Specifying Locations of Antagonism Within Penal Structures

• In Event: Space and Location Considerations in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

Much empirical work on penal-based violence has focused on inmate background characteristics (race, criminal record, gang affiliation, mental health, etc.) and administrative capacities for control (Huebner 2003) to explain inmate on inmate violence specifically and misconduct more generally (Steiner, Butler, and Ellison 2014). The strength of this approach is that it specifies a certain type of inmate that may be most at risk, or disposed to committing violence while incarcerated. However, we argue that a downside shared by these approaches, is the overemphasis on the individual as opposed to situational factors (Morris et al. 2012). In this work, we use the framework of strain theory (Agnew 1992; Agnew et al. 2002; Peck 2015) to analyze inmate schedules and jail floorplans to show how the confluence of space and time can produce “locations of antagonism” where inmates experience feelings of anxiety, fear, and/or uncertainty that increase the likelihood of violence. We suggest that inmate dispositions may be influenced by the spatial and temporal structure of the penal experience itself and that this experience may be causal in producing not only penal-based violence but future mental health instability as well.

Authors

• Kevin McCaffree, Indiana-Purdue University

• Michael Lawrence Walker, University of Nebraska at Omaha