"Being in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
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“Being in the wrong place at the wrong time” Ethnographic insights into experiences of incarceration and release from a Mexican prison A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2013 Carolina Corral Paredes School of Social Sciences Department of Social Anthropology Contents List of figures 4 Abstract 5 Declaration 6 Copyright Statement 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 Narratives of incarceration 11 Individual trajectories and lived experiences 14 The “war on drugs”: research and lived experience 15 Modes of representation 19 From peace to imprisonment 21 Imprisonment as a stage in life 23 Methods and access to prison 26 Chapter 1: Economic and social everyday in prison 43 Ethnography of the job market in prison 45 The “Top Ladies”: charisma, privileges and wealth 48 Extortion and owning a business 51 Consuelo, a Colombian prisoner 53 Regaining status through hard work 56 Chapter 2: Narratives of self 62 Legal arguments 65 Gendered stories in a grey room 69 ‘Reflections’ by La Enamorada. 79 La Enamorada after prison 91 Chapter 3: The gaze and morality 95 Introduction: vision and exposure 95 Women’s Day ceremony 98 Visiting the men’s prison 101 Secrecy and power 106 Theatrocracy amends the programme 109 Chapter 4 Uncertainty in prison 115 The uncertainty of prison time 119 Uncertainty as an emotional atmosphere 124 Coping with uncertainty 126 Chapter 5: Time will Tell [film, 52’] 138 Chapter 6: Making “Time will tell” 139 Filming with Sandra 143 Filming with Reynaldo 147 2 Filming with David 151 A finished film, unfinished lives. 158 Chapter 7: Remembering prison 160 The school of “re-entry” studies 165 Alex: remembering prison through memories and objects 168 Reynaldo: recognising the past through bricklaying 178 David: returning to prison for parole 184 Concluding remarks 194 Bibliography 203 3 List of figures Figure 1 The exterior of the women's prison ............................................................................................. 31 Figure 2 A shop ........................................................................................................................................................ 31 Figure 3 “Community area”. A multipurpose space ............................................................................... 31 Figure 4 The basket ball court. ......................................................................................................................... 32 Figure 5 An event at one of men's patios. .................................................................................................. 32 Figure 6 Yoga demonstration at ...................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 1. The poem of Águila del Mar. ...................................................................................................... 111 Figure 2. Alex selling crafts at Cine Morelos. ........................................................................................ 169 Figure 3. Alex in his living room. ................................................................................................................... 170 Figure 4. The Christ. ........................................................................................................................................... 172 Figure 5. The iron nails in the Christ’s feet. ............................................................................................ 172 Figure 6. The atelier inside. ............................................................................................................................. 175 Figure 7. Alex's atelier in the roof. ............................................................................................................... 176 Figure 8. The unfinished elephant. .............................................................................................................. 177 Figure 9. Reynaldo's work place. ................................................................................................................. 179 Figure 10. "I had to return to grabbing a shovel, and assembling bricks and stone." ...... 180 Figure 11. "Some were good memories, others not so much. ...................................................... 185 Figure 12. David and the prison’s guard. ................................................................................................. 186 Figure 13. David explains his tattoo. .......................................................................................................... 189 4 Abstract The University of Manchester Carolina Corral Paredes Ph.D. Thesis: Social Anthropology with Visual Media, September 2013. “Being in the wrong place at the wrong time” Ethnographic insights into experiences of incarceration and release from a Mexican prison This thesis explores the moral life worlds of people who have been imprisoned in Mexico, while considering how they incorporate the fate of imprisonment into the story of their lives through cognitive, discursive, sensory, affective, recollective and imaginary processes. The midst of a war on drugs in Mexico confirms that structural factors like political premises and poverty, as well as class backgrounds and racial discrimination largely determine who goes to prison. However, this research is not only confined to a structural analysis, since prisoners also explain their imprisonment in relation to other contingent encounters and coincidences occurring in their every day life. As such, imprisonment seems for prisoners like an unimagined possibility and a latent daily risk. Using a variety of ethnographic methods and modes of representation, this research sheds light on how imprisonment is related to stories of love, treason, memories and hopes. I draw from prisoners and ex-prisoners’ personal sources of expression like their writings; I recur to eliciting their memories through their objects and crafts; I pay attention to the role of the gaze in crafting identities in prison; I also draw attention to prisoners and ex-prisoners’ expressions of feelings and emotions. I argue that such sources and sensorial realms and methods offer relevant insights into their existential experiences. They are also important devices to represent stories from below. Through inmates’ narratives and practices my work offers stories, explanations and effects of incarceration alternative to the official reasons legitimating incarceration. Central to my work is my film Time will Tell that documents the lives of three ex- prisoners and represents their every day duties, and the sensory and corporeal implications of the aftermath of imprisonment. Film has been a central piece of my ethnographic research since it allows audiences to engage with realms of experience that go beyond the one offered by language and text; so as to also help evoke – and not only illustrate- the whole of the journey out of prison as an ontological and sensuous experience. 5 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning 6 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/policies/ intellectual-property.pdf), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http: //www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s policy on presentation of Theses 7 Acknowledgements My doctoral research was funded by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) and Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA). I am very grateful to my supervisor Andrew Irving for his invaluable and constant support and for encouraging me to read inspiring authors from interdisciplinary backgrounds. Many thanks to my co-supervisor John Gledhill for inviting me to do anthropology about Latin America from critical political