The Prison as a Space of Non-life: How Does a Typical Prison Sentence Intervene in What Really Matters to People?

Abstract

This article argues that imprisonment creates time that does not matter. It is based on longitudinal interviews conducted with 35 men and women sentenced to typical prison sentences in England. It argues that some responded to this situation by trying to treat the institution as a space of temporary removal and then return to their unblemished lives after release. Others tried to use the prison as a space for reinvention, but it was too disconnected from their biographies for this change to endure. The article then calls for a new understanding of the prison as an institution. The prison is a space of non-life, and as such it can only be understood in the context of that which surrounds it.