Abstract
This paper draws on a ten-month ethnographic study of private prison work in a UK prison to drawn attention to the prevalence of neoliberalism; even in an institution as secreted and isolated as a prison, the neoliberal ideology can flourish. Prisoners expressed attitudes heavily influenced by consumer culture and egoistic individualism. Most participants expressed a desire to become profitable entrepreneurs. On this basis, it should come as no surprise that prisoners admired the organizations sending work into prison. They despised the work, despised the prison for forcing them to conduct this work, but they were impressed by the firms sending this work in, who they saw as the ultimate exploitative entrepreneurs. They aspired to be entrepreneurs, and with limited opportunities to achieve this legitimately, and the exposure to poorly paid, unskilled work during their incarceration, many prisoners concluded that the best way to become entrepreneurs was through criminal means. Individualism and entrepreneurial rhetoric has clearly trickled down into the depths of our society, with those most vulnerable fighting for a place at the table; they have adopted, embraced and welcomed neoliberalism.
Highlights
In researching prisoners’ attitudes towards private prison labour, there was an expectation that prisoners would view this negatively
When I approached prisoners to ask them about what they thought about prison work the overwhelming response was ‘this is slave labour’ This sentence resurfaced at almost every visit to Bridgeville prison
This paper has attempted to outline the deep-rooted neoliberal attitudes that are held amongst the prisoners within this study
Summary
In researching prisoners’ attitudes towards private prison labour, there was an expectation that prisoners would view this negatively These suspicions were confirmed; on entering Bridgeville prison, I was greeted with roars from prisoners about how exploitative prison work was and how unethical it was. Prisoners did not appreciate that the institution imprisoning them would make a profit from their work, but they did not feel the same antipathy towards the private companies utilising their labour. Were they not resentful that private firms profited from their labour, they were impressed. They admired what they saw as the exploitation of their labour
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