‘This is not what I signed up for’ – Danish prison officers’ attitudes towards more punitive penal policies

Abstract

A humane approach to punishment has been integral to the work of the Danish Prisons and Probation Service. However, Danish penal policy has recently taken a punitive turn. What happens when punitive policies are adopted by a penal regime built on a humane approach to punishment? To address this question, this article focuses on prison officers at Vestre prison and how they adapt to punitive political decisions and prison policies. The increased focus on security in Danish prisons is considered, together with limitations set on welfare services available to non-citizen prisoners. Examination of officers’ subjectivities at Vestre prison shows that punitive penal policies have produced an environment fraught with tensions that affect prison work, institutional culture, and the officers’ professional identity. These findings also raise questions about the shifting nature of Danish penal power.

Punished and banished: Non‐citizen women's experiences in a Danish prison

“…The politically charged climate, coupled with pressures on the Service (Damsa, 2023; Smith, 2021), posed challenges to access and data collection. My initial application, sent to Nyborg Prison, (which had a deportation wing) was rejected, pressure on officers being cited as the main reason (i.e., the recent reorganisation of the Service, absenteeism due to illness, officers’ stress and violence towards officers inside and outside prisons).…”

“…In 2022, Denmark also signed an extra-territorial agreement with Kosovo Prison to hold non-citizens sentenced in Denmark and due to be deported. The new non-citizens-prisons were symptomatic of and demonstrated the growing anti-immigration and penal populist sentiments in Denmark (Damsa, 2023;Smith, 2021), while the women's prison opened in response to a political desire to 'improve rehabilitative means' for women (Mathiassen, 2021). The politically charged climate, coupled with pressures on the Service (Damsa, 2023;Smith, 2021), posed challenges to access and data collection.…”

“…The new non-citizens-prisons were symptomatic of and demonstrated the growing anti-immigration and penal populist sentiments in Denmark (Damsa, 2023;Smith, 2021), while the women's prison opened in response to a political desire to 'improve rehabilitative means' for women (Mathiassen, 2021). The politically charged climate, coupled with pressures on the Service (Damsa, 2023;Smith, 2021), posed challenges to access and data collection. My initial application, sent to Nyborg Prison, (which had a deportation wing) was rejected, pressure on officers being cited as the main reason (i.e., the recent reorganisation of the Service, absenteeism due to illness, officers' stress and violence towards officers inside and outside prisons).…”

“…Danish politicians intend this to be a clear signal to non-citizens that they will be subjected to 'real punishment' and that they are 'deportable' (Folketinget, 2016;Justitsministeriet, 2016Justitsministeriet, , 2018a. 1 These measures undermine core principles of Danish penality, namely the normalisation and openness of prison life and the preparation of prisoners for reintegration into society (Damsa, 2023;Engbo, 2021;Minke, 2021;Smith, 2021), and challenge current legal and political commitments to women's human rights and protection from gender-based violence and discrimination signalled, for example, by the ratification of The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CETS 210). In view of this, my intention is to examine what these developments, mediated by the intersection of gender, race, class and non-citizenship, mean for incarcerated women.…”

Staffing Study on the Impact of Changes to Severe Discipline Punishments After the Issue of Government Regulation Number 94 of 2021 Concerning Disciplinary Punishments for Civil Servants

“…Based on this, the researcher will conduct a more in-depth analysis related to the impact of staffing as a result of the omission of (disrespectful) disciplinary punishment in the replacement regulation (Damsa, 2021;Kramer & Stoicescu, 2021). the reason underlying this research is PP Number 94 of 2021 is a new regulation so that it requires further analysis regarding the substance in it and it is necessary to compare it with the old regulations regarding the weaknesses and strengths that lie behind the replacement of PP Number 53 of 2010 to PP Number 94 of 2021 (Jaeger et al, 2021;Jayawardena, 2021).…”