Marxism, capitalism and punishment

Changing role of prisons

• Pre-18th C — holding prior to punishment (flogging, execution)

• Post-Enlightenment = punishment in itself (in prison people are reformed through labour and surveillance)

Imprisonment today — liberal democracies

• No death penalty so prison = most severe punishment

• Not good at rehab, so prisons expensive ways of making people worse

% of prisoners who reoffend

66%

Imprisonment today — populist punitiveness

• Post-1980s politicians have begun to call for tought sentences to gain votes

  • 1997 NL — prison should also be used to deter petty offenders

1993-2021 — number of prisons in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

• Doubled to 80,000

Carrabine et al (2020) — 4 problems in prisons

1. Sanitation

2. Overcrowding

3. Food

4. Lack of work/school opportunities

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

• 139

  • Highest in W. Europe

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇫🇷

99

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇮🇪

86

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇸🇪

64

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇩🇪

91

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇮🇸

37

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇷🇺

• 607

  • 2nd in 🌍

Prisoners/100,000 people — 🇺🇸

• 730

  • 1st in 🌍

2014 — % of world’s prison pop in 🇺🇸

25%

Prison population by gender

• 5% women

• 95% men

Mass incarcaration — Garland (2001)

• Direction of 🇬🇧 and 🇺🇸 = mass incarceration

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 number of prisoners per 100,000 population before mass incarceration

100-120

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 number of prisoners per 100,000 population after mass incarceration

730

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 number of total inmates before mass incarceration

200,000

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 number of total inmates after mass incarceration

1.4m

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 rate of imprisonment v Europe

• 3x Europe despite similar victimisation rates

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 number of inmates in local jails

750,000

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 number of people on parole/probation

4.5m

Garland (2001) — 🇺🇸 % of adult pop involved in CJS (as a criminal)

3%

Change in patterns of imprisonment

Individuals → groups

Black people 🇺🇸 % of population v % of prison population

12%/33%

🇺🇸 Black men -x more likely than white men to be in prison

6x

🇺🇸 Hispanic/Native American men -x more likely than White men to be in prison

2x

Felony and enfranchisement

• Lose right to vote forever in some states

  • Maintain right to vote in Maine and Vermont

Downes 2001 — ideological function of rising imprisonment

• 30-40% of unemployed are in 🇺🇸 prison system

  • Thus makes capitalism look more successful

Downes 2001 — financial function of rising imprisonment

• Prisons run by private companies

• Imprison more people to keep their profits up

• Sometimes state even signs contracts about maintaining a minimum capacity at all times

Garland — reason for mass incarceration

• Politicisation of crime control

  • Before: seen as ‘penal welfarism’ with punishment reintegrating offenders

  • Now: exclusionary and tough on crime policeies

Simon 2001 — prison and drugs

• Prison = tool of ‘war on drugs’

  • Drug use so widespread that has produced limitless supply of offenders

Transcarceration

• Cycle of control by which individuals shift between carceral agencies during their lives

Example of transcarceration

• Care → young offenders institution → mental hospital → adult prison

% of prison pop that have been in care

25%

% of children in care that have a criminal conviction by the age of 24

52%

% of prison pop that is neurodiverse

50%

% of prison pop that is depressed

11.4%

% of prison pop that has PTSD

10%

Cause of transcarceration

• Blurring of boundaries between criminal justice and welfare

  • Two institutions often work in multi-agency together

  • Welfare can play a crime control role

Previous alternatives to prison

• Before: young offenders diverted from CJS to stop s-f p, with a focus on welfare and non-custodial, community-based treatment such as probation

Current alternative to prison

• Community-based controls such as curfews and tagging

Cohen — 2 consequences of community controls

• Divert youth to CJS

  • E.g. label of ASBOs → s-f p → custodial sentences

• Also widens net of control and its penetration