Negative visibility and ‘the defences of the weak’: The interplay of a managerial culture and prisoner resistance

Symkovych, Anton

doi:10.1177/1362480618779404

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(94 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Officers were acutely aware of the possibility of retaliation if they used legal force. Critical understaffing and the relatively free movement of prisoners intensified their wariness (see Symkovych, 2018c). One commented,I am not sure I will jump into a fight with a bunch of prisoners.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The office of the Parliamentary Human Rights Ombudsman, overseeing prosecutors, NGOs, as well as international monitoring bodies, such as the Committee Against Torture (CAT), regularly visit prisons and receive individual prisoners. Although some anachronistic Soviet prison regime restrictions remain, many have been lifted or relaxed (Symkovych, 2018a(Symkovych, , 2018c.…”

Section: Ukraine's Prison Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Legal and Illegal Use of Force by Prison Officers in Ukraine

Symkovych¹

2018

The Prison Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although prison order rarely rests on naked force, its availability defines a prison. A penological truism holds that officers' deployment of force signals a breakdown in order, not normality. However, is the truism universally valid? Adding evidence from a former Soviet bloc country, the study examines the place of force in officers' daily work in a men's medium-security prison in Ukraine. Drawing on a semiethnographic study, the findings show that even though availability of force was central to preventing escapes and securing prisoner compliance, its actual deployment was relatively rare. Officers' consideration and actual use of both legal and illegal force depended on legal ramifications, the position of the superiors, and prisoner reaction. It also reflected their views on the adequacy of formal penal power and legitimacy of force for corrective purposes.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ukraine's Prison Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Legal and Illegal Use of Force by Prison Officers in Ukraine

Symkovych¹

2018

The Prison Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most notably, official decision-makers must find a balance between threats to public safety (and the caprices of public opinion) and the merits of the offenders' progressive social reintegration (Alexander, 1986;Barry, 2019;Symkovych, 2020b). However, a more immediate concern for prison administrators is the fear of 'negative visibility' (Symkovych, 2020a): if prisoners in their care transgress the rules and this becomes known to higher authorities or the public, prison administrators are often chastised. To minimize such breaches, prison administrators assess the probability of prisoners bringing them into disrepute (for example, Cheliotis, 2005Cheliotis, , 2008Markley, 1973;Shichor and Allen, 1978).…”

Section: Risks Trust and Social Reintegrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Officer -personal case manager) This quotation reflected the feeling of most officers with the power to recommend or approve transfers. Whereas officers unsurprisingly perceived prisoners as untrustworthy and prone to poor choices, the scapegoating culture entails this evasion of responsibility (see Symkovych, 2020a) and diminished their support for gradual release. What became evident was that the prison did little to address prisoners' 'criminogenic needs'.…”

Section: Risks Through Staff Eyesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untrustworthy subjects? Risks, blame and gradual prison release in Ukraine

Symkovych

2020

European Journal of Criminology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Penal authorities and society in general perceive prisoners as untrustworthy. Much of the administration of punishment constitutes the assessment and management of the risks that prisoners pose. In this article, I explain how Ukraine balances the noble goals of prisoner reintegration with an inherent mistrust of prisoners. Drawing on a semi-ethnographic study of a medium-security prison for men, I discuss how, in anticipation of their freedom, prisoners also calculate their perceived risks. Through examination of how prisoners assess their vulnerability to risky behaviour and opt out from gradual release, I argue that prisoners as well as the state often deem themselves untrustworthy subjects. Furthermore, I discuss the roles of the informal prisoner society and (paucity of) prison’s rehabilitative efforts in prisoners’ decisions concerning their transfer into semi-open conditions. I argue that, rather than being an alternative – and even a threat – to parole, gradual release, supported by rehabilitative and developmental programmes, constructive services and temporary leave schemes, should become a path to release, including release on parole. Prisoners and staff alike should not make an unfair and unconstructive choice between ‘less risky’ parole, because of its loose surveillance, and more failure prone (for prisoners) and blame risky (for staff) gradual release.

show abstract

“…(p. 381) The violently creative potential of riots, aside from their political thrust (understanding political here in the broad sense of the word), means that they are expressions of disorder that are generally directly repressed. Such repression includes the suppression of alternative narratives to the official one and also hinges on the authorities' fear of negative visibility (Symkovych, 2018). That is, prison authorities actively avoid their exposure and being held to account by the public.…”

Section: Violence Prison Riots and Prison Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Prison Riots in Nicaragua: Negotiating Co-Governance Amid Creative Violence and Public Secrecy

Weegels

2019

International Criminal Justice Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, I explore how prison riots, large critical incidents of a collective order, emerge, take place, and alter governance relations in place in the Nicaraguan prison system. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with prisoners and former prisoners of two Nicaraguan prison facilities, I provide a prisoners’ point of view on the political use of violence in prison, particularly during two large prison riots. While authorities often held that prison conditions combined with the “violent attitudes” of prisoners turned prisons into “powder kegs,” such an interpretation does not allow for an understanding of riots as embedded in prison governance structures and conveniently draws the attention away from underlying issues pertaining to the de facto sharing of power in prison in Nicaragua. I argue that by using what has been termed “creative violence,” prisoners attempt to break through the authorities’ imposed regime of public secrecy and draw attention to these issues, forcing authorities to negotiate. Yet, even if riots then function as a catalyst for changes in co-governance arrangements, they do not appear to be geared at permanently damaging or annihilating the existing arrangements but rather at pressuring the authorities hard enough to make compromises and concessions as to the distribution of power in prison.

show abstract

Negative visibility and ‘the defences of the weak’: The interplay of a managerial culture and prisoner resistance

Cited by 14 publications

References 44 publications

The Legal and Illegal Use of Force by Prison Officers in Ukraine

The Legal and Illegal Use of Force by Prison Officers in Ukraine

Untrustworthy subjects? Risks, blame and gradual prison release in Ukraine

Prison Riots in Nicaragua: Negotiating Co-Governance Amid Creative Violence and Public Secrecy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About