
Milhaud, O. (2009). Séparer et punir. Les prisons françaises: mise à distance et punition par l’espace. PhD thesis, Université Michel de Montaigne – Bordeaux III.
O’Donnell, I. (2014). Prisoners, Solitude, and Time. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schneeberger Georgescu, R. (2009). Im schweizerischen Freiheitsentzug altern: Nicht der Alterskriminelle prägt das Bild des alten Insassen, sondern der langjährige Insasse im Massnahmenvollzug. Forum Strafvollzug. Zeitschrift für Strafvollzug und Straffälligenhilfe, 58, 124–127.
Sykes, G. M. (1958). The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Toch, H. ([1977] 1996). Living in Prison: The Ecology of Survival. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Tuan, Y. ([1977] 2001). Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Ugelvik, T. (2014). Power and Resistance in Prison: Doing Time, Doing Freedom. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Vigh, H. (2008). Crisis and Chronicity: Anthropological Perspectives on Continuous Conflict and Decline. Ethnos, 73(1), 5–24.
Wacquant, L. (2002). The Curious Eclipse of Prison Ethnography in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Ethnography, 3(4), 371–397.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marti, I. (2020). A ‘Home’ or ‘a Place to Be, But Not to Live’: Arranging the Prison Cell. In: Turner, J., Knight, V. (eds) The Prison Cell. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39910-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39911-5
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)