Dettagli
Abstract
This article attempts to examine the evolving nature of imprisonment through a convict perspective. It aims to update concepts as deculturation ad prisonization in the context of current forms of detention, with particular reference to the high levels of overcrowding and promiscuity, and to the growing desease and poverty that characterize today’s prison population. A critical look is taken at the concepts of rehabilitation and its persistent central place in the definition of punishment. To this aim, the research utilizes ethnographic observation carried out in North Italian prisons, in-depth interviews with inmates of one of the most overpopulated penal institution and documents and reports produced by convictsworking as members of editorial staff inside prisons. Supported by prison literature, the convict perspective looks to be essential in order to challenge the major legal statements and political debates on the meaning of punishment, showing its actual reality inside the prison system and its effects on the lives of people behind bars.