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Howard, Pratt and Beyond: Assessing the Value of Carceral Tours as a Comparative Method

2015; Wiley; Volume: 54; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/hojo.12127

1468-2311

Francis Pakes,

Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

Abstract Prison visits by academics are controversial. While they can provide an insight into penal practice, prisoner researchers warn against such visits as spectacles of degradation. In this article I examine the value of a series of prison visits for comparative research. Drawing on my own experiences and those of, among others, John Howard and John Pratt, I argue that prison visits, if ethically conducted and reflectively considered, offer benefits for investigating comparative penal practice. They can consider the self‐presentation of the prison, material conditions (including the sounds, smells and the sights), and possibly, where the script allows it, a glimpse beyond the façade of official prison discourse. As such, they have merit, in particular in the early stages of a comparative project.