Revisiting Sykes’ pains of imprisonment in the 21st century: Insights from incarcerated individuals in Canada

• In Event: PWG - Revisiting ‘the pains of imprisonment’

Abstract

In The Society of Captives (1958), Sykes identified five fundamental “pains of imprisonment” as defining features of carceral life: deprivations of liberty, goods and services, heterosexual relationships, autonomy, and security, arguing these deprivations posed “profound threats to the inmate’s personality or sense of personal worth” (1958: 64). This framework remains one of the most influential analytical contributions to prison scholarship. Yet, as carceral institutions and penal policies have evolved, the relevance of Sykes’ conceptualization warrants re-examination.

This paper revisits Sykes’ framework through the voices of incarcerated individuals. Drawing on interviews with people in Canadian prisons, we examine their perspectives on the greatest pains of imprisonment today. After identifying their most significant hardship, participants directly evaluated the applicability of Sykes’ five deprivations to their own experiences and assessed whether these constitute “profound threats to their personality and sense of self worth.” Participants also reflected on any aspects of incarceration that contributed to personal growth, providing a more nuanced understanding of imprisonment, recognizing the complexity of incarceration experiences, even within coercive institutions. By foregrounding the lived experiences of incarcerated individuals, we critically assesses the persistence and transformation of penal harms while recognizing the nuanced realities of incarceration in the 21st century.

Authors

• Bucerius Sandra, University of Alberta

• Kevin Haggerty, University of Alberta