Self-destruction in prison: A queer view on pain through decolonial and psychoanalytic theory

• In Event: PWG - Violence, self-harm, and safety in prison settings

Abstract

Much non-sociological research investigating suicide or self-harm in prison settings applies medical and psychological preventive discourses. Such perspectives have been critiqued for leaning towards individualizing, pathologizing, and punitive interpretations. This article advocates for queer, decolonial, and psychoanalytic perspectives to revisit interventions against self-destruction in prison. In doing so, it explores how former prisoners’ narratives of self-harm and suicide reveal a negotiation of pain, acts of resistance, sabotage of futurity, and how they are fueled by desire/pleasure. The data is based on 20 interviews with former prisoners and the author’s experience as a psychologist, educator, and researcher at Nicosia Central Prison in Cyprus. The article contributes to political and non-pathologizing ethics of care in penological analyses.

Author

• Elena Vasiliou, University of Warwick