Prison food as a self-catering system

• In Event: Criminal Justice Policy Issues

Abstract

Self-catering is a reflection of the Danish correctional principle of normalisation between prison and community life. Unlike some other jurisdiction, issues of control in meal preparation are subordinate to prisoners’ right to choose and prepare their own food. Findings are derived from 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a Danish maximum security prison for men, including in-depth interviews with 68 prisoners. Overall findings showed that 1) thinking about meals and their preparation is time consuming for prisoners 2) who tend to be positive about the system 3) making connections with their ability to exercise responsibility for making healthily choices. In addition, the importance of ‘food-groups’ in constructing intra-prisoner relationships and positive social identities are discussed. The research concludes that prisoners’ possibility for developing cooking competences during incarceration could support prisoners change in social identity from crook to cook.

Author

• Linda Kjaer Minke, University of Southern Denmark