Collaborative Research: Innovating and Experiencing Punishment

这项研究考察了不断变化的惩罚和监禁做法的原因和影响，特别关注严厉的高安全监狱和更人道的低安全监狱之间日益加深的鸿沟。该研究探讨了1)刑罚监禁中惩罚性更强的决定何时以及如何比惩罚性更弱的决定做出；2)囚犯和工作人员如何在不同的设施中体验这些决定的实施；3)刑罚意识在监狱安全级别之间是否存在差异以及如何存在差异；4)刑罚创新如何通过自下而上的地方层面决策发展。通过进一步了解导致监禁模式中刑罚创新的因素，以及这些创新对囚犯和监狱工作人员的影响，这项工作将促进对刑法例外论、地方监狱创新和惩罚经验的社会法律和犯罪学理解。研究结果将促进持续的思想交流，为当前的美国政策和实践提供信息，并有助于政策制定者对替代监禁模式的兴趣日益浓厚。更广泛的影响包括培养和教育本科生和建立一个日益国际化的惩罚学者社区。这项研究计划将以美国为重点的工作扩展到了丹麦，这个国家经常被吹捧为人道主义和有限监禁的典范。丹麦在美国主要以其“开放式”监狱而闻名——没有围墙的设施，至少部分与非监狱社区结合在一起——丹麦的单独监禁历史很长，但在很大程度上没有得到承认。这项研究以丹麦最新的、高科技的、最高安全级别的监狱的设计和开放为起点，以专门的隔离翼为出发点，研究严厉和人道惩罚之间日益加深的鸿沟的原因和影响。该项目对刑罚创新和经验进行了详细的本地化分析，并采用了包括审查政府文件、分析新闻报道以及采访主要监狱管理人员、建筑师、政策制定者、囚犯和监狱工作人员在内的方法，追踪了一项特定刑罚创新的开始、实施和影响。

This research examines the causes and effects of changing punishment and incarceration practices, with a particular focus on the deepening divide between harsh, high-security prisons and more humane, low-security prisons. The research explores 1) when and how more punitive decisions in penal incarceration get made over less punitive ones, 2) how prisoners and staff experience the implementation of these decisions within different facilities, 3) whether and how penal consciousness differs across prison security levels, and 4) how punishment innovation develops through bottom-up, local-level decision-making. By developing a greater understanding of the factors that contribute to punishment innovation in models of incarceration and the effects of these innovations on prisoners and prison staff, this work will advance sociolegal and criminological understanding of penal exceptionalism, local-level prison innovation, and the experience of punishment. Findings will facilitate continued interchange of ideas that inform current U.S. policies and practices and contribute to a growing interest among policymakers in alternative incarceration models. Broader impacts include the training and education of undergraduate students and building an increasingly international community of punishment scholars.The research design extends U.S.-focused work to Denmark, a nation often touted as a model of humane and limited incarceration. Known in the U.S. primarily for its "open" prisons--facilities free of perimeter fences and at least partially integrated with non-prison communities--Denmark has a long but largely unacknowledged history of solitary confinement. This study takes the design and opening of Denmark's newest, high-tech, maximum-security prison with a dedicated isolation wing as a starting point for examining the causes and effects of the deepening divide between harsh and humane punishment. Providing a detailed, localized analysis of punishment innovation and experience, and employing methods that include examination of government documents, analysis of news coverage, and interviews with key prison managers, architects, policymakers, prisoners, and prison staff, the project traces the inception, implementation, and impact of a particular punishment innovation.