Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0001-8393-3524

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1988

Keywords

Prison as refuge, Memoirs, Rebirth, Textual interpretation, Rehabilitation, Deterrence, Retribution

Abstract

This interdisciplinary study investigates the meanings of incarceration through an analysis of prison memoirs and novels. It argues that many prisoners and nonprisoners exhibit powerful positive associations to penal confinement. The Article draws on psychoanalysis, philosophy, and sociol­ogy to account for the various kinds of attraction that prison exerts. The Article also considers the interrelationships between the analysis of the posi­tive images and three traditional purposes of punishment: rehabilitation, deterrence, and retribution.

First Page

1201

Publication Title

California Law Review

Share

COinS