‘This is not what I signed up for’ – Danish prison officers’ attitudes towards more punitive penal policies

Dorina Damsa

doi:10.1177/14624745211068870

Abstract

A humane approach to punishment has been integral to the work of the Danish Prisons and Probation Service. However, Danish penal policy has recently taken a punitive turn. What happens when punitive policies are adopted by a penal regime built on a humane approach to punishment? To address this question, this article focuses on prison officers at Vestre prison and how they adapt to punitive political decisions and prison policies. The increased focus on security in Danish prisons is considered, together with limitations set on welfare services available to non-citizen prisoners. Examination of officers’ subjectivities at Vestre prison shows that punitive penal policies have produced an environment fraught with tensions that affect prison work, institutional culture, and the officers’ professional identity. These findings also raise questions about the shifting nature of Danish penal power.

Highlights

According to Bo Yde Sørensen, head of the Danish Prison Federation, the Danish Prisons and Probation Service ‘is in the middle of a historic crisis’ (Danish Prison Federation, 2019)1
A Danish Prison Federation survey of 1231 of its members13 found 99% of those surveyed believe that ‘relationship work’ is an important aspect of their work, necessary to dynamic security; 40% said they would resign if their work just became passive security, as desired by Søren Pape Poulsen, Minister of Justice (Danish Prison Federation, 2017)
Punitive policies are increasingly shaping the prison regime at Vestre. They have created tensions and left officers caught between conflicting priorities. Officers perceive these policies as damaging to prison work, and contrary to the humane, welfare-oriented approach to punishment traditionally taken by the Danish Prisons and Probation Service

Summary

Introduction

According to Bo Yde Sørensen, head of the Danish Prison Federation, the Danish Prisons and Probation Service ‘is in the middle of a historic crisis’ (Danish Prison Federation, 2019). According to Bo Yde Sørensen, head of the Danish Prison Federation, the Danish Prisons and Probation Service ‘is in the middle of a historic crisis’ (Danish Prison Federation, 2019)1 This crisis, he says, follows a turn in ‘the wrong direction’, away from the Punishment & Society 0(0). Danish prisons are at a crossroads, as punitive penal policies steadily increase. What happens when populist and punitive penal policies take root in a humane, welfare-oriented prison regime? While Scandinavian welfare states have generally been described as inclusive, with ‘longstanding characteristics of moderation, restraint, and forbearance’, even exceptional in terms of their humane approach to punishment, they seem to have undergone a ‘punitive turn - Nordic style’ (Balvig, 2005; Lappi-Seppälä, 2016: 25; Pratt, 2008a; Pratt and Eriksson, 2013: 90, 94; Smith, 2011, 2021). What happens when populist and punitive penal policies take root in a humane, welfare-oriented prison regime?

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion