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The Legally Sanctioned Stigmatisation of Prisoners' Families - FINAL.pdf (290.77 kB)

The legally sanctioned stigmatization of prisoners families

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posted on 2023-06-21, 06:02 authored by Marie Hutton
It is frequently documented that prisoners’ families are subject to a ‘courtesy stigma’(Goffman 1963); akin to a guilt by association for choosing to remain connected to an imprisoned loved one. However, to date there has been little examination in the literature of the extent to which this courtesy stigma is embodied in the national rules and local procedures of prisons in their visiting practices. This chapter addresses that lacuna. Drawing on Link and Phelan’s (2001) classic schema of the elements of stigma, this chapter will illuminate how the various elements of stigma manifest during visiting procedures. Prisoners’ families’ are labelled, misguidedly treated as a ‘separate’ group within society and negatively stereotyped leading to their suffering a loss of status as their ‘outside’ identities are erased by the prison. This legally sanctioned stigmatisation of prisoners’ families is bought most clearly into focus when comparisons are drawn between how official and social visitors are treated, and more importantly, trusted by the prison system. Despite both groups entering the prison as outsiders, there were important differences around how they were processed, the extent to which they were searched and the location and conditions under which their visits took place once both groups entered the sphere of the prison. These markers of status inspired differential treatment presented in each establishment and were always to the detriment of social visitors who were ultimately treated as untrustworthy and inferior bodies. Accordingly, I argue that this differential treatment should be viewed as a form of associative discrimination; in essence that prisoners’ families are spuriously treated less favourably than official visitors, not because of who they are but because of who they are related to; prisoners.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Page range

230-243

Pages

336.0

Book title

Prisons, punishment, and the family: towards a new sociology of punishment?

Place of publication

Oxford

ISBN

9780198810087

Department affiliated with

  • Law Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Crime Research Centre Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Editors

Peter Scharff Smith, Rachel Condry

Legacy Posted Date

2017-09-12

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-10-19

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-09-12

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