‘Come on mate, let's make you a cup of tea’: Theorising materiality and its impacts on detainee dignity inside police detention

Abstract

In this article, we examine detainee experiences of dignity in police detention through the lens of materiality. To do this, we draw on sociological and anthropological literature on the ‘material turn’ and its application to criminal justice settings, and a mixed-methods study of police custody in England and Wales. First, we conceptualise different dimensions of materiality in police custody. Second, we show how some forms of materiality, in conjunction with staff–detainee relationships, shape detainee dignity rooted in equal worth, privacy and autonomy. Third, we examine how the intertwining of the social and material in police custody opens up new possibilities for theorising police work. The materiality of police work is active, not just symbolic. Alongside social relations, it shapes citizen experiences of the police, including of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ forms of policing, and by implication, pain and injustice. Materiality therefore provides a further way of theorising the production of social order inside and outside police detention.

Police custody in rural Scotland: negotiating boundaries, risk and organisational change

“…The British Medical Association (2009) highlighted that a high proportion of detainees have mental ill health or under the influence of, or dependent on, alcohol or other drugs. This makes custody an inherently risky place, where the dignity of the detainee is often a secondary consideration compared with mitigating the risks to the detainee (Skinns et al ., 2023). Tensions therefore exist around the purpose of police custody, not least because the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced a presumption of liberation.…”

“…Beyond these legal and welfare roles, police custody has been conceptualised in several ways. There is a growing body of literature on police custody focused on vulnerability (Dehaghani (2021), independent custody visiting (Kendall, 2022) and power, legitimacy and the material conditions of custody (Skinns et al ., 2023). For example, Wooff (2019) explored the role of the police custody suite as a site of emotion, risk and resistance.…”