The paradox of control: An ethnographic analysis of opiate maintenance treatment in a Norwegian prison

Abstract

The article demonstrates that an unbalanced and control-dominated approach to prison-based OMT may have the opposite effect of what is intended.

Exploring prison drug use in the context of prison-based drug rehabilitation

“…employed in drug rehabilitation programmes) observed and interviewed for the research used in this article, and the specific context of the two drug rehabilitation programmes, must be considered when interpreting the findings and considering their implications. For instance, the defiant meaning attached to drug use reported by some of the prisoners in this study should be seen in relation to the ''legitimacy deficits'' of the two drug rehabilitation programmes (see also Mjåland, 2015). Crucially, however, this should not solely be seen as a limitation regarding the empirical generalisability of the findings reported here, but also as an illustration of an important argument the article proposes, namely, that context specific analysis of how drug use is given meaning to by prisoners can tell us a great deal about how prisoners experience and perceive of the terms of their captivity.…”

“…better sentencing conditions and social services). Finally, drug use, distribution and exchange were for some of the participants meaningful subversive and oppositional activities, and these activities should partly be interpreted as reactions towards perceived unfair and illegitimate practices in the drug rehabilitation programmes, most notably the strict drug control measures that were employed (for more detailed analysis, see Mjåland, 2015).…”

“…Jacobs ''feeling of coping'' when using drugs in prison suggests that prison drug use can be a way to, at least symbolically, challenge the ''overall balance of forces in the prison'' (ibid). Several of the other prisoners I came to know also framed their drug taking as a reaction towards what they perceived as repressive drug control measures and poor rehabilitation services (see also Mjåland, 2015).…”

“…With the establishment of the OMT unit, all prisoners enrolled in the OMT programme were placed there, and those who refused had to serve their time in the most restrictive wing of the prison. 3 The prison authorities also aimed to improve services to the prisoners enrolled in the OMT programme, but no new rehabilitative measures were introduced during my study period (see Mjåland, 2015 for a more detailed description).…”

Heroin addiction in British prisons: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

“…Most qualitative studies with incarcerated heroin users have focused on a specific issue, such as drug treatment, 27,28 injecting drug use, 29 status and social relations, 30 drug dealing, 19 and prison opiate substitute programme. 31 However, heroin use is a phenomenological experience that has multiple dimensions and needs to be explored beyond its behavioural, social and environmental component. It fundamentally concerns individuals' inner worlds and therefore necessarily exists also on a psychological level.…”