A meagre world: Phenomenological corporeity in prison.

Abstract

This paper aims to use phenomenology as a framework to better understand how incarcerated subjects are denied the lived experience of a world, the core of my reflection being how detainees' relations to their own bodies can be troubled by incarceration. Through a careful reading of Phenomenology of Perception (Merleau-Ponty, 1945/2013), I engage with Merleau-Ponty's structure of subjectivity, and analyze how this structure may be modified or undermined for a subject put behind bars. This analysis-which takes into account the shared lived experience and power structures-brings me to Guenther's (2013) critical phenomenology framework. Drawing on her work, I also take into account contemporary criminological studies which relate prisoners' lived experience behind the walls. Incarceration, acting as a form of sensory deprivation, makes inmates prone to inflicting self-injury, taking on risky behavior, and engaging in aggressive comportments.