Abstract
ABSTRACT In this paper, we analyse pain in police detention and the extent to which Sykes’ pains of imprisonment framework usefully informs this. This analysis is based on extensive in-depth qualitative research in four custody facilities in four English police forces. In parallel to Sykes, we found that detainees felt cut-off, as if they had nothing and had lost control, which were respectively akin to the deprivation of liberty, the deprivation of goods and services, and the deprivation of autonomy. However, moving beyond Sykes, police custody was also uncertain, anticipatory and liminal, and entailed insecurities derived from the material conditions and soundscape. All of these pains of police detention were furthermore enabled or minimised by how staff employed their authority. The synergy between the pains of police detention and the pains of imprisonment arise, in part because police custody has much in common with imprisonment. As such, police custody can be seen as an initial and thus critical point in the ‘penal chain’ or perhaps even the ‘penal painscape’, in which institutions within it have punitive tendencies in common, linked to the delivery of pain. This has implications for the police’s role in society and the role that the pain-punishment nexus plays in this. Pain in police work has traditionally been understood as largely physical in form and rooted in the use of force. As the pains of police detention show, these pains can be more situated, subtle, routine and far-reaching in their effects, potentially extending to other areas of police work.
Highlights
We examine pain in police detention
Whilst links have previously been made between the loss of liberty, goods and services, and autonomy (Skinns 2011, pp. 202–204), sustained consideration of pain in police detention is limited
The foregoing discussion demonstrates that some of the pains of imprisonment noted by Sykes had a near equivalent in police custody: being cut-off is akin to the deprivation of liberty; having nothing is akin to being deprived of goods and services; and losing control is akin to the deprivation of autonomy
Summary
We examine pain in police detention. Whilst links have previously been made between the loss of liberty, goods and services, and autonomy (Skinns 2011, pp. 202–204), sustained consideration of pain in police detention is limited. We scrutinise in more depth the relevance of the pains of imprisonment conceived by Gresham Sykes. 202–204), sustained consideration of pain in police detention is limited.. We scrutinise in more depth the relevance of the pains of imprisonment conceived by Gresham Sykes. This was due to our growing sense of the prison-like feel of police custody. Sykes’ ‘enduringly popular’ book, The Society of Captives, has inspired a rich literature on the pains of imprisonment and the inner workings of prisons (Reisig 2001). Cox 2011, Frois 2017, chapter 5, Symkovych 2018), police detention is only coming into view Its focus was a 1950s maximum security men’s prison, the New Jersey State Prison, and though the research that followed has expanded our horizons, encompassing other locations, institutions and inmates (e.g. Cox 2011, Frois 2017, chapter 5, Symkovych 2018), police detention is only coming into view
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
