The analysis of various forms of punishment has traditionally been a prominent subject of sociological study. However, most research on the prison system and its impact on individuals has focused on various aspects of inmates' lives. This article focuses on other important subjects in the prison system, ones whose perspective has been largely ignored -prison guards. The fi rst part of this article introduces prison as a medium through which to analyse modern mechanisms of power and the changing conceptualisation of risks. The second part of the article examines the subjective views of prison guards. The authors conducted 17 in-depth interviews with prison guards working in Czech C-type prisons in order to understand how the prison guards themselves conceptualise their role in the prison system and how they construct the meaning of prison and punishment. The aim of the article is to analyse how the position of various participants in the prison system is negotiated and how the ideas of 'control' and 'power' are established. The authors fi nd that prison guards experience a sense of blurred boundaries between those who are guarded and those who guard. They see themselves as having no control over the prison environment and highlight the control the prisoners have over them through institutional regulations.

The aim of this paper is to introduce discipline of penitentiary soci ology, discuss its forms in the context of the Czech Republic, and answer the question of why sociologists do not participate in everyday practice behind bars of Czech prisons even though they have formal ties with this environ ment. The findings presented in this paper are based on qualitative research conducted in Czech prisons. The data corpus includes qualitative interviews with selected actors in the prison world and an analysis of relevant documents relating to the research topic. Sociology and the prison system meet on two basic levels in the Czech Republic. As an external partnership that seems to have grown stronger over the years and as an internal bond that has weakened (and almost been dismissed) since the end of the 1990s. Sociology has formally retained a place behind the bars of Czech prisons thanks to the sociologists who according to the regulations of the Czech prison service should figure among the prison staff. In reality, the initial enthusiasm for this practice faded over the years and there are no sociologists currently working in Czech pris ons. In this paper the author presents some possible explanations for this, ofers a historical description of the (non)participation of sociologists in Czech prisons, and discusses the possibilities for the future development of Czech penitentiary sociology.

No abstract

The prison system in the Czech Republic has been carrying out a reform process since the end of the communist regime, and has gone through more than 30 years transformation, based on an effort to become a modern European correctional system. Part of this change is the transformation of pastoral care, which is presented as one of the key pillars of penitentiary (and also post-penitentiary) care in the Czech Republic. This text is focused on the historically changing role of prison chaplains in the process of release preparation and rehabilitation of inmates in Czech post-communist prisons. Our aim is to compare official declarations, which are reproduced in written documents, with everyday practice from the perspectives of three different groups of prison world participants. This study is based on ethnographic research conducted in Czech male prisons. The data corpus includes qualitative interviews with selected actors of the prison world (prison chaplains, inmates, and representatives of prison management), material gathered through observations inside prisons, and an analysis of the documentation on the Czech penitentiary system. We found out that prison chaplains have become an integral part of the Czech prison world, but their position is still specific in comparison with the rest of prison staff. In our study, we will focus on the historical evolution of the position of prison chaplains within the organizational structure of prisons, specifics of their work with inmates, and interactions with other prison actors.

No abstract