This thesis argues that the Prison Service, while it has several unique features, is a bureaucratic structure with a typical mix of organisational strengths and weaknesses. The study of the development of the organisation of the Scottish Prison Service is, therefore, as possible and as proper as is the study of any large organisation. The first substantive chapter of the thesis analyses the historical development of the Scottish Prison Service within an organisational context. This has taken place in 3 main phases, the first two of which were sequential, the third less obviously so and more the result of the increasing involvement of central bureaucratic processes. Historically the Scottish prison system has been properly located within the criminal justice process and throughout the first 100 years of its modem existence the judiciary and the legal establishment played a central role in its development. The first phase or its history covers the years between 1835 and 1877 when it was taken progressively under central control. Particular attention is paid to William Brebner, the founding father of the Scottish prison system, and to the place of the General Prison at Perth. The second historical phase covers the tenure of office of the Scottish Prison Commission between 1877 and 1929. The significance of the Elgin Report of 1900, which has not previously been the subject of research, is described. The third phase of development which began in 1929 and continues today-has attempted to take the prison system out of the criminal justice process and to place it inappropriately within the mainstream of the administrative Civil Service. The thesis analyses the reasons for this and suggests that this structural change, rather than any lack of resources, is responsible for many of the present difficulties facing the Prison Service. The second substantive chapter of the thesis examines the place of the prison system within the sociology of organisations. By definition, an organisation can have only one primary goal. A feature of bureaucratic organisations is that those who work within them will not be satisfied with a single objective and are likely to develop secondary goals. One consequence of the location of the prison system within the mainstream of the civil service has been an emphasis on the secondary goals of imprisonment, principally that of rehabilitation, to the neglect of the primary goal which is the punishment involved in the deprivation of liberty for the length of time laid down by the court. A second consequence is the influence which staff are able to exert on the development of the service. The manner in which the trade unionism of prison staff has evolved in Scotland makes this area particularly worthy of study; an important and topical example is the control of difficult prisoners. The Thesis suggests that the management of the Scottish Prison Service is more participative in style than either the Official or the Staff Side recognise. Throughout the thesis many of the arguments presented are given support by responses to a questionnaire which was issued to serving members of staff and which is fully documented into appendices.

This study investigates whether Christianity has a reformative influence in the lives of prisoners who consider themselves ‘genuine’ Christians. Interviews were conducted with forty-five prisoners and fifteen ex-prisoners (who had been released from prison as Christians) - all high/medium-security inmates with long sentences. The study had two basic aims: to examine aspects of their religious backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs, and whether Christianity benefited and/or hindered them; second, to investigate their religious needs (in prison and post-release), whether they were being met, and the likely effect to potential benefits of existing support structures. It was anticipated that existing support would be inadequate to meet the men’s needs, particularly those who had been released from prison. In relation to these issues the findings are both positive and negative. With few exceptions, Christian prisoners/ex-prisoners believed that being a Christian made a qualitative difference to life in prison, offering essential hope, meaning and purpose in life, a positive outlook, and productive use of time. Christianity provided a different way of life, with new morals, values, and a renewed sense of self that helped overcome guilt and generally enhanced relationships. Belonging to a religious group provided practical and moral/spiritual support, which assisted prison adjustment and personal security. Moreover, Christian inmates had more self-control and tolerance/respect (than they ordinarily would) for authorities and others, resulting in fewer institutional rule violations. (For complete abstract open document)

La question de la sexualité en prison de femmes constitue en France un vide sociologique. Elle n’a été jusqu’à présent abordée qu’en creux de l’intérêt porté à la sexualité dans les détentions masculines. L’étude se fonde sur une enquête qualitative menée dans sept établissements pénitentiaires, où ont été réalisés des entretiens avec plus de cent cinquante acteurs carcéraux, détenues comme professionnels et bénévoles. Ce travail de terrain a permis de mettre en évidence quatre formes sous lesquelles se donne à voir la sexualité en prison de femmes. Chacune se caractérise par la mise en œuvre de processus spécifiques, qui traduisent la prégnance respective des dimensions spatiale, temporelle, individuelle, collective, relationnelle et institutionnelle dans les situations à caractère sexuel auxquelles elle renvoie. La sexualité clandestine implique des processus de transgression, les acteurs étant contraints de vivre leurs pratiques sexuelles dans les interstices de l’arsenal coercitif déployé pour les endiguer. Particulièrement discrète elle aussi, la sexualité invisible met cette fois en jeu des processus d’invisibilisation, qui se perçoivent au travers de l’effort conjoint des acteurs de confiner l’activité sexuelle dans la sphère privée. La sexualité ostensible en revanche se donne à voir ouvertement au moyen de processus d’affichage, les comportements délibérés étant néanmoins régulés par certaines règles informelles. S’observe enfin une forme rationalisée de sexualité, caractérisée par la dilution de la dimension sexuelle de certaines situations dans des processus abstraits visant à la rationaliser. / The purpose of sexuality in women prison is a sociological emptiness in France, since it has been approached only in comparison with the situation in men custody. The study relies on a qualitative survey, led in seven prisons where I carried out interviews with one hundred and fifty inmates, members of staff and volunteers. This survey enabled to bring out four forms of sexuality in which sexuality in women’s prison can be observed. Each of them is characterized by specific processes, which show respective salience of spatial, temporal, individual, collective, relational and institutional dimensions in sexual situations. The underground sexuality involves processes of transgression since actors are forced to experience their sexual practices in the coercive arsenal’s interstices developed to stem them. Especially discrete too, the invisible sexuality implies processes of invisibilisation that can be perceived throughout prison actors’ conjunct efforts to confine sexual activity in the private sphere. On the other hand, the ostensible sexuality can be overtly watched thanks to processes of display, even if deliberate behaviors are regulated by some informal rules. At last we can notice a rationalized sexuality, which is characterized by the dilution of particular situations’ sexual dimension in abstract processes which tend to rationalize it.

Situado no contexto de incremento das políticas penitenciárias de interiorização de unidades prisionais por todo o estado de São Paulo, este trabalho tem a intenção de analisar o cotidiano e as práticas sociais e profissionais de agentes penitenciários do município de Itirapina, cidade localizada no interior paulista, onde se encontram instaladas duas penitenciárias. Análise parte da ótica de agentes, moradores, comerciantes e demais moradores,para resgatar o modo pelo qual tais políticas de interiorização dos presídios têm afetado a vida no município em questão. Assim como os detentos, os agentes penitenciários têm seu cotidiano ligado à rotina da prisão, criam seu vocabulário e seu modo de agir transitando entre o interior da cadeia e o convívio com demais pessoas na cidade. A dinâmica social recebe grande influência dos valores e das práticas oriundos das penitenciárias construídas na cidade. Portanto, dentro deste contexto, a construção de discursos e valores colocam a profissão de agente penitenciário numa posição de destaque, cercada de privilégios, relativizando o conceito de prestígio, mesmo estando diretamente relacionado com um universo tão estigmatizado como o prisional. Através da observação da rotina desses profissionais e demais pessoas que se relacionam entre si, na intenção de perceber a dinâmica social cotidiana dessas pessoas, este trabalho também realizou entrevistas com agentes, moradores e comerciantes, buscando perceber como o ambiente criado dentro dos limites da prisão ultrapassa suas muralhas até invadir e influenciar a rotina da grande maioria da população local.. Dessa maneira, destaca-se a relevância do agente penitenciário nos mais variados espaços de sociabilidade do município, fazendo deles agentes sociais referenciais no contexto urbano. Esta dissertação volta sua análise para as transformações e consequências engendradas durante esse processo, percebendo o trânsito de agentes penitenciários, sua comunicação do convívio intramuros com o extramuros, ao mesmo tempo em que ambos se coalescem em sua dinâmica social. Percebe-se, portanto, como a cidade e a prisão interligam-se uma à outra, envolvendo todas as pessoas pertencentes a esse contexto. / Situated in the context of increase policies internalization of prisons throughout the state of Sao Paulo, this paper aims to analyze the everyday practices of social and professional prison officers of Itirapina the municipality, a town in the interior, where are installed two prisons. Analysis through the views of agents, residents, merchants and other inhabitants of the city such as internalization of prison policies has affected the county in question. Like the inmates, prison officers have linked to their daily routine of prison, they create their vocabulary and their mode of action moving between the inside of jail and living with others in the city. The social dynamics developed in Itirapina receives great influence of the values and practices from the prisons built in the city. Therefore, within this context, the construction of discourses and values put the profession of the prison guard in Itirapina in a prominent position, surrounded by privileges, relativizing the concept of prestige, it is directly related to a universe so stigmatized prison. By observing the routine of these professionals and others who relate to each other, hoping to understand the social dynamics of these people daily, this study also conducted interviews with staff, residents and merchants, seeking to understand how the environment created within the confines of the prison beyond its walls to break the routine and influence of the great majority of the population of the city. Thus, we highlight the relevance of the prison guard in a variety of social spaces in the city, making them agents of social references in the urban context. This essay turns its analysis to the changes and consequences engendered during this process, realizing the transit of prison guards, their communication with the extramural with intramural living, while they both coalesce in its social dynamics. It is clear, therefore, how city and prison are interconnected to each other, involving all those present here.

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La recherche s’insère de façon réflexive et critique, dans le cadre théorique de l’analyse sociologique, législative, politique et institutionnelle de type comparatif, c’est-à-dire une reconstruction du cadre unitaire et organique de l’univers carcéral de deux pays européens qui sont très proche historiquement et culturellement : la France et l’Italie. C’est une représentation de la dimension carcérale quotidienne des détenus, une réalité articulée et variable qui constitue un des thèmes les plus controversés dans les débats politiques et sociaux actuels au niveau européen. Un travail de recherche focalisé sur cinq thématiques principales : la santé, l’école et l’éducation, le travail, le relations avec la famille, le rôle du volontariat. Ce travail se propose d’enquêter la réalité, les processus et les perspectives, les modèles cohérents et incohérents de réhabilitation au-delà des stéréotypes les plus diffus et bien établis. Dans le fond, la thèse consiste à définir et comprendre comment un individu peut socialiser par le moyen de parcours, de rencontres et d’expériences significatives dans un endroit clos, techniquement désocialisé, dégradé et extrêmement envahissant telle la prison. C’est-à-dire comment la prison, dispositif étatique autoritaire et dogmatique éloigné de la société, puisse constituer un organe de socialisation positive qui permette au prisonnier de surpasser la dépersonnalisation au travers de motivants et dynamiques constructives, développant une nouvelle prise de conscience, une morale intégrée et une comparaison enrichissante avec des modèles externes; le tout lui permettant d’interrompre son parcours de délinquant et d’assumer un nouveau style de vie. / The theoretical context of this work is the comparative analysis of the sociological, legislative, political and institutional aspects of the prison universe in two European countries which are very close, historically and culturally, France and Italy. The aim is to provide a representation of the everyday dimension of the prison, an articulated and variable reality that is one of the most controversial themes in the current political and social debate in Europe. The research work focuses on five main themes: health, school and education, work, relationship with the family, the role of volunteering. This work aims at investigating the reality, the processes and the perspectives, the coherent and incoherent models of rehabilitation beyond the most diffuse and well-established stereotypes. Essentially, the thesis consists in defining and understanding how an individual can socialize through meaningful paths, encounters and experiences in a closed, technically de-socialized, degraded and extremely invasive place such as prison. That is to say, how prison, an authoritarian and dogmatic state facility far removed from society, can constitute a positive means of socialization that allows the prisoner to overcome depersonalization through motivating and constructive dynamics, developing a new awareness, a moral integrity and a rewarding comparison with external models. All this allows him to interrupt his career as a delinquent and assume a new lifestyle.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the cooperation between two parts of the Swedish prison and probation service, the prison and the probation office. More specifically its aim was to find the attitudes and the different work models surrounding this cooperation. To find my result I had interviews with six probation officers in two probation offices in south of Sweden. My questions were general and I choose follow-up questions during the interviews. The analysis was based on a cooperation theory. The conclusions of the study were that there are work models that have been brought in by the head office of the organization, that does not work properly and they are not popular by the staff. This keeps the probation officers from having a good cooperation with the staff from the prisons. The probation officers also have some attitudes toward the prison staff that keeps them from having a good cooperation. These attitudes are clearly shown during the prison and probation service’s staff education and somewhat continues to show up during the probation officers every day work. These problems can be explained through the cooperation theory as a lack of perquisite for a good cooperation.

No description available.