Virgil in Hell: Commercial Prison Consultants as Teachers and Guides

Abstract

In Dante’s La Divina Commedia, the figure of Virgil (reason) serves as a guide to Dante, leading him through hell and purgatory. These spaces can be understood as de facto prisons (certainly, many authors have equated the prison with hell), and Virgil can be understood as a teacher, providing Dante with the requisite knowledge he requires to continue his spiritual journey. Today, there is little demand for Virgil, but what has emerged is a burgeoning market for prison consultants who can help convicted defendants to prepare for the experience of prison. As spoofed in popular films, offenders with no prior criminal justice experience often suffer anxiety about what to expect behind bars, and can seek authoritative information from books or individualised consultancy. This chapter defines prison consultancy, surveys the scholarly and popular literature on prison consultancy, and then analyses the contents of three popular films (Big Stan, Get Hard, The Twenty-Fifth Hour), three books (You Are Going to Prison, You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from a Prison Fish, and Incarcerating White-Collar offenders: The Prison Experience) and four consultancy websites (Jail Time Consultants, Prison Consultants, Prison Professors, and Wall Street Prison Consultants). Key themes from these 10 sources are identified and considered against the existing socio-legal research on prison.