Creating the responsible prisoner

Abstract

This article examines official management practices and rhetoric in the US federal prison system as they are set out in admission handbooks that are distributed to inmates on arrival. Using concrete examples from contemporary and historical admission manuals I examine the changing language and style of prison governance. Concentrating in particular on the contemporary documents, I show how many of the ideas articulated in the literature on risk and governmentality form the backdrop of everyday prison life as penal administrators attempt to encourage prisoners to govern themselves. In this endeavour, the handbooks rely on a language of managerialism that presents inmates as just another ‘client group’ or customer base. This rhetorical shift implicitly denies the particularity of penal institutions, while simultaneously placing all the responsibility on the prisoners for their self-improvement and good order. The handbooks also reveal women's behaviour and sexuality to be more strictly monitored and regulated than that of men, suggesting that, despite the minimal security risk they pose, women are considered in need of greater control.