‘They’ll Do Harsh Shit in Here’: The Anatomy and Culture of Prison Victimisation
摘要
Official statistics only capture the number of reported fights, assaults, and sexual violence. There is of course a much ‘darker’ figure of prison violence due to under-reporting and under-recording, but also the choice to only record certain forms of victimisation. This chapter focuses on the anatomy of prison violence and victimisation, and analyses how the experience of threats, verbal abuse, robbery, theft, and extortion structured the incidence and experience of violence. In so doing, the chapter argues that pervasive reliance on ‘gangs’ and ‘bullying’ as explanatory concepts lacked empirical weight. Prison violence was rarely gang related, and although ‘bullying’ was clearly defined by the Prison Service, it was almost impossible to identify who the bullies were, or any specific examples of bullying, given the fluidity of prison victimisation.