‘I Feel Trapped’: The Role of the Cell in the Embodied and Everyday Practices of Police Custody

Abstract

This chapter explores the police custody cell from the perspective of policing staff. Legally it is the cornerstone of the criminal investigation process, being the place where arrested persons are taken while charging decisions are made. Police custody is a liminal space, one where detainees are monitored extensively and where detainees are 'betwixt and between' their previous existence. It is therefore a complex and multi-faceted environment that has, until recently, been treated in a fairly monolithic way. This chapter draws on 15 hours of observations and 12 interviews with police officers and custody staff. It argues that the police custody cell is a space of monitoring risk and emotional turmoil are managed by staff..

Surviving cell-sharing: Resistance, cooperation and collaboration

“…Prison cells also shape the experience of imprisonment (Herrity, 2021; Marti, 2020; Woolf, 2020). This study illustrates that cell-sharing adds another experiential layer, which is often negative.…”

“…In overcrowded dormitory cells shared by up to 200 people in the Philippines, Narag and Jones (2020) highlight how the wider social context and normative values shape experiences of cell-sharing, adherence to which sustains a sense of order and governs cell-life. Nonetheless, navigating these social norms in a shared cell may be challenging, as Woolf’s (2020) examination of physical cell features builds a picture of a site bounded in emotional pain.…”

“…Hyatt et al (2020) explore how the architecture of the cell-space reflects a jurisdiction's underlying penal philosophy, with cell design either promoting or restricting levels of privacy and impacting not only the experience of imprisonment but also desistance efforts. Some propose that focusing on the ‘micro-scale’ (Woolf, 2020: 114) of the cell, in conjunction with the sensory impact and individuals’ choices on how to interact with the space, can build a better understanding of the lived realities of cell-sharing (Herrity, 2020; Marti, 2020). Nevertheless, few studies have examined the individual experience of cell-sharing, focusing instead on systemic issues relating to overcrowding (Lawrence and Andrews, 2004).…”

“…In overcrowded dormitory cells shared by up to 200 people in the Philippines, Narag and Jones (2020) highlight how the wider social context and normative values shape experiences of cell-sharing, adherence to which sustains a sense of order and governs cell-life. Nonetheless, navigating these social norms in a shared cell may be challenging, as Woolf's (2020) examination of physical cell features builds a picture of a site bounded in emotional pain. Hyatt et al (2020) explore how the architecture of the cell-space reflects a jurisdiction's underlying penal philosophy, with cell design either promoting or restricting levels of privacy and impacting not only the experience of imprisonment but also desistance efforts.…”

Procedural justice as a reward to the compliant: an ethnography of police–citizen interaction in police custody

“…This is also important since police custody represents a 'qualitatively different police setting' (Skinns, Rice, Sprawson, & Wooff, 2017a: 604) to more routine forms of 'day-to-day' encounter usually assumed and observed within the bulk of PJT research. Most obviously, custody subjects citizens to a loss of liberty, albeit often temporarily, as they remain isolated from others and await information regarding their release or continued detention within a complex and multifaceted space (Wooff & Skinns, 2018;Wooff, 2020). The right to liberty is a fundamental principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and holding an individual in custody is an interference of that right, making it a significant function of policing.…”