Overview
The Politics of Prison Crowding investigates recent transformations in Italy’s penal system to make the key analytical observation that conditions of overcrowding have become the ‘new normal’ under which the modern prison system continues to operate and deliver punishment. Engaging with the politics of crowding thus entails a direct and pertinent engagement with the modern state’s politics of criminal justice and social control. Worldwide, over the last decades, a growing number of jurisdictions have prison systems operating above or to the limit of their capacity, yet little attention has been paid to these elements in the analysis of prison politics and day-to-day functions. By exploring the crowding issue, this book offers an original and interesting insight into the politics and dynamics characterising contemporary prison systems. The hypothesis of this book is that the politics of prison crowding have become the template for the daily administration of the prison system, which incorporates not just policy and rules but day-to-day functions and practices regulating life behind bars. Through interviews in modern Italian prisons, the book brings to light a radical redefinition of a carceral system that harshens the delivery of punishment while justifying this exacerbation of pain by adding new bureaucratic logic to the administration of the penal system within a narrative of compliance to human rights standards. By shedding new light on prison politics to open new critical perspectives and research paths, The Politics of Prison Crowding offers a fundamental tool to scholars, students, and all professional policymakers and practitioners dealing with prison policies and the politics of justice.
Full Product Details
Author: Simone Santorso (University of Sussex, UK)
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Weight: 0.412kg
ISBN: 9780367521325
ISBN 10: 0367521326
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 09 October 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Simone Santorso is a lecturer at the University of Sussex. Simone’s principal research interests are punishment, prison, and detention. Additionally, he has been a principal or co-investigator on research projects on prison and punishment, gang and organised crime, and police and technology. Simone’s research brings together theoretical concepts, findings and insights from a variety of disciplinary fields, especially sociology, anthropology, law, and history. He is the author of several journal articles, reports, chapters, and books and is a founding member of the European Prison Observatory.
