Loneliness in prison
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Loneliness in prison. / Schliehe, Anna; Laursen, Julie; Crewe, Ben.
In: European Journal of Criminology, Vol. 18, No. 6, 2022, p. 1595-1614.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Loneliness in prison
AU - Schliehe, Anna
AU - Laursen, Julie
AU - Crewe, Ben
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - At first glance, contemporary prisons are environments defined by an ‘enforced collective’ (Goffman, [1961] 1991) and prisoners are, if anything, plagued by ‘life en masse’ (Sykes, 1958), yet the depth and weight of loneliness in prison can be intense. Prisons are often associated with metaphors of loneliness, disruption and empty time, and, as Armstrong (2018) highlights, imprisonment is an exemplary symbol for being stuck in space and time. Based on empirical data from a study of imprisonment in England & Wales and Norway, in this article we analyse several forms of loneliness found in prisons and beyond, from the visceral, immediate sense of being physically alone and separated from loved ones to the ethical or existential experience of abandonment and hopelessness. We conclude by pointing to the fact that the two otherwise very different penal contexts yield similar findings when it comes to the experiences of loneliness. This implies that the sense of not fitting in, of being ‘ethically alone’ (Stauffer, 2015) and essentially misrecognized (Lister in Fraser and Bourdieu, 2007), goes beyond specific prisons and jurisdictions. We also note that, as well as evoking feelings of loneliness, in some circumstances imprisonment can provide some respite from it.
AB - At first glance, contemporary prisons are environments defined by an ‘enforced collective’ (Goffman, [1961] 1991) and prisoners are, if anything, plagued by ‘life en masse’ (Sykes, 1958), yet the depth and weight of loneliness in prison can be intense. Prisons are often associated with metaphors of loneliness, disruption and empty time, and, as Armstrong (2018) highlights, imprisonment is an exemplary symbol for being stuck in space and time. Based on empirical data from a study of imprisonment in England & Wales and Norway, in this article we analyse several forms of loneliness found in prisons and beyond, from the visceral, immediate sense of being physically alone and separated from loved ones to the ethical or existential experience of abandonment and hopelessness. We conclude by pointing to the fact that the two otherwise very different penal contexts yield similar findings when it comes to the experiences of loneliness. This implies that the sense of not fitting in, of being ‘ethically alone’ (Stauffer, 2015) and essentially misrecognized (Lister in Fraser and Bourdieu, 2007), goes beyond specific prisons and jurisdictions. We also note that, as well as evoking feelings of loneliness, in some circumstances imprisonment can provide some respite from it.
KW - ethical loneliness
KW - imprisonment
KW - loneliness
KW - Prisons
KW - seclusion
KW - solitude
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099835454&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1477370820988836
DO - 10.1177/1477370820988836
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85099835454
VL - 18
SP - 1595
EP - 1614
JO - European Journal of Criminology
JF - European Journal of Criminology
SN - 1477-3708
IS - 6
ER -
ID: 256221127