The Prison as an Abject and Uncanny Institution

Transcription

1 Kriminologiska institutionen The Prison as an Abject and Uncanny Institution Examensarbete för masterexamen i kriminologi, 30 hp Kriminologi Avancerad nivå Vårterminen 2016 Tea Fredriksson

2 Abstract: The present study explores the prison as a social institution. Focusing on frightening aspects conveyed in autobiographical accounts of prison experience, a psychoanalytical framework adapted from the Gothic literary tradition is used to explore prison as abject and uncanny. The study finds the prison to be abject as a site that enacts punishment-asincorporation, as well as uncanny by virtue of its history and similarities to other institutions. These findings further show how prison is a liminal site, where boundaries regarding identity and preconceptions about punishment as a masculine action can be interrogated and dissolved. Keywords: Abject, femininity, gothic, prison, uncanny 2

3 Table of Contents Introduction... 4 Aim of Present Study... 4 Research Questions... 4 The Prison s Affinity with Gothicity... 5 The Abject... 5 The Uncanny... 8 Haunted Space as Abject and Uncanny Studying the Prison as Haunted Space Incorporation Rehabilitation and Rebirth Temporal and Spatial Liminality The Familiar, Unfamiliarized Autonomy and Authority Discussion and Conclusions References

4 Introduction The prison is ingrained in popular culture to such an extent that myths and stereotypes are considered to be realities, perpetuating a collective understanding of prison as something frightening (Cecil 2015:7, Fleisher & Krienert 2009:133, Smith 2009:55, Smith 2008:5). These imaginary aspects are the primary concern of the present study, as they inform society s ongoing conversation with and about itself regarding its feelings toward prison. Focusing on the frightening, this study aims to examine how prison as a social institution can be understood through a theoretical framework of abjection and uncanniness. The study uses concepts found in both criminological and gothic literary theory to show prison through this framework. Since haunting and liminality are observable themes in prison studies as well as in studies of gothic literature (Fiddler 2011, Smith 2009, Chaplin 2011), the study pays particular attention to expressions thereof. This is done using the monstrous womb- and haunted house motifs to interrogate prison as a site of liminality; a space where both individual and collective boundaries are threatened, interrogated or dissolved. Since literature is part of how society addresses anxieties regarding prison (Garland 1990:194, Smith 2008:173, Smith 2009:55), this study analyses literary, autobiographical accounts of prison experience. Through these, prison as a social institution which inspires emotions in the wider public is made visible (Garland 1990:287). Importantly, these expressions should not be viewed in isolation. Instead, this communicative function should be considered as coextensive with prison s other functions, since the prison is a social institution with several simultaneous and varying meanings in society s ongoing conversation with and about itself (1990:199, Smith 2009:56). Texts are thus viewed as expressions of cultural anxieties regarding prison, such as it exists as simultaneously material and imagined within the collective consciousness (Durkheim 1933:80). Aim of Present Study The aim of this study is to (i) examine how the prison can be understood as abject and uncanny, through an overview of autobiographical accounts of prison experience. This is done in an attempt to (ii) deepen cultural criminology s understanding of fears pertaining to the prison as a social institution. Research Questions How does the prison come across as abject and/or uncanny in autobiographical accounts of prison experience? 4

5 How can a view of prison as abject and/or uncanny be used to deepen cultural criminology s understanding of the prison s communicative function in society? The Prison s Affinity with Gothicity The Gothic tradition has a long history of addressing cultural anxieties and public unrest. While the prison has been influenced by Gothic aesthetics (Fiddler 2011a:85), imprisonment is a common theme in Gothic narratives (Hogle 2002:3). The prison thus has a long standing affinity with gothicity. Using a Durkheimian view of society as a collective consciousness as a starting point, the present study aims to utilize a Gothic framework to investigate how a psychoanalytical approach can shed further light on collective fears and anxieties pertaining to prison (Levina & Bui 2014:2). To do this, the study explores texts while paying particular attention to expressions of abjection and uncanniness. While abjection deals with expelling or repressing that which the Self needs to exist in opposition to in order to maintain its sense of identity, the uncanny is the unsettling return of the repressed. It is this perpetual exchange that the present study is concerned with regarding society vis-à-vis the prison; the prison as the abject in relation to which society retains a sense of propriety a sense which in turn is constantly called into question by the uncanniness of the prison as a social institution. As both abjection and uncanniness can be conceptualized through a multitude of motifs, this study focuses primarily on haunted space in order to limit its scope. Haunted space will be explored utilizing two critical devices which stem from the study s theoretical framework; the haunted house- and the monstrous womb motifs. The Abject Abjection deals with boundary maintenance, and with expelling the frightening in order to maintain an identity and protect the borders of the Self (Kristeva 1982:69). The abject causes fear and disgust by highlighting the fragility of these borders, and abjection acts as a safeguard; by ejecting that which frightens or disgusts as abject (that is, as being opposed to the Self), identity is maintained (1982:2). In short, the abject frightens because it disrespects borders and thus threatens autonomy. Importantly, abjection is not conceptually restricted to individual borders, but rather the borders of an individual body can be substituted with that of society as a whole since abjection is coextensive on the individual as well as the collective level (Kristeva 1982:68). For the purposes of this study, the theory s focus on the feminine as frightening is crucial. Femininity is viewed as dirty, defiling, and in need of repression in patriarchal societies (Kristeva 1982:70). In part, this is due to the generative powers 5

6 associated with maternity. Expanding on this notion, Barbara Creed discusses abject femininity conceptualized as the monstrous-feminine (1993:8). Creed here critiques the traditional view of femininity as abject, her argument being that notions of woman as monstrous in relation to her reproductive functions work to reinforce the phallocentric notion that female sexuality is abject (1993:151). However, she emphasizes that a reworking of why femininity is frightening in patriarchal societies serves to thoroughly question the view that femininity equates passivity or victimhood (ibid). In Creeds view, woman is terrifying not because she is castrated, but rather because she castrates. As she puts it, this reworking undermines Freud s theories that woman terrifies because she is castrated and that it is the father who alone represents the agent of castration within the family (ibid). The feminine in general, and the maternal in particular, is thus frightening because it threatens to punish; not because it presents an example of what happens if punishment is acted out. Instead of being a frightening example of castration, for Creed the feminine is what wields the power to devour, to castrate through incorporation, which is expressed through the monstrous womb motif (1993:157). Since abjection deals not only with individual bodies but also with societal boundaries, the monstrous womb motif is extended in Creed s theory to include enclosed spaces and punishment (Creed 1993:55), which arguably makes these themes applicable to studies of imprisonment. The enclosed space, often envisioned in culture as a haunted house, becomes horrifying precisely because it contains cruel secrets and has witnessed terrible deeds (ibid). Moreover, the traditional haunted house is not only horrifying due to its appearance; dark, dank, empty, slimy, mysterious, foreboding, but also because of the crimes associated with it and its reversal of the supposedly safe, domestic sphere (ibid). It frightens due to its engulfment and frequent entrapment of those who enter it. Through abjection s coextension of borders of the individual and societal body, the image of the enclosed space becomes haunted by anxieties pertaining to the archaic mother and monstrous womb (ibid); which possesses horrifying generative and, more importantly for Creed s development, devouring powers. The monstrous womb is thus the ultimate abject in its complete disrespect for individual borders, as it has the power to incorporate and thus eradicate said borders completely. This power to devour triggers anxieties about autonomy, while the conceptualization of haunted spaces as symbolic of the womb entails an infantile status and a potential for subsequent rebirth for those who dwell there a notion easily tied to discussions of prisoners as reduced to a childlike state through their loss of autonomy (Sykes 6

7 1958:75). The prison can be understood as abject as a site that devours, its form of punishment being incorporation. Creed s reworking of the whys and wherefores of abject femininity is important for the present study, especially as it can be used to question established notions of imprisonment as a masculine punishment (Wacquant 2009:2-3). Given that the monstrous womb terrifies because it wields the power to castrate by incorporation, inflicting loss of autonomy, rather than by providing an example of victimization by a superior masculinity, the view of imprisonment as state enacted punishment-as-masculinity loses credibility. As prison is a fort to keep the enemy within rather than without (Sykes 1958:3), it shows affinity with anxieties pertaining to threats from within, which a psychoanalytical framework would place within the monstrous womb motif. Since fears about prisoners and the prison are construed as a threat to society from inside, rather than outside its borders, this aligns social anxieties regarding prison with anxieties about the womb and its generative power (Kristeva 1982:77). Anxieties pertaining to creation from within are tied to the maternal and the archaic mother who conceives all by herself ; without need of a male parent (Creed 1993:27); further distancing prison from masculinity. Furthermore, as prison always exists within society, both physically and as myth, the anxieties tied to it are to be considered as pertaining to threats from inside, rather than outside. Meanwhile, the perpetual ejection of it as abject, i.e. the attempt at safeguarding society s collective identity, is perpetuated through collective imaginings of the prison as frightening (Smith 2009:55). To eject prison as abject, society has marked it as different over time; through architecture and placement of the physical structure, as well as through myths regarding its functions. For instance, the architecture terrible of nineteenth-century prisons served to mark prison as a site of horror to the public. Inspired by the castles and dungeons of gothicity, they were covered with spikes, draped chains, and statues of convicts (Garland 1990:259). Manifesting as a monstrous Other to the buildings around it, it was visibly ejected from society as abject; embodying the meaning of imprisonment (ibid). For society to differentiate itself from prison is a prerequisite for the threat of imprisonment to work as a deterrent (Smith 2009:55). Additionally, this serves the purpose of allowing society to maintain a sense of propriety in relation to it. Another expression of the prison as abject can be found in modern placement; building prisons on the outskirts of towns or in inaccessible locations physically ejects them from the rest of society. The separation of the prison from the rest of society, either through architectural design or remote placement vis-à-vis the rest of society, further implies that it shows alignment with the feminine, given that feminine traits 7

8 are the ones in need of repression or expulsion for a (collective or individual) subject. 1 Obscuring the prison and its captives from free members of society prevents the vision of men held in custody from causing doubts about the supposed difference between the two (Sykes 1958:8). Repressing its affinity with the abject, the collective or individual subject thus lays the foundation for subsequent encounters with the uncanny. Ejecting prison as abject protects society from guilt or doubt as to not only what kind of prison it has created, but also about what kind of society is created through usage of the prison. Kramer suggests that abjection does not only expel the abject from the subject, but it can also deliver the abject to it (2000:121). The idea is that a supposed superiority is made visible through the act of viewing the abject (ibid), cementing difference through observation. This protects the borders of an identity by providing the subject with a visible counterpart to which it can compare itself. When transferred to the prison, the idea of imagining the prison as abject implies that society provides itself with an image of abjection in relation to which the collective consciousness of society can regard itself as superior (ibid). Literature, but also the architecture terrible of nineteenth-century prisons, in this view, would not only serve to horrify but also to provide an unfortunate other, something society can regard itself as better than. An example of this process could be found in how society s professional middle class distinguishes itself as good by undertaking to reform the underprivileged other through use of the prison (Hörnqvist 2013:98), as well as by depicting the prison as other through media and other culture (2013:90). Literary depictions of the prison as frightening thus further its abject status by displaying it for society to view. While this study does not explore class anxieties in particular, such anxieties do present a facet of how othering-as-abjection manifests in the prison s communicative function. As such, the study s view of society as a collective consciousness is not to be construed an implication that no inequalities exist within this framework, but rather that certain meanings the prison holds are more pervasive than others across these inequalities (Durkheim 1933:77). The Uncanny The uncanny concerns itself with the familiar, unfamiliarized (Hurley 2007:141); with things which cause doubt regarding that with which we thought we were familiar. The origin of this theory is attributed to Sigmund Freud, who published his seminal work in There, he states that the uncanny belongs to the realm of the frightening (1919:123), but more 1 That is not to say that the active subject is inherently masculine, but rather that undesirable traits are viewed as feminine and are therefore subject to abjection by any subject. 8

9 importantly that that which frightens is actually nothing new or strange, but something that was long familiar to the psyche and was estranged from it only through being repressed (1919:148). The uncanny thus frightens by bringing about a return of the hitherto repressed, it is that species of the frightening that goes back to what was once well known (1919:124), but has hitherto been denied. Much like abjection deals with expulsion, the uncanny deals with repressing things which pose a threat to a subject s sense of Self. Taken together, that which has been ejected as abject can return to haunt as something uncanny. One staple of uncanniness is the double, which can manifest as doppelgängers; the appearance of persons who have to be regarded as identical because they look alike (Freud 1919:141). Wax figures or automata are other examples of things which frighten because they are similar as well as different; life-like in appearance, yet not alive. Here, we can once again turn to the architecture terrible of nineteenth-century prisons. The façade was designed to double Gothic castles; their exterior modelled to convey a fearful, deterrent image of incarceration by means of horrific facades, which was achievable by virtue of the public s familiarity with Gothic images of dungeons, chains and abandonment (Garland 1990:259). This invocation of terror through an intentional doubling of the imaginary castles and dungeons found in the Gothic tradition makes the prison uncanny as well as abject. The uncanniness stems from the familiarity it derives from its affinity with gothicity, while that very familiarity marks it as different from its surroundings. Later, modern prison architecture instead strived for anonymity and functionality (ibid), hiding prisons in plain view. This superficial normalcy renders prisons uncanny in their similarity to any other building, a similarity belied by its punishing function. Uncanny doubles cause anxiety through bringing the fragility of identity to light; being so similar that one might substitute one for the other (Freud 1919:124). A bed in a cell might fill the same basic function as a bed in a home; but their meanings are marked by their different settings. In terms of society and its view of the prison, the prison as a whole becomes uncanny through its similarities to other institutions, while it can also render other institutions uncanny through their resemblance to prison. This is brought to light in Goffman s notion of total institutions, as the uncanny nature of prison is highlighted by pointing out its similarities to other, arguably more benign institutions. Uncertainty regarding which side of a border something belongs to masculine or feminine, living or dead, past or present renders an object uncanny, which in turn leads to anxiety (Freud 1919:135). Importantly, this uncertainty always entails a temporal aspect, since uncanny things do not display a new unfamiliarity but rather reveals one that has been 9

10 there all along (Trigg 2014:81, emphasis in original). This uncertainty can further be understood as haunting. Haunted space is inherently liminal, in that it entails a blurring of the boundaries surrounding established notions; causing doubt as to their solidity. Therefore, liminal or haunted space enables such dichotomies as masculine/feminine or dead/alive to be interrogated (Janicker 2015:12). This study will pay particular attention to an interrogation of sexual identity as liminal, as it pertains to prison s form of punishment 2. Royle further emphasizes the importance of haunting for understanding an environment as uncanny, exemplifying it through noting that institutions are always haunted by their own past. He maintains that institutions are haunted by the ghosts of those alive and dead, and even not yet born, known and unknown who are tied to them (2003:56). Cultural anxieties regarding the past (or future) of institutions and laws also relate to attempts at marking belonging and otherness (Chaplin 2014:49); another dichotomy made uncanny when interrogated using haunted space as a critical device. Moreover, places marked by transition, where a multitude of people occupy space both simultaneously and over time, such as hotels, schools, or prisons, give rise to particular tensions stemming from the crowded nature of said space (Janicker 2015:122). As a result, institutions such as the prison become haunted by their own history, enmeshed with the histories of those who have been incorporated into it over time. As such, the prison is charged with certain feelings as an imaginary construct, which enables the prison to exert a haunting presence on society in general (Fiddler 2011a:85). These phenomena are all observable in prison imagery; uniforms which aim to separate officers from inmates a procedure which highlights the fundamental similarity that makes this distinction necessary is one way in which an uncanny prison environment, in part comprised of the othering of prisoners as abject to safeguard against their sameness, is perpetuated. The perpetual exchange between repression or expulsion and return in made visible through such practices, as prison refuses to remain abject. The reminders of similarities between prison and prisoners on the one hand, and homes and families on the other, in turn perpetuate the need for further differentiation between the two; resulting in more abject prison imagery being circulated through culture. 2 It is worth noting that while regarded as social constructs, masculinity and femininity are not treated as ongoing gender projects within the scope of this study. Rather, expressions thereof are viewed as ideas and anxieties society presently holds regarding sexual identity and punishment. As such, the psychoanalytical perspective differs from one of gender theory. 10

11 Haunted Space as Abject and Uncanny Since the prison replaced the old spectacle of the scaffold (Smith 2009:53), it has been ingrained in culture to a point where a familiarity with the myths of prison is considered interchangeable with a familiarity with its daily practices (Cecil 2015:7). Previous studies have defined the frightening aspects of collective imaginaries as abject and uncanny through the monstrous womb motif and the haunted house motif, respectively. The monstrous womb motif addresses the abject in the sense that it deals with threats to autonomous identity; the womb threatens to devour, thus ultimately dissolving the borders of the Self. This motif entails fears of the archaic mother, which essentially boils down to a fear of femininity not needing a masculine counterpart. The haunted house motif deals more explicitly with blurred boundaries, as it pertains to how uncanniness brings about liminal states which enable established dichotomies (e.g. masculine or feminine) to be questioned. These themes thus both deal with boundaries and threats thereto. Themes of identity and notions of what fears prison inspires or alleviates in society can therefore be interrogated using these motifs as critical devices. These motifs will be tied to how the prison functions as a social institution, where the haunted house motif will primarily be relevant for expressions of uncanniness, whereas haunting envisioned through the monstrous womb motif deals more closely with abjection. These themes are not always clearly sectioned off from one another, as both motifs deal with haunting as it pertains to anxieties regarding prison. Sites of haunting, in short, are where collective anxieties converge (Cavallaro 2002:86), whether abject or uncanny. Janicker outlines how the return of the repressed functions in the haunted house motif, stipulating that any space which is regularly used by, and thus bears the mark of, human occupants can essentially be marked as a domestic space the most common arena for the haunted house motif (2015:20). Haunted space offers experiences which would not be possible in an ordinary space. This is dependent on haunted spaces being inherently liminal and therefore uncanny as haunted space is liminal space (ibid). Liminality is crucial to haunting; it entails uncertainty about which side of a boundary something is on, and enables the dissolution of said borders. This is a foundation for uncanniness as liminal space operates as a site where established notions can be questioned; familiar ideas unfamiliarized. This allows for insight regarding otherwise inaccessible experiences (Janicker 2015:12). Creed also discusses the domestic, enclosed space as a site of haunting, but for her this relates to the monstrous womb motif. 11

12 Creed focuses on the abject qualities of haunted space, in linking it to the monstrous-feminine envisioned as devouring. This comes to light through regarding the feminine as a source of punishment; the monstrous womb. The symbolization of the womb as house/room/cellar or any other enclosed space is essential to horror iconography (Creed 1993:55). Moreover, blood is one of the most common images of horror associated with the [enclosed space], as it drips from walls, fills cellars or runs along the floor (ibid). Additionally, this is a space which entails a reworking of the birth scenario if subjects eventually do emerge from it, bursting forth into the unknown (1993:56). This possible rebirth is potentially problematic or frightening, since it entails being ejected into a new environment after a transformative experience. For this study, this is important to the understanding of rehabilitation. The monstrous womb motif also entails a controlling, incorporating force which brings about a deprivation of autonomous identity (Creed 1993:47); those incorporated by it have their identities effaced to the point where it is not that their identity has sunk irretrievably into the mother s; their identity is the mother s (ibid, emphasis in original). The haunted space in abject terms is thus tied to fear of castration via incorporation; of having one s identity swallowed up. While the monstrous womb motif deals with the effacement of identities through incorporation, the haunted house motif is dependent on three similar notions; that haunted fiction draws upon various types of space, that such space has special properties, and that it therefore performs certain functions (Janicker 2015:8). The enclosed space imagined as a monstrous womb arguably fulfills these criteria, and is therefore viable as an expression of haunting within this motif as well. The relevance for prison studies also shows through how the liminal quality of haunting is understood as temporary relative isolation of a subject from the ordinary practices of society, a period of being outside of society s normal boundaries and confined to a space shrouded in mystery for those who do not share it (Janicker 2015:21). This is exemplified by how imprisonment has a history of being collectively imagined through imagery of inmates as the living dead (Smith 2009:28), a space of liminal existence between life and death. Additionally, previous studies have explored prison as a site of liminality with regards to the mixture of freedom and captivity that visitation entails (Moran, 2013:340). Noting that visitation rooms are designed to emulate homes, Moran highlights an uncanny feature of prison without addressing it as such (2013:344). This emphasizes another aspect of prison as haunting, as the similarity to 12

13 domesticity renders it uncanny. This will be explored further through the present study s textual analysis. Notably, the liminal quality of haunted space can denote the experience of both space and time apart from the daily practices of society; both concepts applicable to prison, without being mutually exclusive when doing so. Smith further assists in linking the prison to notions of haunting; seeing it as an enveloping darkness, a dungeon-tomb where cadaverous creatures exiled from the world haunt its halls, persisting as ghosts or monsters in a carceral living death (2009:28) This haunting quality is not brought about by the conceptualization of inmates as the living dead, but is rather tied up in how the prison itself makes them that way. Prison comes across as a dark house of ghosts and monsters (2009:29), as a Gothic space which dehumanizes and devours, only to enact harrowing forms of resurrection (2009:209). Civil death and resurrection are arguably conceivable as expressions of effacement, loss of autonomy and subsequent rebirth within the monstrous womb motif, as the prison is the part of the societal body which devours and ejects these cadaverous creatures (2009:28). The frightening generative power aligned with the maternal can thus inform anxieties regarding release from imprisonment; the ejection from prison being more akin to rebirth than resurrection. The maternal is not only frightening due to generative power, but also due to the notion of the maternal castrator who, rather than the castrated mother, makes fears of femininity pertain to the mother as the one who castrates (Creed: 1993:161). The human subject thus fears the maternal as the site of castration via incorporation and loss of individuality. The maternal castrator (exemplified here by the monstrous womb) thus emphasizes (sexual) difference, rather than providing a false sense of (sexual) sameness prior to a castration of the feminine carried out by the masculine. The concept of threatening sameness and difference as the foundation of fears regarding identity is arguably what lies at the heart of both abjection and uncanniness. Since the prison threatens to devour, rather than to penetrate, its particular form of punishment is akin to that of the maternal castrator; it is the womb that threatens to devour, not the phallus (Creed 1993:157). The reading of prison as abject in this sense informs the present study, as it also provides space to interrogate established notions of punishment as masculine (Wacquant 2009). 13

14 Studying the Prison as Haunted Space While the study uses autobiographical accounts depicting the prison, these accounts are not evaluated on any basis of objectivity or truthfulness in relation to prison. Rather, given the prison s mythical status in culture (Cecil 2015:7), these texts are considered as part of society s ongoing discussion of prison through cultural presentations (Fiske 1982:83). Since this is a process which perpetuates and interrogates cultural anxieties (Smith 2008:5), the texts are viewed through a Gothic framework as this tradition has a history of discussing how collective anxieties are addressed through culture (Chaplin 2011:4). Considering that this study does not focus on individual experience, but rather the experience of prison offered through text, it seems promising to see prison expressed from as many viewpoints as possible in order to ascertain how collective anxieties might disregard different perspectives. An initial criterion was thus that each text be written by someone who claims to have some form of first-hand experience of prison. Moreover, to avoid instances of the prison being viewed as abject by being completely other to the culture in which the author has been steeped, texts depicting imprisonment in foreign countries were also excluded. This study concerns itself with how society talks about and feels towards prison within itself, not in other societies, thus such depictions would not fit its aim. This, in turn, led to an inadvertent geographical narrowing of the field, resulting in a selection of texts dealing with British and American prisons. However, given the influential status of American penology and Victorian prisons on both cultural expressions and practical aspects of punishment (Garland 1990:260, Smith 2009:55), this was not assessed as a problem for the present study. Notably, the theoretical framework of the present study suits this selection, since the Gothic tradition also has its roots in English and American literature (Chaplin 2011:2, Janicker 2015:16). Importantly, since the study is concerned with how society talks to and about itself, finding texts which are a large part of that ongoing communication was deemed important. Thus, looking for texts which have been subjected to widespread attention directed the selection process. This led to three titles being chosen; Newjack by Ted Conover, Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean, and Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. Subsequently, another search for material was conducted using Goodreads. Here, texts were not chosen on the basis of being widespread, but rather on the basis of appearing on users lists of literature depicting the prison or being commented on by several readers, indicating that they had struck a nerve. Interestingly, in the end, the title chosen given these parameters did not present as widely differing a viewpoint as I would have hoped; all texts are written by white members of the professional middle class. 14

15 Furthermore, while the analysis of the material does not consider the authors individual intentions, it is worth noting that the material in its entirety was written from various critical viewpoints. The social status of the authors as members of an educated middle class, along with other intersectional markers such as gender or ethnicity, might also be taken into account when considering both the material itself and the reasons for the attention it has garnered. These considerations will not be explicitly addressed within the scope of this study; however it is likely that material written from a different perspective could yield different results. For the sake of the intertextual aspects of the analysis, investigating whether certain themes come across in both well-known and somewhat more obscure texts could still provide insight into the extent to which said themes permeate society s view of the prison. This search led to the inclusion of one more title; Inside, by John Hoskinson. This title can be said to occupy the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to the popular titles originally chosen, since it is a self-published manuscript. Originally, an additional self-published text was included in the study but it was eventually discarded as it did not add depth to the material given the study s interest 3. The material thus ranges from self-published memoirs to critically acclaimed texts. Arguably, this offers the study a possibility to reach some insight as to what themes might permeate the prison s communicative function on a deeper level, provided that certain themes are prominent across both types of text. However, the material cannot be said to offer a wide range of perspectives, since all texts were written by people who are in relative positions of power outside of their respective texts, and who all hold critical views of prison. Thus, while versatile in some respects, the material still shows certain fundamental similarities. That said, this study does not aim to present an all-encompassing view of how the prison comes across in culture, nor in the chosen material, since its focus is solely on the frightening. Another decision made in the selection process was to only include works I am previously unfamiliar with. As such, I have not read any of the texts included in the study at an earlier time, nor have I seen any of the adaptations associated with them. A benefit of this approach has been that since all the texts have been read for the first time, none of them has been given more time than the others for reasons outside of the present study. Moreover, this means that none of the texts were selected for this study due to familiarity with their content. Not having previously familiarized myself with any of the material ensured that both the 3 I Shall Not Die, by Billy Neal Moore. 15

16 selection process and the analysis were uninfluenced by previous knowledge about the texts in question. Since the study is primarily interested in contemporary rather than historical aspects of the prison s communicative function, the date of publication has also factored into the selection process. However, this should not be construed as being limited to the original date of publication. Given that the study is not concerned with author intent or individual experience, what matters is contemporary relevance rather than contemporary authorship. As such, texts which have recently been released, rereleased (or adapted to a different type of media) are deemed to be relevant to the current, ongoing cultural discussion of the prison. While previous research has provided a solid foundation with regards to the ongoing interplay between fiction, reform and daily function where the prison is concerned (Fiddler 2011, Garland 1990, Smith 2008, Smith 2009), this body of research seems preoccupied with representation and symbolism, rather than feelings directed towards the prison and their presentation or manifestation. Approaching the material from the viewpoint that it symbolizes something else arguably implies distance between the prison s social- and other functions (Garland 1990:199). Such a view obscures any insight into the liminal qualities of the prison, as it compartmentalizes its various functions and meanings. This is something the present study has sought to avoid. As such, the feelings prison s meanings appear to cause have been this study s focus, rather than the meanings themselves. Considering the simultaneous cause and effect exchange between cultural expression and practical reform (ibid), compartmentalizing the prison s social functions and viewing them as distanced from its practical ones is arguably counterproductive when striving for a deeper understanding of anxieties tied to prison. As such, this study regards texts as presentations, rather than representations, throughout the analysis. This means that the prison-as-text is not construed as a representation of some other aspect of the prison; rather, it is the prison, such as it comes across in society s ongoing conversation with and about itself (Smith 2008:59). Texts are regarded as presentations of the feelings this conversation addresses or inspires. As such, this study has a phenomenological slant (Kates 2014:644, Sohlberg & Sohlberg 2009:56), which suits studies of emotions and meaning(s), since phenomenology works to bring to light that which has been obscured or covered over (Fielding 2014:518). While the prison exists as both mythology and materiality (Smith 2008:59), representation would imply distance between the two. This risks obscuring, rather than unveiling, the anxieties this study is interested in. 16

17 When it comes to fiction, gothicity has a history of framing narratives as being based on true stories (Chaplin 2011:182). Because of this, the theoretical framework developed around the Gothic genre seems suitable to a study of autobiographical accounts. In eighteenth- and nineteenth century Gothic, key conventions were framing devices such as claiming to have rediscovered lost manuscripts, maps or letters, or otherwise prefacing a story in a way that situates it in the real world of the reader (ibid) 4. Moreover, autobiographies are fictionalized accounts (Cecil 2015:201), in that they are tailored to suit a wide audience for entertainment purposes. The affinity between Gothic conventions and the autobiography thus works both ways. For this study, autobiographical material was chosen due to how the idea of narratives being based on true events might impact their meaning. Framing stories as true places the experiences offered in the text in close proximity to readers own realities (Chaplin 2011:186), thus it is the experience offered through the text that is of interest, as opposed to the individual experience of the authors. It follows that the anxieties encountered in texts framed as true will say something about the society they constitute a part of. As such, it is the fact that texts have been circulated in society as being based on a true story that is of interest to this study, regardless of how objective, detailed or accurately recalled these accounts might be. The method employed to analyze the autobiographical accounts is a textual analysis, consisting of close readings of the chosen texts. When engaging in a close reading of a text, anything which exists outside of it is bracketed for the time being. Bracketing is important in order to avoid mistakenly presenting a result which is not actually present in the text itself, but is instead reached due to outside influences. For instance, a text could be considered as being overtly political if read while considering that the hypothetical author had also campaigned for reform, even if the text in question would not express these views. Re-reading and reexamining quotes in-between exposure to theoretical texts and previous research serves to avoid that findings are influenced by such external factors. The aim at this point is to unveil what is in the text; not to analyze or relate it (Brough 2014:291-3). The events and experiences presented in the texts are thus the starting point of the analysis (Sohlberg & Sohlberg 2009:102). Consequently, the considerations pertinent to material selections are of no consequence to the analysis of the chosen texts. Since this study is concerned with how the prison comes across (Fiske 1982:81), rather than how it is created, my focus is on what experiences of and feelings towards the prison are offered in the texts. This includes looking at how prison is described (Kates 2014:646), in order to see what kind of environment it is 4 A modern development of this framing device would be the found footage genre of film; such as The Blair Witch Project or the Paranormal Activity series. 17

18 presented as and what feelings that environment inspires in the narrator. Also of interest is how these descriptions are in turn intertextually intertwined with established horror iconography (Creed 1993:55). The analysis thus focuses on the frightening connotations evident in the texts; however that should not be read as an argument that these are the only feelings expressed therein. Moreover, as a large part of the material is written from a critical viewpoint this is likely to influence the extent to which negative connotations are visible. While author intent is outside the scope of this study, it is not inconceivable that this critical view is further bound up in factors which influenced the selection process; the critical nature of the material with regards to its view of the prison may well be part of the reason for its popularity. The textual analysis, however, does not include consideration of factors which exist outside of the texts themselves (Sohlberg & Sohlberg 2009:58). Essentially, text is considered as a manifestation of prison experience, not as a representation of an outside reality. In order to look for instances where the texts show the prison as frightening, the texts have been read and reread with special attention given to how the prison environment is presented as haunted space. Details that seem important to the atmosphere and how the environment enables certain experiences were the initial focus for these readings. Whenever parts of a text would show instances of fear or anxiety stemming from the prison space or the effects it has on those experiencing it, these sections would be colour coded. Later on, once each text had been read separately, highlighted parts of all texts were gathered in a document and grouped together based on various themes centered on abjection and uncanniness. Subsequently, these themes were distilled to focus more explicitly on instances of haunting (Emerson et al 1995:182). This led to usage of the haunted house- and monstrous womb motifs, as these serve as critical devices through which themes can be interrogated as expressions of abjection and uncanniness. While several themes were identified, not all of them were deemed informative for the purposes of this study and as such several themes were discarded based on their relevance and fit into the study s theoretical frame (Aspers 2011:82). One such theme was individual identity, where several texts showed how interpersonal activities could be construed as haunted by the memories of people from whom inmates had become separated. Since this study does not focus on individual experience, such themes were excluded. However, it is important to note that all views of the prison presented in the chosen texts are still the products of individuals sharing their stories, and as such the prison as a charged object cannot be fully separated from those who experience it. Even so, given the historical cultural 18

19 significance of the prison as imaginary or mythical all individual accounts will be steeped in the notions already inherent to society s understanding of and feelings regarding the prison (Fiske 1982:82-3, Robertsson 2012:221). Because of this, the themes which come across in this study are considered as indicative of deeply engrained cultural anxieties regarding the prison. One important theme across several texts was that of seepage; while supposedly excluded and excluding, the prison tends to seep into its surroundings, both spatially and temporally. Other prominent expressions of haunting centered on authority and autonomy; something the prison seems to have in abundance while also denying it to those who exist there. Incorporation First, we will turn to the prison as abject, to later investigate its return as uncanny. However, certain themes will be considered as expressions of both. Themes of incorporation and seepage paint the prison as abject, in the sense that it is shown to disrespect borders. That which is associated with bodily boundaries something Kristeva calls corporeal waste blood, excrement and everything that is assimilated to them, stand for a threat to identity; society threatened by its outside, life by death (1982:101). Reminders of the Self s fragility (e.g. blood, excrement, spoiled food) must be perpetually ejected in order to maintain a sense of identity (Kristeva1982:69). Corporeal waste further relates to how the prison environment is imagined as a catacomb of rejection (Smith 2009:5), perpetuating the idea of prison as abject to the public. Since that which is dirty and defiling is abject, and the prison is frequently displayed as being bloody, dirty and filled with horrific bodily harm across different texts, there seems to be sufficient grounds to explore the idea that society imagines the prison as an abject presence (ibid). This comes across quite clearly in how, in order to more fully disassociate itself from the infamous prison [Sing Sing], the town [of the same name] changed its name to Ossining (Conover 2011:184). This expression of boundary maintenance clearly shows how the prison is ejected as abject in order to maintain a collective, clean sense of self within the town. The idea of prison as abject will here be reimagined within the scope of the monstrous womb motif, looking at the physicality of prison space as well as its devouring function. The texts show prison as abject through highlighting their affinity with corporeal waste. For John Hoskinson, the author of the self-published manuscript included in this study, the experience of prison involves cells covered in blood. John depicts his only incarceration, serving a sentence for a drunken hit and run. His text offers insight into the first impressions 19

20 of prison as it comes across to someone unfamiliar with criminal lifestyles. He presents the experience of an environment literally lined with the insides of bodies; where getting the blood off of cell walls was easy, but to get it off the ceiling [was] a nightmare (2013:130). Meanwhile, the bathrooms come across as Hell itself, filled with an overpowering stench and a mess that lay half an inch deep on the floor, creating an evil soup comprised of excrements mixed with discarded food that flowed freely through the room (2013:31-2). Not only is the prison in this text a space where bodily borders are defi(l)ed, but it also seems unclear where one source of abjection ends and another begins. Walls, ceilings and floors are all lined with corporeal waste, painting a picture of prison which falls in line with traditional horror iconography (Creed 1993:55). Piper Kerman, who also writes about prison from the perspective of someone with no criminal history, presents an equally repelling experience of her prison environment. Drawing on the need to maintain a clean and proper body, she presents prison as denying this basic need for individuality. The Hell-mouth bathroom in her dorm is riddled with dirt and rust, infested by little black maggots that would eventually hatch into evil little flies (2010:92). Maintaining a clean and proper body is made impossible by the environment; highlighting the lack of autonomy prison entails. The emphasis on corporeal waste in this imagery lends the prison the abject status of belonging to the frightening and defiling rather than to clean, properly ordered society. As prison is an enclosed space which entails loss of autonomy, as well as a space depicted by use of horror iconography, it shows affinity with both (un)death and (re)birth; both aligned with the abject. This use of horror iconography presents prison in familiarly frightening terms; perpetuating society s understanding of prison as an abject space (Creed 1993:55). The monstrous womb motif is useful here to further highlight fear of how the womb castrates via incorporation; something which is culturally symbolized by enclosed space (Creed 1993:157). This incorporation is exemplified in different ways across different texts, one of which being through the use of a water theme. Ted Conover spent a year working as a corrections officer in order to gain entry to Sing Sing, having been denied entry as a reporter. This resulted in an investigative text exploring prison life. His text deals with prison experience as being akin to being immersed in a big body of water. Inside of this body, individuals are all in it together (2011:62), equally subservient to prison rules regardless of their official status as inmate or guard. Prison here comes across as an immersive environment which disregards borders of both rank and personhood in its deprivation of autonomy, which strengthens the idea of it as devouring. 20

21 Piper Kerman further invites a reading of incorporation into prison as a devouring process, while also linking it to ideas of civil death. Through her, we are offered the experience of imprisonment as similar to death, but also to incorporation and effacement. I looked back over my shoulder at the free world. The next gate buzzed. I stepped through again, wire mesh and barbed metal soaring all around me. I felt fresh, rising panic. This was not what I had expected. Kerman 2010:28 Passing through several gates along a vicious, towering fence (2010:38), Piper is locked inside each of them as she is brought deeper into the prison. The experience expressed in her text is one of shock and horror, as her imprisonment and her surroundings are not what she expected (2010:38). Once inside, she is stripped of her personal items; [A prison guard] put my own clothes in a box they would be mailed to back Larry, like the personal effects of a dead soldier [ ]. In minutes I was transformed into an inmate. Kerman 2010:40 Stripped of her identity, transformed into an inmate, she comes to feel that she is verging on a non-person due to the loss of autonomy her imprisonment has brought about (2010:64). Likening her situation to that of a dead soldier, she feels that her identity is effaced by having been incorporated into the prison; the text offering the experience that once secluded in prison, the loss of autonomy is experienced as bearing similarities to non-life. Meanwhile, Ted talks about prison as entailing suspended animation for its inmates (2011:287). The notions of the prison as entailing suspended animation on one hand and civil death on the other both point to an understanding of prison as a space that incorporates and effaces, and that it is this incorporation which enables the deprivation of autonomy discussed in previous studies (Sykes 1958). Throughout his text, Ted becomes increasingly enmeshed in prison life to the point where prison starts to seep into his civilian existence. The text shows how easily the immersive prison experience leads to effacement of an individual regardless of their function. Neither his colleagues nor the prisoners he is in charge of are fully human, rather they are parts of a massive whole. Inmates are absorbed into one big green-clad undifferentiated mass (2011:221), while prison guards merge into a sea of grey uniforms, their only purpose being to maintain order (2011:274). Moreover, enforcing order is not so much an individual act as it is an expression of incorporation into the prison itself. Ted speaks of being like the mother of a nightmarishly large brood of sullen, dangerous and demanding children 21