Prison Cell Spaces, Bodies and Touch

The prison cell is both a concrete place experienced by physical bodies and an imagined room that we meet in fiction, films and, also more recently, via penal tourism (Turner 2013). The prison cell symbolises penalty (Foucault 1977) and is, in classic penological literature, considered to be the most intimate and private space within the prison where the prisoner rests, sleeps, eats and is alone with their thoughts (Gramsci 1947). Through Jean-Luc Nancy’s (2008) concept of touching, this chapter disrupts traditional understandings of the prison cell as an isolated unit within the prison by exploring various prison cells, their boundaries and extensions. The analysis is facilitated by material generated through a comparative study in two female prisons in Italy and Norway and highlights three spaces crucially related to the cell: inside cell spaces, corridor spaces and threshold spaces. Grosz’ (1994) concept of bodies in-place and out-of-place helps to highlight the cultural meanings connected to embodied practices in various prison cell spaces and how such prison cell spaces touch and are touched by female bodies. The intention with this chapter is to develop an analytical optic regarding the relationship between prison cell spaces, bodies and touch. Touch, within this analytical gaze, is not just a concept we use to analyse the material conducted, but is crucial for us as researchers as we ‘touch’ and are ‘touched by’ our research field through our mode of study and the classifications and concepts we use. In this way, the chapter explores prison cells by putting ontological and epistemological questions at the core of the analysis. The first section of the chapter introduces the analytical framework related to sensuous architecture and the philosophy of touch. In the second section, we introduce the context and our methodological strategy; and, in the third, we present the analysis of three spaces intrinsic to the prison cell: inside cell spaces, corridor spaces and threshold spaces and their relationship with touch.