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Cutting Knowledge: the Pathologization of Self-Injury in Correctional Discourse

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Cutting Knowledge: the Pathologization of Self-Injury in Correctional Discourse Cutting Knowledge: The Pathologization of Self-Injury in Correctional Discourse by Cristine Raquel Rotenberg A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2014 Cristine Raquel Rotenberg Abstract This thesis critically examines correctional discourse on prisoner self-injury produced by the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) Research Branch (RB) between 1990 and 2012. Since 2010, the RB has published over 700 pages worth of research on prisoner self- injury. This new wave of research is identified in this thesis as a significant growth in correctional knowledge on self-injury. Self-injury in correctional environments has been a topic of much debate in recent years, where academics and governments alike have assessed the ability of the prison to adequately manage and treat self-injuring prisoners. Stepping back from these debates of the punitive versus therapeutic capabilities of the prison (Hannah-Moffat, 2001; Kendall, 1994; Kilty, 2006, 2008b), this thesis examines what knowledges on prisoner self-injury are produced in correctional discourse and how these knowledges both enable and constrain understandings of self-injury in the prisoner population. Through a discourse analysis, this thesis identifies the discursive shifts in correctional knowledges on self-injury. Grounded in the extant clinical and correctional discourse that has historically constructed self-injury as practiced by manipulative, violent or suicidal prisoners, the new surge of research demonstrates a shift to predominately pathological explanations that aim to reduce the deviant behaviour to the manifestation of a mental illness. This domination of the ‘psy-sciences’ as ‘intellectual technologies’ (Rose, 1990, 1996b) in turn both demotes and bars sociological or otherwise non-psy understandings of self-injury. It is suggested that political accountabilities further shape the output of research. This is demonstrated in how the characterization of prisoners as pathologically inclined to self-injure lends to the CSC’s displacement of responsibility for self-injury from the prison to prisoners’ mental illness. I suggest that women prisoners are increasingly pathologized for their self-injurious behaviours in relation to men when the historical medicalization of women’s madness (Ussher, 1991, 2011) is considered. This thesis contributes to critical debates on whether quantitative versus qualitative methods should be problematized as contributing to the production of knowledge. It is argued that it is not the research methodology that should be problematized, but rather the ideological platform from which the discourse originates. It is suggested that regardless of methodological approach, the RB’s conceptualization of prisoners who engage in self- injury was pre-determined by their ideological alignment with the psy-sciences. The implications of the recent shift in correctional discourse with respect to the responsibilization of prisoners for their mental illness(es) are also explored. Key words: self-injury, prison, correctional discourse, psy-sciences, knowledge, pathologization, mental illness, responsibilization ii Acknowledgements The completion of this thesis would have not been possible without the support and patience of a few individuals. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Aaron Doyle, for supporting me throughout this research process. I thank you for encouraging me to enroll in a graduate program in the first place, as without this push I’m not sure I would have thought I was capable. Eventually I rid myself of what you term ‘imposter syndrome’ and was able to pull through with confidence. Thank you immensely for all your time and patience. Thank you to Dr. Jennifer Kilty for taking the time to not only carefully examine my thesis drafts but also for the time you invested in me throughout the journey to this point. You have always been so engaged in and passionate about a number of topics we share a mutual interest in. Your enthusiasm to see me move forward and grow as a critical thinker played a big part in me achieving this academic (and personal) accomplishment. To Dr. Evelyn Maeder, I thank you for giving this thesis a good third read, but more importantly, I am grateful for how you have helped me grow over the years. It is because of you that I have a better-rounded view of ‘psy’: your relentless reminders that I specify what branch of psy I am targeting have undoubtedly made this thesis stronger. Benjamin, you have seen me through this challenging time and never ceased to offer your support, be it listening to me ramble on about feminism (sorry), accepting my hours at a time of emotional absence while I was ravenously typing away, or even proof-reading most of my chapters. You have challenged me to be a more critical thinker, and even though neither of us enjoys being ‘wrong’, I believe our debates have served us both well and inevitably improved my understanding of critical theory. I thank my colleagues from work (you know who you are) for reasons outside of the traditional co-worker exchange dynamic. Our conversations about how it works on the inside are invaluable to me, and I truly do appreciate your frank and honest accounts of the current state of corrections, its history, faults, as well as benefits. It is because of you that I am better informed to undertake such research. You have opened up my eyes to how not everything is as horrid as it is made out to be and how the reality is truly quite complicated and challenging. This has undoubtedly enhanced my integrity and credibility to write critically about something that I have experienced to a degree on both ends. Thank you to Jenny, although you did not per se help me write this thesis (and will likely never read this), you have always been a great sister, and I appreciate you for that. Sometimes life gets in the way, but in the end we both know we will always have our sister to call. Finally, I am grateful for the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in awarding me with a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. iii I am covered in skin No one gets to come in Pull me out from inside I am folded and unfolded and unfolding – Colorblind, Counting Crows iv Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... v List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ....................................................................................................................ix List of Appendices .............................................................................................................. x INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 Statement of Problem ................................................................................................................ 1 Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................................ 4 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 8 What is self-injury? ................................................................................................................... 8 The ‘truth’ about self-injury through numbers .................................................................... 11 Prevalence of self-injury in community populations ............................................................. 13 Prevalence of self-injury in prison populations .................................................................... 15 Institutional responses to self-injury ...................................................................................... 17 Reporting on self-injury in Canadian federal prisons .......................................................... 19 A short history of the shifts in clinical discourse on self-injury .......................................... 23 Shifts in correctional discourse on self-injury....................................................................... 27 Sociological perspectives of self-injury ................................................................................. 30 The prison as a contributing factor to self-injury ................................................................. 31 Towards a theoretical framework .......................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................... 34 Rose on the rise of the psy-sciences ........................................................................................ 34 Problematizations ................................................................................................................. 37 Explanations .........................................................................................................................
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