Sensing freedom: Insights into long-term prisoners’ perceptions of the outside world

Irene Marti

doi:10.1177/26326663211013703

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have come to agree that ‘total institutions’ are in general more permeable than as outlined in prior studies. The idea of the ‘totality’ of prisons has been challenged, for example, by acknowledging the penetration of the outside world through media or external visitors. However, prison surroundings are often a topic that is not granted a lot of attention. Using ethnographic data on the everyday lives of prisoners sentenced to indefinite incarceration in Switzerland, this article explores long-term prisoners’ sensory perceptions of the outside world, in particular through hearing, seeing and smelling. It is argued that this affects not only the prisoners’ understanding of ‘the prison’ but also their experience of time and their sense of self. A closer look at their diverse ways of dealing with these (potential) connections to the outside world reveals their individual approaches to the indefinite nature of their incarceration.

Highlights

The body of literature on the experience of imprisonment is vast, focusing on a wide range of determining aspects, such as the norms and values of the inmate community (Clemmer, 1958 [1940]; Crewe, 2009), the particular regime under which prisoners live (Genders and Player, 1995; O’Donnell, 2014; Rhodes, 2004) or the prison’s architecture and design (Hancock and Jewkes, 2011)
In a recently constructed secure prison in Switzerland, the architects designed it in a way that would provide prisoners with lots of daylight, access to green spaces and a view of the surrounding ‘mountain peaks and woods, and not just a narrowly defined piece of sky’, with the aim of enabling prisoners as well as prison staff to feel connected to the outside world (Kurz et al, 2020: 66, translation by the author)
In addition to previous studies that highlight the benefits of gaining sensory impressions of the outside world and the possibility of accessing green spaces for prisoners’ mental well-being (Moran and Turner, 2018; Wener, 2012), this article argues that the outside world is a source that may both ease and intensify the ‘pains of imprisonment’ (Sykes, 1971 [1958])

Summary

Introduction

The body of literature on the experience of imprisonment is vast, focusing on a wide range of determining aspects, such as the norms and values of the inmate community (Clemmer, 1958 [1940]; Crewe, 2009), the particular regime under which prisoners live (Genders and Player, 1995; O’Donnell, 2014; Rhodes, 2004) or the prison’s architecture and design (Hancock and Jewkes, 2011). Based on ethnographic data generated within the scope of a research project on indefinite confinement in Switzerland (Marti, 2020), this article provides insight into long-term prisoners’ sensory perception of the outside world during two particular time-space constellations: while being locked up in the cell and during the daily 1-h walk in the courtyard.

Results

Conclusion