Concise presentation of article: Multisectoral regulation amidst resource scarcity. Dr Matthew Hall

• In Event: The regulation of criminal justice detention by multisectoral actors

Abstract

This talk will draw on political theory to advance a ‘neo-republican’ account of domination to understand the work of statutory and voluntary sector actors in prisons. On a ‘neo-republican’ account, prisons are dominating in so far as they are, firstly, an environment in which power is not reliably controlled by common-knowledge and effective rules, procedures or goals and, secondly, those rules, procedures and goals are not forced to track the interests of those subject to them. The extensive framework of regulatory bodies, regulation and rules governing prisons and the standards required to run them safely - mandated under international and national law ought to provide a resource to assess whether rules are reliably controlled in detention. Using original data from interviews and document analysis, I will demonstrate four ways in which voluntary organisations act as an ‘anti-power’ to rule based domination found in prisons, which are: i) providing information and resources to detainees; ii) holding rule makers to account on behalf of detainees; iii) campaigning for different rules; iv) establishing democratic participation by those subject to rules of prison. Complicating this picture, the PVS itself may contribute to domination and be on the receiving end of dominating practices from prison authorities. Moreover, imprisonment operates amidst severe resource scarcity in England and Wales. Although prisons exist in a permanent state of crisis, the last decade has seen a particular and deepening supercrisis in prisons in England and Wales. This compounds the domination experienced in prison, pushes statutory regulators into providing ‘memory’ functions to assist prisons in basic functioning and limits potential for regulation activities to make impact.

Author

• Matthew Hall, University of Nottingham School of Sociology and Social Policy