Thomas-Mathiesen-Prison-On-Trial.Pdf
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
TPS (215mmx148mm) ISBN:1-904-380-22-0 (215mmx148mm) (210) Prison On Trial Thomas Mathiesen is Professor of Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo and was one of the founders of the Norwegian Association for Penal Reform. His publications in English include The Defence of the Weak (Tavistock, 1965), The Politics of Abolition (Martin Robertson, 1974), Law, Society and Political Action (Academic Press, 1980) and Silently Silenced: Essays on the Creation ofAcquiescence in Modern Society (Waterside Press, 2004). Prison On Trial has appeared in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, German, English, Spanish, Italian and is now being translated into Chinese. ii Prison On Trial Prison On Trial Thomas Mathiesen Third English edition (2006) This third edition of Prison On Trial contains all the material from the first and second English editions together with a new Foreword, Preface and Epilogue and other revisions. Published by WATERSIDE PRESS DomumRoad Winchester S023 9NN United Kingdom Telephone or Fax 01962 855567 UK Local-call 08452300733 E-mail: [email protected] Online catalogue and bookstore: www.watersidepress.co.uk Copyright © Thomas Mathiesen 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including over the Internet, without prior permission. ISBN 1 904 380 22 0 Waterside Press Criminal Policy Series Editor Andrew Rutherford First edition The first English edition of Prison on Trial was published by Sage Publications Ltd. in 1990 (ISBN 080398225 9). This was a revised and updated edition of a Norwegian version published by Pax, Oslo in 1987. The book appeared in a second edition in 2000 (ISBN 1 872 870 85 6). It has also appeared in several other languages. Catalogue-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library Cover design Waterside Press. Based upon a 100-year-old aquatint: 'I am Shewn Two Interesting Penitents' Printed and bound by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne North American distributors International Specialised Book Services (ISBS), 920 NE 58th Ave, Suite 300, Portland, Oregon, 97213-3786, USA Telephone 1 800944 6190 Fax 1 5032808832 [email protected] www.isbs.com Thomas Mathiesen iii Prison On Trial Thomas Mathiesen THIRD EDITION Crilllinal Policy Series Editor Andrew Rutherford WATERSIDE PRESS WINCHESTER UK iv Prison On Trial To Sindre and Snorre-for a better future Thomas Mathiesen v Prison On Trial CONTENTS Foreword vi Preface to the 2006 Edition vii Preface to the 2000 Edition vii FroIn the Preface to the Original 1990 Edition viii CHAPTER 1. Prison: Does it have a Defence? 9 2. Rehabilitation 27 3. General Prevention 55 4. Other Theories of Social Defence 85 5. Justice 108 6. The Future of Imprisonment 141 Postscript 171 Epilogue 197 Bibliography (with 2006 additions appended) 202 Index (with 2006 additions appended) 208 vi Prison On Trial Foreword to the 2006 Edition When the English language version of Prison On Trial first appeared in 1990 it was widely recognised as one of the most penetrating analyses ever published on the problem of imprisonment. In a style which is succinct and highly readable, Thomas Mathiesen, the distinguished sociologist, marshals a wealth of evidence from a wide range of international sources. He concludes that the prison does not have a defence, and in terms of its own purpose it is a fiasco. The questions posed by the author about the survival and expansion of the prison have become even more pertinent at the start of the new century. That the 'fiasco' of imprisonment is so stubbornly sustained demands urgent exploration which extends beyond rational discourse and, he suggests, into pervasive and persistent belief systems. Mathiesen powerfully demonstrates that as one defence of the prison fades another emerges. The recent renaissance of rehabilitation within the prison is addressed but he concludes that this still falls far short of providing a convincing justification. In this new edition he draws attention to the increasingly intermeshed penal and surveillance systems. He rightly emphasises the rapidly expanding control networks within the context of international terrorism. To these broad concerns might be added the further integration of the prison with community sentences and supervision/surveillance arrangements after release. The growing proportion of the sentenced prison population that can be accounted for in terms of breaches of court or post-release imposed conditions is just one measure of this contemporary feature, especially notable in the United States and Britain. Characteristically, Mathiesen is not content to rest upon critique, and his delineation of an alternative public sphere suggests potent sources of resistance to the contemporary expansionist mode. In publishing this new edition, with its added Epilogue, the editors at Waterside Press are sure that Prison On Trial will reach a new generation of students and practitioners as well as addressing concerns held by general readers about the threat inherent to burgeoning prison systems. Mathiesen's urgent message is clearly one that extends beyond the United States and Europe to many parts of the world, such as China and India, where the issues he raises need to be addressed before the pressures of exponential growth take hold. Andrew Rutherford Editor, Waterside Press Criminal Policy Series, October 2005 Thomas Mathiesen vii Preface to the 2006 Edition Once more I have looked through· the text of the second English edition of my book Prison on'Trial (2000). Once more I have been struck by the relevance and 'modernity' of the content. Prison is still a major institution of control and pain in our society. All of the arguments against prison are just as forceful as they were years ago. One feature is for obvious reasons missing in the second English edition, and added here: the events following in the wake of 11 September 2001. From bloody 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington DC to bloody 7 July 2005 in London, a series of events happened, impinging directly on the prison issue. A string of terrrorist acts took place during those years. And a concomitant string of transnational surveillance methods of the most modem kind were developed. We had terrorism as well as surveillance long before the 2000s. The development was gradual. But after September 11 both 'sides of the coin' made gigantic leaps ahead. Towards the end of the postscript to this book, I have gone into this a little bit. The great surveillance systems which are developing are not particularly successful in preventing terrorism. But they are successful, if you will use such a word, in threatening basic civil rights throughout Europe, or throughout the world. Prison now increasingly exists within an integrated network of control in society, making up a total control system. But fortunately, there is also opposition. More about this later. As well as the new Epilogue, I have made a number of lesser but important revisions along, the way. I am glad to see the book out in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, German, Italian and English and now being published in Chinese. Thomas Mathiesen Oslo, October 2005 Preface to the 2000 Edition During the 1990s the prison populations in Europe and the United States have continued to grow. In particular, the growth in the United States has been spectacular, approaching a national catastrophe of huge dimensions. Prison as a solution is increasingly being taken for granted, and not questioned. As I point out in this book (see the Postscript) the mass media bear a heavy responsibility for this. The way in which the entertainment industry of television has transformed crime and prison to entertainment objects, thus corroding our doubts and worries about the prison solution, is particularly important. But the mass media, though setting the stage and the major agendas, are not alone in bearing responsibility. Rather than taking research findings and principled argumentation into account, leading political figures today increasingly and willingly adjust themselves to the agendas set by the mass media, reinforcing and legitimizing them. In the area of crime and prisons, politics is thus lifted out of the viii Prison On Trial hands of those knowledgeable about prison life, and out of the hands of more timid bureaucrats, and shaped in a subtle interaction between the mass media and the top political elite, resulting in an increasingly populist criminal policy. Because of the massive filtering of information which takes place through the mass media entertainment industry, this should not be confused with a democratic development. As I am writing these lines, an excellent example of the interaction, and of the a4justment of the political elite, passes across the front pages and the television screens in Great Britain. A memo written by prime minister Tony Blair in the spring of 2000 has just been leaked to The Times and the Sun. The prime minister is worried that his government is 'somehow out of touch with gut British instincts'. 'On crime', he says, 'We need to highlight the tough measures ... and I, personally, should be associated with it' (my italics). The only thing that makes this event special is that a prime minister's tactical populist adjustment to the mass media agenda· is made public for all to see through the leak. Usually it is not. In such times, it is important to raise anew the rational arguments against prison. All of the arguments against prison which were presented in the 1990 edition of this book are only more relevant as we are entering the 2000s. In this 2000 edition I have added a lengthy Postscript since 1990. That research only substantiates further the fiasco of the prison. Special thanks go to Professor Andrew Rutherford of the University of Southampton for his support in having the second edition published and to Mark Telford for his work on the index.