Abstract
Twenty years ago we conducted an ethnographic study of Grendon in which we examined the incongruous cohabitation of a prison and a therapeutic community (TC) within a single establishment. We concluded that the partnership between the two institutions was inevitably unequal and that, whilst the prison allowed the TC a sphere of influence, penal power prevailed whenever its institutional interests were threatened. In 2010 we revisited the establishment to explore how the relationship between penal and therapeutic functions had evolved over the intervening 20 years, a period marked by considerable change in the wider penal landscape. This article considers how these broader transformations in penal policy have been negotiated within the institution and what their impact has been on the ability of the TCs to maintain their authority, legitimacy and therapeutic integrity. We conclude with some preliminary thoughts about the protection of therapeutic work in prisons and the devolution of power and responsibility across government departments for therapeutic opportunities and the sentence management of serious offenders.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 431-450 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Howard Journal Of Criminal Justice |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 11 Nov 2010 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2010 |