RT Article
T1 ‘This is not what I signed up for’ – Danish prison officers’ attitudes towards more punitive penal policies
JF Punishment & society
VO 25
IS 2
SP 430
OP 448
A1 Damsa, Dorina
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1839407867
AB A humane approach to punishment has been integral to the work of the Danish Prisons and Probation Service. However, Danish penal policy has recently taken a punitive turn. What happens when punitive policies are adopted by a penal regime built on a humane approach to punishment? To address this question, this article focuses on prison officers at Vestre prison and how they adapt to punitive political decisions and prison policies. The increased focus on security in Danish prisons is considered, together with limitations set on welfare services available to non-citizen prisoners. Examination of officers’ subjectivities at Vestre prison shows that punitive penal policies have produced an environment fraught with tensions that affect prison work, institutional culture, and the officers’ professional identity. These findings also raise questions about the shifting nature of Danish penal power.
K1 Punishment
K1 Professional Identity
K1 Prison work
K1 Prison officers
K1 Denmark
DO 10.1177/14624745211068870