Through the implementation of a garden project in two women-centred correctional facilities in New South Wales, this thesis explores tensions between punitive and rehabilitative goals. The impacts of these tensions on the garden project and the every-day lived experience for female inmates form the basis of the research. Initially, the research looked at the rehabilitative potential of a horticultural therapy program for female inmates. This focus correlated with the holistic rehabilitative rhetoric within women’s prisons in New South Wales. Based on this, a small garden project of five months’ duration was conducted in each of the two correctional facilities over a twelve month period in 2006. Through the implementation and evaluation of this research conflicts between hierarchical, dominating systems of the penal institution and holistic, rehabilitation goals of the garden project were exposed. Utilising qualitative data analysis embedded in critical ethnography, the garden project provided a ‘key-hole’ view of these conflicts within the penal environment. The collective data from open- journaling was abstracted from raw data level through to theoretical constructs in combination with a further literature research. Foucault’s penal justice critique, Weber’s domination and Goffman’s totalitarian discourses informed the development of deeper understandings that enlightened on-going explorations in the field. As a result, theoretical understandings identified a tension within the penal environment that appeared to neutralise, fragment and corrode the intended benefits for female inmates of the garden project. This tension was identified as an intangible force, or penal phantom, representing the effects of totalisation within the penal environment. Two streams of inquiry emerged exploring the effects of the total institution on how power is exercised over female inmates and the implications upon the holistic, rehabilitative aims of the garden project. Findings from this research highlight the effects of the penal phantom upon female inmates’ lived experiences, the working realities for prison staff and how these impact upon rehabilitative programs for women in prison. The thesis concludes by examining these effects in the continued marginalisation of the current female inmate population and recommends a review of incarcerative practices that continue to entangle women within criminal justice systems. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/211598 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Barry, Lillian M., University of Western Sydney, College of Health and Science, School of Natural Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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