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On confinement: Resident and inmate perspectives of secure care and imprisonment

University of Melbourne & Flinders University of South Australia, mhalsey{at}unimelb.edu.au; mark.halsey@ flinders.edu.au

The aim of this article is to explore the meaning(s) of incarceration as narrated by young men detained within the South Australian secure care and prison systems. Specifically, and as a means of supplementing emerging knowledge of the ways people work their way out of crime, the article examines how offenders conceptually work their way through incarceration. Drawing on data obtained from 79 initial and follow-up interviews with young men in juvenile and adult correctional institutions, the subjective experience of lock-up across six interrelated themes are outlined: incarceration as familiar/secure; incarceration as respite; incarceration as criminogenic; incarceration as senseless; incarceration and respect; as well as incarceration and visitation. My central argument is that understanding how the event of incarceration works its way into the vocabulary and day-to-day dispositions of custodial subjects is integral to understanding the types of orientations toward self and other likely to be carried into the community upon release. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the kind of subject which confinement unwittingly produces in its efforts to produce the law-abiding young citizen.

Key Words: incarceration • meanings of imprisonment • resident/inmate narratives • subjective experience

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Probation Journal, Vol. 54, No. 4, 338-367 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0264550507083535


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Halsey, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?