The Penal State Revisited: The Role of Prison Administrators in Agonistic Penal Change

• In Event: Corrections Administration and Penal Change

Abstract

David Garland has recently called for greater attention to the role of the state in understanding penality and penal change. As Garland defines it, the penal state is not simply a synonym for “the government,” but it does include the official government as well as the penal agencies charged with implementing punishment. In this paper, I draw on this understanding of the penal state, but I problematize the implication that the penal state is a coherent, unified entity. Instead, drawing on the “agonistic perspective,” I argue that prison administrators (including corrections bureaucracies) represent a powerful group with its own goals and needs that may be at odds with those of the legislature or governor. I use an extended case study of nineteenth-century penal policy and practice, supported by several more recent examples, to build conflict into our understanding of the penal state and to better understand the role of conflict among state actors in penal change.

Author

• Ashley Rubin, University of Toronto