Feeling Punishment: Women’s Experience of Imprisonment in a Punitive and Pain-Killing Society

• In Event: Gender and Incarceration Experiences: Social Constructions and in Their Own Words

Abstract

This paper presents a phenomenological account of the lived experiences of punishment as expressed in interviews with former female prisoners in England. By unpacking the concept of emotions in the prison context, notwithstanding its methodological complexity, the paper argues for a critique of punishment that moves towards more situationally-specific, affective accounts that seek to personalise but also share the experience of punishment. More specifically, the paper outlines aspects of the prison experience that create ‘transformative moments’ to the prisoners’ overall sense of self. These include a revival of the senses and physical change occurring as a result of incarceration. These embodied moments of ‘change’ are felt and expressed in contradictory ways that reveal both the subjective aspects of the punishment experience, as well as its socially-induced attributes, highlighting the pervasiveness of penal and patriarchal power. This sense of ambivalence is articulated in the women’s attitudes towards rehabilitation, well-being, happiness and justice, and it also expresses their ambivalence towards the idea of punishment. More critically, these emotionally contradictory experiences contribute towards an often destructive self-perception that defies the prison’s own objectives and raises broader questions about the function of punishment today.

Author

• Anastasia Chamberlen, University of Warwick