Collaborative Research: Innovating and Experiencing Punishment

这项研究审查了改变惩罚和监禁做法的原因和影响，特别侧重于严酷、高度安全的监狱和更人道、低安全的监狱之间日益加深的鸿沟。这项研究探索了1)何时以及如何做出更多的惩罚性决定而不是更少的惩罚性决定，2)囚犯和工作人员如何体验这些决定在不同设施中的执行，3)不同监狱安全级别之间的刑罚意识是否以及如何不同，以及4)惩罚创新如何通过自下而上的地方决策来发展。通过更好地了解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，这项工作将促进社会法学和犯罪学对刑罚例外论、地方一级监狱创新和惩罚经验的理解。这些发现将促进持续的思想交流，为当前的美国政策和做法提供信息，并有助于政策制定者对替代监禁模式日益增长的兴趣。更广泛的影响包括对本科生的培训和教育，以及建立一个日益国际化的惩罚学者社区。这项研究设计将以美国为重点的工作扩展到丹麦，这个国家经常被吹捧为人道和有限监禁的典范。丹麦在美国主要以“开放式”监狱闻名--监狱没有围栏，至少部分与非监狱社区融合在一起--丹麦有很长一段单独监禁的历史，但在很大程度上并未得到承认。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，以此为起点，考察严刑和人道惩罚之间不断加深的鸿沟的原因和影响。该项目提供了对惩罚创新和经验的详细、本地化的分析，并采用了包括检查政府文件、新闻报道分析以及对主要监狱管理人员、建筑师、政策制定者、囚犯和监狱工作人员的采访等方法，追溯了特定惩罚创新的开始、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.