Penal subjectivities: Developing a theoretical framework for penal consciousness

Abstract

This article develops a new theoretical framework, penal consciousness, that examines the ways in which prisoners orient to and make meaning of their punishment. Penal consciousness identifies the processes from which penality emerges by simultaneously privileging the subjective consciousness of individual prisoners and locating this consciousness within the structure of the larger carceral system. In doing so, the penal consciousness framework moves beyond the limited, objective view of punishment as legal sanction to a more expansive view of penality that privileges subjectivity and meaning. From the inductive analysis of 80 qualitative interviews with prisoners, two dimensions of punishment emerged as key to understanding penality: salience and severity. Findings reveal that severity of punishment is predicated on the level of abstraction at which punishment is experienced, while salience of punishment is determined by the ''punishment gap'' between an individual's expectations and experiences of punishment. By examining punishment as the nexus between the objective and the subjective, the penal consciousness framework enables punishment as it is understood by prisoners to differ markedly from what is conceived of as punishment by lawmakers, but at the same time to be contingent upon it. This allows punishment to be examined in situ rather than in its ideal, articulated, or abstract form-an important advancement from conventional understandings of punishment.

Avoiding the Runaround: The Link Between Cultural Health Capital and Health Management Among Older Prisoners*

“…Frequently during interviews, respondents would explicitly tell me, “be sure to write that down.” As word about the structure of the interviews spread throughout the prisons, respondents began to bring documents and data they wanted me to record, including case numbers, names, dates, lawsuits involving medical neglect, and lists of medications. It became apparent that I was viewed by many as having power through my position as an outsider (see Sexton, ) and that I was trusted to take the information they shared with me beyond prison walls to the outside world. After each day of interviews, I transcribed all notes and added necessary detail to increase the quality and richness of the data and to minimize error (see Smith, ).…”

Experiencing penal supervision: A literature review

“…In this, McNeill (2018: 19-21) reiterates Sexton's (2015) work on 'penal subjectivities'. In her study of prisoners in Ohio, Sexton (2015: 120-131) identifies two key factors in how severely an objective deprivation will be subjectively experienced: firstly, the level of abstraction -the extent to which the deprivation feels targeted against the individual subject, and in particular, against their political and civic identity, rather than being an accident of circumstances; and secondly, the salience of the punishment -how well the experienced deprivations mapped onto the subject's expectations.…”

Crossing Borders and Criminalizing Identity: The Disintegrated Subjects of Administrative Sanctions

“…We focus on individual subjects in two punitive, administrative contexts. In doing so, we build on a growing body of scholarship examining experiences both of incarceration and deportation in the United States and throughout the Western world (e.g., Calavita and Jenness ; Coutin ; Dreby ; Drotbohm and Hasselberg ; Hasselberg ; Reiter ; Schinkel ; Sexton ).…”