Carceral Power and Emotions
A Reflection
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21571874 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kevin Walby (0000-0002-5107-2309, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 96-101 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0838-164X • E-ISSN: 0838-164X |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa Library (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.18192/jpp.v34i1.7353 |
| OpenAlex | W4406555173 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
F ocusing on emotions in research and writing can help to reveal moments of injustice and legacies of inequity in our society.Despite the importance of emotions to meaning and wellbeing, there are many mechanisms of control in everyday life that discourage us from sharing emotions or talking about them.This kind of silencing or muting eff ect when it comes to emotions are experienced tenfold inside the prison walls.It is therefore hugely important to examine emotions in carceral spaces, as well as in response to criminalization.What the writings in this special issue show is that carceral spaces are a mechanism of hypercontrol, one that discourages people from being their whole selves (also see Fayter, 2023).The prison pathologizes emotions as a main mechanism for reproducing its institutional power and justifying countless punitive 'get tough' laws and policies.Focusing on emotions in carceral spaces and control of emotions or pathologization of emotions is therefore crucial for critical inquiry, as it reveals the injustices of carceral power and the inequality that prison and jails foment.I am not someone who has personally experienced criminalization or incarceration.I have been active with the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP) for about 15 years.Before that, I was active with Books 2 Prisoners.And for the last decade I have been involved in Walls to Bridges education in Winnipeg on Treaty One Territory.Walls to Bridges, Inside-Out, and other programs like this off ering post-secondary classes inside carceral spaces are really doing transformative work with education.In these diff erent roles over the years, I have encountered the carceral eff ect on emotions in person, in class, on the phone, in letters.Reading this issue, I have thought of those moments, some that had slipped my mind, and I am thankful to these authors for surfacing those memories.This is the background I bring to understanding this topic and that I brought to engaging with the articles in this JPP issue.In my career as a researcher, I have also written a little bit about emotions.In my research I have found that emotions can motivate people to undertake diffi cult tasks and do important work in their communities (Enkhtugs & Walby, 2024).I have found that emotions can help bind people together
Criminology · Physics · Political science · Sociology · Computer Science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Psychology · Social Psychology
“I Know It’s Not Saving a Life, but I Know I’m Doing Good…”
Circus aerialism and emotional labour
Beyond public punitiveness
Crime, punishment and the moral emotions
Emotion regulation among male prisoners
Emotions and criminal justice
On the emotions of crime, punishment and social control
The Management of Emotions in the Criminal Justice System
Their Risks Are My Risks
Walking an Emotional Tightrope
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |