Tension and Release: Exploring the Role of Music in the Daily Life of a Men’S Local Prison
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Tension and Release: Exploring the role of Music in the Daily Life of a Men’s Local Prison Page | 1 Chris Waller Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Law Royal Holloway, University of London Declaration of Authorship I, Chris Waller, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others this is always clearly stated. Chris Waller March 2020 Page | 2 Dedicated to the Memory of Dr Richard Smith Page | 3 Acknowledgements I want to thank my supervisors Serena Wright, David Denney and Richard Smith first and foremost. Serena, the moment you joined my supervisory team in my second year was a pivotal moment for me and without your kindness, intellect, and humour I would not have gotten as far as gaining access to a prison let alone sitting here writing my acknowledgements. You’ve been a reassuring voice in the hard times and an enthusiastic one in the good times and have somehow managed to hit the supervisory sweet spot between friend and inspiration. David, thanks for the confidence that you put in me throughout my time as your student and supervisee, your warmth and guidance are deeply appreciated. I have missed the conspiratorial flavour of our supervisions and thank you for your care and hard work. You and Richard were the reason that I felt able to undertake this journey and I feel lucky to have been supervised by my favourite tutors. Richard, you were always immensely generous with your time and knowledge and I am sad that I won’t be able to sit in your office and chat with you about politics, bands and cultural theory anymore. Talking with you taught me more about the contingency of the world than any of the books you pulled off your straining shelves to lend me and I think it is your attitude which Jane, thank you for your help over the last months. Your feedback, encouragement and general presence have helped me with the turbulence. Morwenna, you’ve been a great friend, colleague, cautionary tale and success story to me over the years and I can’t thank you enough for your support, advice, and encouragement. You’ve helped me through some shaky moments and have provided space to laugh, work, and consider the implications of our awkward behaviours. Thanks mate. Chloë, you joined later on in the process but quickly became indispensable. Your patience, and encouragement has been invaluable, and you have made me feel ‘held’ throughout. Thank you for giving so much of your time and thought to the thesis; to thinking parts out with me, to Page | 4 reassuring me that it was going to work out and to telling me that I’m clever when I didn’t feel like it. I hope you’ll stick around for the next project. To my father Adrian, you have a longer track record of helping me out than anyone on this list and I’m very grateful to you for that. Thank you for your advice and care, and for offering me a safe place to come back to when I got stuck. Your guidance over the years has helped me to orient myself around this project in a way where it might get done, rather than half-done. Thank you. Many thanks to David Manlow, you’ve been supportive, generous and extremely accommodating and I’m looking forward to that jam and a beer now finally. Thanks to Enis and Sam for their expertise in the last throws of submission, and to my friends for the part you’ve played in keeping me laughing and on track in various ways. To Alex, Anita, Charlotte, Jon, Marie, Nicola and many others at Westminster and Royal Holloway thanks for your kindness over the years. Finally, thanks to my respondents and facilitators at HMP South Hill who shared their views and experiences with me. Revisiting the conversations, we had has made me laugh and cry all over again and I thank you deeply for your generosity of mind and spirit. Page | 5 Abstract This is thesis is about the ways that prisoners and staff in a category B local prison used music to manage the various pains and insecurities that characterise the experience of imprisonment in late modernity. Based on nine months of quasi-ethnographic study, the thesis explores the way in which music is constituted in the daily life of the prison by investigating the situated practices of prisoners and staff. This is an exploratory study which seeks to account for the lack of research exploring the topic of music within this area of prison life. Existing research has tended to focus on the therapeutic and rehabilitative capabilities of music in carceral settings and has thus overlooked the social and cultural dimensions of music in the daily life. Drawing on the work of DeNora (2000, 2013) this thesis examines how music intersects with various aspects of daily life including its sensory, affective, and institutional dimensions, in addition to the social and cultural life of the prison. In conditions of profound and persistent uncertainty which characterise local prisons, this thesis highlights the ways that music is used to create forms of stability (and contrast) across various dimensions of daily life. Page | 6 Abbreviations ANT – Actor-Network Theory BME – Black and Minority Ethnic CM – Custody Manager HMPPS – Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service IEP – Incentives and Earned Privileges IPP – Imprisonment for Public Protection LSM – Learning and Skills Manager NPS – New Psychoactive Substances NRC – National Research Council VP – Vulnerable Population Page | 7 Contents Tension and Release: Exploration of the role of Music in the Daily Life of a Men’s Local Prison ...... 1 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Contents ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Tension and Release: Exploring the Role of Music in a Men’s Local Prison .......................................11 Chapter One – Introduction ......................................................................................................................11 1.1 Leadbelly to Solid Air .......................................................................................................................11 1.2 Solid Air: The Changing Context ....................................................................................................15 1.3 Research on music in prisons: The current scope of the field ....................................................16 Chapter 2 Conceptualising Music in the Late Modern Prison ............................................................19 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................19 2.1.1 Power within the Institution ....................................................................................................19 2.1.2 Resistance, Coping and the Informal Economy ....................................................................23 2.1.3 Adaptation, Identity and Emotions .........................................................................................27 2.1.4 Space, Sense and Sounds ........................................................................................................31 2.2 Music in Prison .................................................................................................................................33 2.3 Conceptualising Music and Emotion .............................................................................................37 2.3.1 Music and the Prison Environment .........................................................................................40 2.3.2 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................42 Chapter 3 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................43 3.1 Conceptual Framework ...................................................................................................................43 3.2 Research Design ...............................................................................................................................45 3.2.1 Fieldwork: Overview ..................................................................................................................46 3.2.2 Access .............................................................................................................................................47 3.2.3 Research Site..................................................................................................................................49 Page | 8 3.2.4 The Merits and Limitations of Quasi-Ethnographic Observation in Prison ...........................51 3.2.5 Sampling and Recruitment ..........................................................................................................55 3.2.6 Demographic Overview ................................................................................................................59 3.2.7 Interviews .......................................................................................................................................62