European Corrections - Oliver Ressler
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European
Corrections
Corporation
Martin Krenn, Oliver ResslerEuropean Corrections Corporation
ein Projekt von/a project by
Martin Krenn, Oliver Ressler
in Kooperation mit/in cooperation with
Hubert Marz (CAD Grafik/CAD graphic)
Container-Installation in Graz, Wels & München/Munich
“real* utopia”, , Kulturhauptstadt Graz 2003/Cultural Capital Graz 2003
Annenstraße, Graz, 24.05. – 26.10.2003
Festival der Regionen, in Kooperation mit/in cooperation with Galerie der Stadt Wels
Stadtplatz, Wels, 28.06. – 05.07.2003
“Urban Scans”, Kunstraum München
Sendlinger-Tor-Platz, München/Munich, 16.04. – 16.05.2004
www.eu-c-c.comPrivatization and reconstruction of the Karlau correctional facility
New prison for all Win-Win-Situation
“Build and they will come”: that is the motto of a U.S. prison company in con- Although the number of prisoners will more than double, the EUCC will be able
tact with EUCC. Descriptive of its expansion plans, the motto likewise heralds to save on prison guards. The state will pay EUCC per prisoner, allowing the
the EUCC plans to reconstruct the Karlau correctional facility. Building two new EUCC to rake in a high profit. Consistent with the existing conditions in the
prison buildings will increase the number of available beds from 450 to 900, Karlau correctional facility, the inmates will be obliged to work for a low wage.
thus increasing the number of people the state is able to incarcerate. In the The inmates' purchases will be limited exclusively to the correctional facility
past two years the number of prisoners in Austria has already increased by 10 shops, which will be run as a subsidiary of the EUCC. Therefore, it is assured
percent. that the prisoner's wages will flow for the most part back into the corporation.
Efficient rebuilding Founding of a enterprises
EUCC aims to build high capacity prisons in Europe. In doing so, the most im- EUCC will take over the Karlau correctional facility's food store, drugstore, and
portant concerns are cost efficiency and economic viability. Therefore, within tobacco shop. In future, only preordered goods will be issued to prisoners to
the grounds of the Karlau correctional facility, new prison tracts will be built on avoid the high costs of storage. Based on the model of British prisons, visitors
unprofitable areas such as agricultural and soccer fields. will be prohibited from bringing the prisoners candies or articles for personal
hygiene. This measure is to maximize the enterprise's profits in the correctional
facility.
2In-cell TV for all Prisoner labor as opportunity
The inmates' private televisions will be confiscated for security reasons. As is The prisoners are required to work. Their wages are only a fraction of what em-
already the case in privatized prisons in Great Britain, televisions will be rented ployees outside of prison receive for the same work. Thus, the more that is pro-
for a fee so that the prisoners are able to receive special, suitable informational duced in Austrian prisons, the more competitive and inexpensive are the Austri-
and entertainment programs via the “in-cell TV.” This is meant to control the in- an goods. Prisoners in U.S. prisons produce goods equaling a value of nine bil-
mates and keep them busy and by doing so, EUCC contributes to the smooth lion dollars per year.
running of the penal system.
Guaranteed profit
Business location Austria Private enterprises cleverly obtain enormous profits through prison work, in
EUCC aspires to collaborations with corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, Boe- Great Britain alone, more than £ 50 million yearly. EUCC will pursue the follow-
ing, and textile companies, which should build production facilities in the Karlau ing business strategy in Austria: Rather than expensive resocialization con-
correctional facility as they have in U.S. prisons. The Austrian government is cepts through which criminals are reintegrated into society, mandatory labor
challenged to create the necessary legal framework. For example, at a prison and the maximization of prisoner numbers will transform prisons into profit cen-
in the U.S. the Boeing subsidiary Microjet successfully produces supplies for ters. This becomes a matter of course in an era in which top priority is given to
airplane construction. The prisoners are remunerated with less than one dollar budget consolidation.
an hour for their work.
3Annenstraße, Nähe/near Südtirolerplatz, Graz, 2003 4
A Private Riot Going On? space that will use the prisoners' labor power to generate
surplus capital for the fictional EUCC.
Christian Parenti & Jeff Derksen Coupled with this installation is a video derived from in-
terviews with British prison activist Mark Barnsley. Barn-
ley's interview tells the tales, in part, of his own struggle
The link between culture, society, and prisons is not easi- to resist the prison as a production site in which the pris-
ly envisioned through definitions of culture as either the oners are forced to work for low wages and without usual
coherent core of a national or ethnic identity or as the lib- or minimum health and safety regulations or employment
erating humanistic project a historically built social imagi- rights. Barnsley's narrative highlights, in one sense, the
nation – that is, as cultural production. The positive and transition from a provisionally social discourse of prisons
instrumental aspects of culture, as aesthetic production as the site of rehabilitation and the production of fit citi-
or social progress and collective knowledge would seem zens to production sites which generate surplus value for
to clash with the prison's discourse of containment, disci- private corporations as the labor power of prison is
pline, rehabilitation and punishment. seized. For Barnsley, private prisons are a microcosm of
Yet the frightening thing is that cultural “progress” like the ideal neoliberal capitalist economy because the cor-
prisoner “rehabilitation” is, historically speaking, an easy poration owns the prison and receives state funds for
fit with the political projects of racism and class exploita- keeping the prisoners there, yet the corporation also
tion. In part, this tension and weird compatibility arises owns the workshops where the prisoners produce goods
from the silence that surrounds the everyday details of for the corporation and also owns the store where the
prison: What goes on in there? Who really goes to prisoners can spend their money. This no-leak machine
prison? How exactly are we on the outside connected by for capital accumulation also keeps its “workers” in the
ties of blood treasure and fear to world of the big house? ideal capitalist situation, Barnsley proposes – either
To culturalize prison is also to naturalize its social role locked up or working. Yet, despite the microcosm of the
and to occlude its place within a larger political economy perfect capitalist machine, the cost of running prisons is
of capital accumulation based on exploitation, social ex- excessive and this cost is spread to the state in the pub-
clusion and an inevitable degree of poverty. Although the lic-private partnership in which the private companies
terms “culture industry” (to describe the instrumental role cream of the surplus created through state subsidy.
of culture as an apparatus of the capitalist state) and But Barnsley also redefines the prison as a site of resist-
prison industrial complex (to draw a comparison to the ance to the neoliberalization of production that has accel-
military industrial complex in the U.S. miss each other by erated with globalization. In a sense, Barnsley folds pris-
decades, but the overlap in the terminology points to a ons back into a larger social discourse of struggle rather
parallel in the transformation of these two complexes. than having them set off in a liminal space, or “secret
Both culture and prisons are spaces of neoliberalism, world” as he designates it, cloaked by the secrecy pro-
having had deeper layers of the ethos of deregulation vided by prison architecture and the general social sense
(an actual reregulation) of production combined with new that prisons are on the outskirts of the social, filled with
technologies of surveillance embedded into them. This is those who did not hold up their end of the social contract
seen in the ongoing attempt of the Federal Communica- and therefore forfeited or suspended their rights of citi-
tion Commission in the U.S. to allow for mega-media cor- zenship.
porations to own and control a greater percentage of ra- Krenn and Ressler bring this representation of a prison
dio, television and cable outlets and in the increased pri- cell and of a prison in its entirety back into the public
vatization of prisons during a time of massive industry sphere in Graz at a moment when prisons are moving
expansion. more into the shadowy and increasingly corrupt world of
By building a walk-in container in the commercial and privatization as part of the general trend toward privatiza-
pedestrian center of Graz (and later on in Wels and Mu- tion – a trend that has progressed unevenly yet steadily.
nich) Martin Krenn and Oliver Ressler emphasize and This gesture is not to propose that public prisons is more
warn, in European Corrections Corporation, of the move- desirable (as Richard Vogel asserts “all prison reform
ment in Europe from state-run prisons to “partially priva- must always be revolutionary”), but to avoid the turning
tized” prisons run by corporations such as Wackenhut away of a public gaze on the shape, materiality, and
and Corrections Corporation of America. The tarpaulin function of prisons – as well as the economic role that
that covers this container is printed with an architectural privatized prisons play in capitalist accumulation and the
representation of an imagined refurbishing and expan- manner that prisoners are used in that accumulation. In
sion of the nearby Graz-Karlau (respectively Wels and Are Prisons Obsolete?, Angela Davis identifies how pris-
Munich) corrections facility. The fictional corrections cor- ons, and their functions, have been naturalized and tak-
poration that Krenn and Ressler devise to run the prison en for granted as a part of our society: “Thus, the prison
is EUCC (European Corrections Corporation) and it is present in our lives and, at the same time, it is absent
comes complete with a detourned website. Along with from our lives. To think about this simultaneous presence
pointing to the EU as a newly spatialized economic (and and absence is to begin to acknowledge the part played
therefore disciplinary) territory, the name projects the by ideology in shaping the way we interact with our so-
founding of pan-European private corrections companies cial surroundings. We take prisons for granted because
as the industrial and economic strategy waffts over from of the realities they produce.”
America. Although, private prisons are, politically speak- By moving the model of the privatized prison into a pub-
ing, actually less important than the more general cri- lic square Krenn and Ressler make this turning away or
tique of the over-use of incarceration by western state absence all the more difficult and serves to interlace and
more generally. The imagined plans for the retooled complicate the private corporate function of the prison
Graz-Karlau prison show a space doubled in size to in- with the issues of public space. There is a movement of
carcerate more prisoners, but also to include production the privatization of public space, and the creation of hy-
5brid public-private spaces such as malls and sidewalks, tions of co-optation, amelioration and repression to re- that structurally parallels the privatization of state compa- produce the class structure and deal with the contradic- nies and state functions (and this goes from prisons to tions of inevitable poverty. But over the last three medical services to pensions). With prisons, this move- decades an international crisis of over-production, declin- ment more obscure in that both the privatization process ing profits, has lead to a stead erosion of the social dem- and the role of these newly private-public prisons is ocratic method of class containment and a move toward cloaked. great poverty (as an instrument to lower wages) and with While European Corrections Corporation casts prison poverty a turn towards more and more aggressive poli- growth as caused by prison interests (that is, prison as tics of repression. In this epoch, this shift has been from an industry) there linger deeper critiques of state power coercion to the other pole of hegemony – force. in that the installation and video that can be brought for- To restore sagging profit margins capital launched a mul- ward, critiques which have an impact both on North tifaceted domestic and international campaign of restruc- America and Europe. Ultimately, the whole of capitalist turing. Though the cause of the profit plunge was multi- society is greater than the sum of its corporate and non- faceted – the rising organic composition of capital, and corporate parts. To understand the complexity of the general over production and saturation of global markets west's current incarceration binge and criminal justice – class struggle was also a key part of the equation. crackdown, we must move to a holistic class analysis And finally, the political discourse of criminal justice helps that looks at the needs of the class system and class so- to reproduce racism in a fashion that is sufficiently coded ciety in general and not just at the needs of prison firms and thus ideologically palatable enough to be mass mar- and their methods of generating profit. Prison corpora- keted in the present day and age as part of a social ne- tions can be seen as articulated into the class system as cessity. The acceptance of prisons in the social land- a whole. scape is also the acceptance of racism in that landscape Capitalism needs the “surplus population” which the as well – but it is ideologically cloaked in terms of safety prison system, and other mechanisms of social exclu- for society in general and in the rhetoric of rehabilitation sion, create. Capitalist production requires and repro- and repaying one's debt to society (and appeasing the duces poverty, but its is also threatened by the poor that quest for retribution by victims or families of victims). It is it produces. Prison and criminal justice not only creates no coincidence that people of color are the most likely to political obedience and controls the poor and excluded be incarcerated in the UK and the USA. As Angela Davis citizens that it needs, it also regulates the price of labor. notes, in California in 2002, the racial composition of That is what the repression of the capitalist state has his- those in prisons cuts against the demographics of the torically been about, from the enclosures and the Atlantic state with 35.2% Latinos, 32% African-Americans, and slave trade, to the many bloody wars against organized 29.2% white prisoners. The modern class system in the labor, to the militarized ghetto of today in North America. west is imbricated with the traditional racism born of mer- Capitalism was born of state violence and repression will cantilist slavery and colonial conquest. always be part of its genetic code and a mechanism of One must also remember that prison spreads its surveil- expansion. lance and fear out beyond the walls into the social land- To understand the wider political effects of state violence scape as a whole. In California, the bureaucrats at the it's worth contemplating the opposite: state assistance for Department of Corrections (CDC) describe a strange poor and working people. As Frances Fox-Piven and geography of power. Rather than focusing solely on pris- Richard Cloward wrote in the New Class War, “the con- ons and prisoners, the officialdom speaks of “the system” nection between the income-maintenance programs, the containing a “total CDC population” of nearly 290,000. labor market and profits is indirect, but not complicated.” About sixty percent of this population is “under the custo- Too much social democracy, they imply, and people stop dial control of the Department.” The remainder are “serv- being grateful for poorly paid, dangerous work. So too ing the rest of their sentences in the community” as with the converse, the link between state repression and parolees – members of a semi-free sub-caste. In the labor markets and profits is indirect but not complicated. mind of the prison bureaucrat the prison regime does not Repression manages poverty. Poverty depresses wages. stop at the gate, “the system” extends into the streets Low wages increase the rate of exploitation and that cre- and the line between the convict inside and civilian out- ates surplus value, which, at one level, is what all forms side becomes blurry. of capitalist accumulation is all about. An estimated 6.6 million Americans live under the control This dynamic works at a macro-scale upon the society of the criminal justice system: either in jail, prison, on pa- and economy as a whole. Policing and incarceration – di- role or probation (which is usually a county level program rectly profitable, or more likely not – are thus part of a used for low-level offenders in lieu of incarceration). The larger circuitry of social control. Incarceration is the majority of this population, oscillating back and forth bet- motherboard but other components – jails, immigrant de- ween courts, jails, prison and parole, are poor and dark tention centers, the militarized border, psych wards, skinned. halfway houses, hospital emergency rooms, homeless The massive fourfold increase in incarceration over the shelters, skid row, and the ghetto – are wired into the cir- last two and a half decades has translated into an in- cuitry. All of these locations share populations and all creased flow of politically marked, criminalized bodies serve to contain and manage the social impacts of through the circuitry of social control. One frequently poverty. overlooked space in this circuitry of social control is “the But a question still remains: If capitalism always creates community” where parolees and probationer serve a surplus population why did it not use criminal justice to “street time” as the “unjailed” legal zombies of the court absorb, contain and isolate these groups in the past? To system. some extent it did. But in each epoch and place capitalist Parole and probation are not just simple functions of societies have developed specific and unique combina- prison; instead each component in the system amplifies 6
and feeds the others. As the criminal law has become especially under global capitalism, should reveal and se-
more punitive so too have the surveillance and policing riously engage with the structure of our society and how
mechanisms of parole grown more intense. Just as the that structure is being reproduced globally. European
total number of ex-cons hitting the streets has increased, Corrections Corporation is positioned as an unambiva-
so has the proportion of that group who are sent back to lent warning of the effects of accumulation strategies that
prison. And within the subset of those who “fail” parole, a continuously create new territories for exploitation – from
greater proportion than ever are sent back to the joint for DNA, to biodiversity, to water and it warn, perhaps indi-
simple “technical violations” like missing a meeting with a rectly, about the role of state violence in all of this. It also
parole agent or failing a “whiz quiz” – that is, showing warns of the danger of global flows bringing new and
traces of drugs in their urine. reprehensible strategies via a transatlantic crossing from
Thus we see prison as increasingly self-sufficient, gener- North America.
ating its own population. The propellant in this process is
the continually expanding infrastructure of routine identifi-
cation and surveillance. By this means, prison extends Works Cited:
Angela Y. Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? (New York: Seven Stories Press,
its social power outward into the free world, feeding itself 2003).
and creating a sub caste of permanent convicts. And, as Francis Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, New Class War (New York: Pan-
Barnsley notes in the case of the UK, the emergence of theon, 1983).
Francis Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, Regulating the Poor (New York:
the private prison also saw the rise of the per capita Pantheon, 1971).
number of people jailed – as more and more people Christian Parenti, Lockdown America: Police and prison in the age of crisis.
were fed into them to help generate the profits (aided by (New York: Verso, 2000).
Richard D. Vogel, Capitalism and Incarceration Revisited.
state funding) for those corporations. Alongside this, as www.monthlyreview.org.
Richard Vogel notes, the rise in prison population is tied
to the partner of production – deindustrialization. And
deindustrialization effects minority groups is a greater
manner.
Looked at holistically, the incarceration binge and crimi-
nal justice acceleration has an economic, class, racial
and social angle. Along with these, it has an ideological
effect of obscuring its own nature by appearing to be nat- Christian Parenti most recent books are Lockdown America and The Soft
ural and a necessity of our society. Here the ideological Cage; he is a post-doctoral fellow at City University of New York's Graduate
Center.
role and effect of prisons reveals the ideological and so- Jeff Derksen lives in Vancouver, Canada where he works at Simon Fraser
cial role for cultural production. Cultural production, and University.
Stadtplatz, Wels, 2003
7Privatization and reconstruction of the Wels correctional facility
Guaranteed profit Cost savings
Private enterprises cleverly obtain enormous profits through prison work, in The business philosophy of EUCC is to separate the rooms of the prison into
Great Britain alone, more than £ 50 million yearly. EUCC will pursue the follow- small, cage-like cells. The time in which the prisoners are able to move outside
ing business strategy in Austria: Rather than expensive resocialization con- of their cells, will be kept to a minimum thus saving personnel and also costs.
cepts through which criminals are reintegrated into society, mandatory labor
and the maximization of prisoner numbers will transform prisons into profit cen- Rebuilding prisons revives the economy
ters. This becomes a matter of course in an era in which top priority is given to In the U.S., renowned banks such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch turn
budget consolidation. over two to three billion dollars a year in investment funds for the rebuilding of
private penal institutions. The corporations American Express and General
Investment through the changing of laws Electric are already million dollar investors in private prisons in Oklahoma and
So that EUCC can also make sensible investments in future in Austria, and Tennessee. Telecommunication companies such as AT&T, Sprint, and MCI vie
build further penal institutions, the corporation will first negotiate with the Austri- for exclusive contracts, since the monopoly position in penal institutions allows
an government. EUCC strives for legal regulations such as those in effect in them to charge the prison inmates six times the normal rate for long distance
California. After two prison terms, those sentenced to a third can receive a life calls. EUCC is already negotiating with numerous European investors to bring
sentence, even for a minor offence. Through the lower rotation in the cells and this successful model here, to this country.
the longer stays, the EUCC saves costs and increases profitability.
8Expansion to Germany fifty-eight surveillance cameras. Modern CCTV-surveillance systems will control
EUCC joins the offense-oriented advertising campaign of the Corrections Cor- the prison inmates around the clock, and the personnel will be retrained specifi-
poration of America: “We will help provincial governments in Germany to han- cally for the new technology. The aim is more efficient control with a reduced
dle the increasing crime rates, which especially in the areas of violent crime staff.
and juvenile and child delinquency, will continue to rise in the future. Therefore,
we have complete confidence in presenting your government our complete fa- Discipline and control
cility projects with quite affordable, long-term lease agreements and very spe- Like in the current Karlau correctional facility, the new prison tracts will also
cial services.” Excerpt from correspondence from the Corrections Corporation have special segregation cells built in the cellar where prisoners can be locked
of America to the judicial administrations of the German provinces. up as a disciplinary measure. Based on the model of the British prison in Don-
caster, which is run by a subsidiary of the U.S. corporation Wackenhut, cells
Privatization on the European continent are equipped with standard mechanisms to conduct water or teargas into each
EUCC, like other companies, will support the complete or partial privatization of unit to combat rebellious prisoners.
prisons in Europe. Also Austria is meant to create the necessary conditions.
The French government has already given contracts for 1.4 billion Euros to Lucrative business with prison canteens
build twenty-eight new prisons for 13,200 prisoners. Private companies will fi- The U.S. corporation Aramark demonstrates exactly how lucrative the business
nance, plan, and build the penal facilities that will then be leased to the govern- with prisons can be. Aramark is a specialist in catering and cleaning prisons
ment for thirty years. with a yearly turnover of 7.3 billion dollars. Over the past six years, a profit of
over 1.6 billion dollars has been made. As soon as Aramark takes over a prison
Security with a future canteen, prices go up and are sometimes even doubled. Prisoners are forced
EUCC aims to reconstruct the Karlau correctional facility and make it into the to produce the prison ration package or to work in the prison cafeteria. EUCC
most secure prison in Europe. There will be more than four-times the current aspires to a permanent contract with Aramark for the Karlau correctional facility.
910
Ist ein privater Aufstand im Gang? chen). Als fiktiver Betreiber dieses privatisierten Gefäng-
nisses präsentiert sich eine EUCC (European Correc-
Christian Parenti & Jeff Derksen tions Corporation), eine gefakte Website liefert dazu den
Kommentar. Der Name verweist zum einen auf die EU
im Sinne eines räumlich neu geordneten ökonomischen
Der Zusammenhang zwischen Kultur, Gesellschaft und (und daher auch disziplinarischen) Territoriums, zum an-
Gefängnissen wird nicht sofort einsichtig, wenn man Kul- deren auf die Entstehung pan-europäischer privater Ge-
tur als den kohärenten Kern einer nationalen oder ethni- fängnisbetreiber mit der Übernahme entsprechender in-
schen Identität oder auch als das befreiende humanisti- dustrieller und wirtschaftlicher Strategien aus Amerika.
sche Projekt einer historisch gewachsenen sozialen Vor- Die Frage der privaten Gefängnisse ist freilich in politi-
stellung definiert – d.h. als kulturelle Produktion. Die po- scher Hinsicht weniger wichtig als die allgemeinere Kritik
sitiven und instrumentellen Aspekte von Kultur, verstan- am übertriebenen Einsatz von Haftstrafen in der westli-
den als ästhetische Produktion, sozialer Fortschritt und chen Welt. Der fiktive Entwurf für den Umbau der Justiz-
kollektives Wissen, stehen schließlich in krassem Wider- anstalt Graz-Karlau sieht eine Verdoppelung der Fläche
spruch zu dem von Einschränkung, Disziplin, Rehabilita- vor – Platz für mehr Gefangene, aber auch für Produk-
tion und Bestrafung geprägten Diskurs des Gefäng- tionsflächen, wo mit der Arbeitskraft der Gefangenen Ge-
nisses. winn für die fiktive EUCC erwirtschaftet werden soll.
Das Erschreckende ist aber, dass kultureller „Fortschritt“ Teil dieser Installation ist auch ein Video, das auf Inter-
wie die „Rehabilitation“ von Strafgefangenen historisch views mit dem britischen Gefängnisaktivisten Mark
gesehen sehr leicht mit den politischen Projekten des Barnsley basiert. Darin erzählt Barnsley unter anderem
Rassismus und der Klassenausbeutung zu vereinbaren von seinem persönlichen Widerstand gegen das Gefäng-
ist. Zum Teil ist diese Spannung, diese merkwürdige nis als Produktionsstätte, wo die Gefangenen für Niedrig-
Kompatibilität, darauf zurückzuführen, dass die Details löhne arbeiten müssen, ohne Sicherung durch arbeits-
des Gefängnisalltags hinter einer Mauer des Schweigens rechtliche Bestimmungen und zumindest minimale Ge-
verborgen bleiben: Was geht da drinnen vor? Wer sundheits- und Sicherheitsstandards. Barnleys Bericht
kommt wirklich ins Gefängnis? Wie sind wir da draußen wirft in gewisser Hinsicht ein Schlaglicht auf den Über-
durch Familienbande, finanzielle Bindungen und Furcht gang von einem provisorisch sozialen Diskurs, der das
mit der Welt der Anstalt verbunden? Gefängnis als einen Ort der Rehabilitation und der Pro-
Das Gefängnis einfach als Teil der Kultur zu betrachten, duktion sozial „fitter“ Bürger sieht, hin zu einer Auf-
heißt, seine gesellschaftliche Funktion als natürlich zu fassung von Gefängnissen als Produktionsstätten, die
akzeptieren und nicht zu sehen, dass es seinen Platz in- unter Ausnutzung der dort vorhandenen Arbeitskraft Ge-
nerhalb einer größeren politischen Ökonomie der Kapita- winn für private Unternehmen erwirtschaften. Für Barns-
lakkumulation hat, die auf Ausbeutung, sozialer Ausgren- ley stellen private Gefängnisse eine ideale neoliberale
zung und einem unvermeidlichen Maß an Armut basiert. kapitalistische Ökonomie im kleinen dar: Ein privater Be-
Die Termini „culture industry“ (ein Verweis auf die instru- treiber ist Eigentümer des Gefängnisses und erhält für
mentelle Rolle von Kultur als Apparat des kapitalistischen den Betrieb staatliche Mittel; darüber hinaus sind auch
Staates) und „prison industrial complex“ (um einen Ver- die Produktionsstätten, wo die Gefangenen für das Un-
gleich mit dem „military industrial complex“ in den Verein- ternehmen arbeiten, und das Geschäft, wo sie ihr Geld
igten Staaten zu ziehen) liegen zwar zeitlich um Jahr- ausgeben können, im Besitz des Betreibers. Es gibt also
zehnte auseinander, die terminologische Ähnlichkeit ver- keine Lücken in dieser der Kapitalakkumulation dienen-
weist jedoch auf eine Parallele in der Entwicklung dieser den Maschinerie, und die „Arbeiter“ werden darin in der
beiden Komplexe. Kultur und Gefängnisse sind vom Ne- idealen kapitalistischen Situation gehalten, meint Barns-
oliberalismus geprägte Räume, in deren vom Ethos der ley – entweder eingesperrt oder bei der Arbeit. Selbst für
Deregulierung (de facto eine Re-Regulierung) der Pro- dieses ideale kapitalistische System en miniature fallen
duktion bestimmte Strukturen die neuen Technologien im Gefängnisbetrieb jedoch enorme Kosten an, Kosten
der Überwachung eingebettet wurden. Dies zeigt sich für die im Rahmen dieser staatlich-privaten Partnerschaft
einerseits an den laufenden Bestrebungen der Federal der Staat aufkommt, während die privaten Unternehmen
Communications Commission in den Vereinigten Staa- die mit Hilfe staatlicher Subventionen erzielten Gewinne
ten, den großen Medienkonzernen den Erwerb und die abschöpfen.
Kontrolle noch größerer Marktanteile im Radio-, Fernseh- Barnsley bietet aber auch eine Neudefinition des Ge-
und Kabelbereich zu ermöglichen, andererseits an der fängnisses als Ort des Widerstands gegen die im Zuge
zunehmenden Privatisierung der Gefängnisse in Zeiten der Globalisierung beschleunigte Neoliberalisierung der
einer massiven industriellen Expansion. Produktion. In gewisser Weise bindet Barnsley die Ge-
Martin Krenn und Oliver Ressler nehmen sich in ihrer In- fängnisse wieder ein in einen umfassenderen Diskurs
tervention dieser Thematik an: European Corrections des Widerstandes, stellt sie nicht ins gesellschaftliche
Corporation, ein begehbarer Container in der Geschäfts- Abseits als eine „geheime Welt“, wie er dies nennt, die
und Fußgängerzone in der Grazer (und später Welser einerseits durch die Gefängnisarchitektur vor dem Blick
und Münchner) Innenstadt ist als Warnung zu verstehen, der Öffentlichkeit verborgen wird, andererseits aber auch
dass auch in Europa der Trend weg von staatlichen Ge- durch die allgemeine Meinung, die Gefängnisse am Ran-
fängnissen und hin zu „teilprivatisierten“ Anstalten geht, de der Gesellschaft angesiedelt und von all jenen be-
wie sie in den Vereinigten Staaten von Unternehmen wie wohnt sieht, die ihre Seite des Gesellschaftsvertrags
Wackenhut oder Corrections Corporation of America ge- nicht erfüllt haben und denen daher – für gewisse Zeit –
führt werden. Die Hülle, mit der der Grazer Container die Bürgerrechte entzogen wurden.
ummantelt ist, zeigt den Entwurf für eine fiktive Umge- Krenn und Ressler bringen in Graz ihre Darstellung einer
staltung und Erweiterung der nahegelegenen Justizan- Gefängniszelle und eines Gefängnisses in seiner Ge-
stalt Graz-Karlau (bzw. Gefängnisse in Wels und Mün- samtheit zurück in die Öffentlichkeit, zu einer Zeit, in der
11der Strafvollzug unter den Einfluss der oft undurchsichti- nur für politischen Gehorsam, halten nicht nur die armen gen und zunehmend korrupten Sphäre der Privatisierung und ausgegrenzten Bürger, die sie brauchen, unter Kon- gerät – als Teil eines allgemeinen und ständig, wenn trolle, sie regeln auch den Preis der Arbeit. Das war, auch mit unterschiedlicher Geschwindigkeit, voranschrei- wenn man in die Geschichte zurückblickt, immer schon tenden Trends zur Privatisierung. Diese Geste soll nicht der Kern der vom kapitalistischen Staat ausgehenden besagen, dass staatliche Gefängnisse vorzuziehen sind Repression, von den „enclosures“, den Sklavengefäng- (wie Richard Vogel betont: „eine Gefängnisreform muss nissen, und dem transatlantischen Sklavenhandel, über immer revolutionär sein“); vielmehr soll damit das Weg- die zahlreichen blutigen Kämpfe gegen die organisierte sehen erschwert, soll der Blick der Öffentlichkeit bewusst Arbeiterschaft bis zum militarisierten Ghetto, wie wir es auf Form, Materialität und Funktion der Gefängnisse ge- heute in Nordamerika sehen. Der Kapitalismus hatte sei- lenkt werden – und auch auf die ökonomische Rolle von nen Ursprung in der vom Staat ausgehenden Gewalt und privatisierten Gefängnissen in kapitalistischen Akkumula- Repression wird immer Teil seines genetischen Codes tionsprozessen sowie auf die Art und Weise, wie Strafge- und Mechanismus der Expansion bleiben. fangene dabei benützt werden. In Are Prisons Obsolete? Die weitreichenden politischen Auswirkungen staatlicher weist Angela Davis darauf hin, wie Gefängnisse und ihre Gewalt werden deutlich, wenn man das Gegenteil näher Funktionen ganz selbstverständlich als natürlicher Teil betrachtet – die staatlichen Unterstützungsprogramme der Gesellschaft betrachtet werden: „Das Gefängnis ist für die ärmeren Bevölkerungsschichten. Wie Frances also in unserem Leben präsent, und gleichzeitig ist es in Fox-Piven und Richard Cloward in New Class War unserem Leben nicht vorhanden. Über diese gleichzeiti- schrieben: „Der Zusammenhang zwischen den Program- ge Präsenz und Absenz nachzudenken, heißt anzuer- men zur Einkommensabsicherung, dem Arbeitsmarkt und kennen, dass Ideologie einen wesentlichen Einfluss dar- den Profiten ist indirekt, aber nicht kompliziert.“ Zu viel auf hat, wie wir mit unserem gesellschaftlichen Umfeld Sozialstaat, wird impliziert, und die Menschen sind für interagieren. Wir betrachten Gefängnisse als selbstver- schlecht bezahlte, gefährliche Arbeit nicht mehr dankbar. ständlich wegen der Realitäten, die sie produzieren.“ Man kann es auch umkehren: Der Zusammenhang zwi- Indem Krenn und Ressler einen öffentlichen Platz als schen staatlicher Unterdrückung, Arbeitsmärkten und Standort für ihr Modell eines privatisierten Gefängnisses Profiten ist indirekt aber nicht kompliziert. Repression wählen, erschweren sie das Wegsehen, die Absenz. Dar- verwaltet die Armut, Armut drückt das Lohnniveau. Mit über hinaus ergeben sich hier interessante Querverbin- den Niedriglöhnen steigt das Maß an Ausbeutung und dungen zwischen der privaten unternehmerischen Funk- damit entsteht Profit, und darum geht es schließlich bei tion von Gefängnissen und der Problematik des öffentli- allen Formen der kapitalistischen Akkumulation. chen Raums. Es gibt einen Trend zur Privatisierung des Diese Dynamik wirkt auch im großen auf die Gesell- öffentlichen Raums und zur Schaffung hybrider öffent- schaft und Wirtschaft als Ganzes ein. Überwachung und lich-privater Räume wie z. B. Einkaufszentren oder Geh- Einsperren – direkt profitabel, oder öfter auch nicht – steige, den man als strukturelle Parallele zur Privatisie- sind so Teil eines größeren Systems sozialer Kontrolle. rung von verstaatlichten Unternehmen und vom Staat Das Einsperren ist das Motherboard, aber andere Kom- getragenen Funktionen sehen kann (die Bandbreite ponenten – Gefängnisse, Abschiebegefängnisse für Mi- reicht von den Gefängnissen über das Gesundheitswe- grantInnen, die militärisch gesicherte Grenze, psychiatri- sen bis zu den Pensionen). Im Strafvollzug ist diese Ent- sche Anstalten, Rehabilitationszentren, Unfallstationen in wicklung nicht so offensichtlich, die Öffentlichkeit erfährt den Spitälern, Obdachlosenheime, heruntergekommene kaum etwas über den Privatisierungsprozess und die Quartiere und das Ghetto – sind in diesen Kreis inte- Rolle dieser neuen halb-staatlichen, halb-privaten Ge- griert. Alle diese Orte haben gemeinsame Populationen fängnisse. und alle dienen sie dazu, die sozialen Auswirkungen der In European Corrections Corporation wird zwar die stei- Armut zu verwalten und unter Kontrolle zu halten. gende Zahl von Gefängnissen und Gefangenen auf das Eine Frage bleibt jedoch: Wenn der Kapitalismus immer Interesse am Gefängnis als Industrie zurückgeführt, in einen „Bevölkerungsüberschuss“ produziert, weshalb hat Installation und Video klingt jedoch eine tiefergehende man dann nicht schon in der Vergangenheit die Strafju- Kritik an der Macht des Staates an, eine Kritik, die Nord- stiz eingesetzt, um diese Gruppen zu absorbieren, unter amerika und Europa gleichermaßen betrifft. Letztlich ist Kontrolle zu halten und zu isolieren? In beschränktem die kapitalistische Gesellschaft als Ganzes mehr als die Maße war das auch der Fall. Aber kapitalistische Gesell- Summe ihrer korporativen und nicht-korporativen Teile. schaften haben überall und in jeder Epoche ihre eige- Um die Tendenz zu einem härteren Durchgreifen der Ju- nen, ganz spezifischen Kombinationen von Amelioration, stiz, die „Inhaftierungssucht“, wie sie zur Zeit im Westen Kooptation und Repression entwickelt, um die Klassen- zu beobachten ist, in ihrer Komplexität zu verstehen, struktur zu reproduzieren und mit den Widersprüchen der braucht es eine holistische Analyse, die die Bedürfnisse unvermeidlichen Armut zurechtzukommen. In den letzten des Klassensystems und der Klassengesellschaft im all- drei Jahrzehnten hat jedoch eine durch Überproduktion gemeinen untersucht und sich nicht nur auf die Bedürf- und zurückgehende Profite geprägte internationale Krise nisse der Gefängnisbetreiber und ihre Methoden der Ge- zur fortschreitenden Erosion der sozialdemokratischen winnmaximierung konzentriert. Private Gefängnisunter- Methode der Systemstabilisierung geführt. Die Folge war nehmen können als integraler Bestandteil des Klassen- ein hohes Maß an Armut (als Instrument zur Senkung systems betrachtet werden. der Löhne) und, damit verbunden, eine immer aggressi- Der Kapitalismus braucht den „Bevölkerungsüber- vere Politik der Repression. In diesem Zeitraum sehen schuss“, den das Gefängnissystem und andere Mecha- wir eine Entwicklung vom Zwang hin zum anderen Pol nismen der sozialen Exklusion produzieren. Kapitalisti- der Hegemonie – der Gewalt. sche Produktion braucht und reproduziert Armut und um- Um die schrumpfenden Gewinnspannen wieder aufzufet- gekehrt stellen die Armen, die sie produziert, eine Bedro- ten, begann das Kapital eine Umstrukturierungskampag- hung für sie dar. Gefängnis und Strafjustiz sorgen nicht ne mit verschiedenen Zielrichtungen auf nationaler und 12
internationaler Ebene. Wenn der Gewinneinbruch auch nen des Gefängnisses: jede Komponente in diesem Sy-
sicher viele Ursachen hatte – die zunehmende organi- stem stärkt und stützt die anderen. Die Verschärfung des
sche Komposition des Kapitals, die allgemeine Überpro- Strafrechts ging Hand in Hand mit einer Verstärkung der
duktion und die Sättigung der globalen Märkte – der Überwachungs- und Kontrollmechanismen im Bereich
Klassenkampf spielte dabei jedenfalls eine gewichtige der Bewährung. Mit der steigenden Zahl von Ex-Häftlin-
Rolle. gen auf den Straßen stieg auch der Anteil derer, die wie-
Und schließlich trägt der politische Diskurs der Strafjustiz der ins Gefängnis zurück müssen. Und innerhalb der Un-
auch dazu bei, rassistische Muster zu reproduzieren, in tergruppe der „Bewährungsversager“ landet ein höherer
einer Form, die hinreichend verschlüsselt und daher ide- Prozentsatz als je zuvor wegen eines einfachen „techni-
ologisch „schmackhaft“ genug ist, um in der heutigen schen Verstoßes“ wieder im Knast – weil sie etwa einen
Zeit der breiten Masse als Teil einer gesellschaftlichen Termin mit ihrem Bewährungshelfer nicht eingehalten ha-
Notwendigkeit verkauft zu werden. Die Akzeptanz von ben oder weil sie den Drogentest nicht bestehen.
Gefängnissen in der sozialen Landschaft bedeutet auch So wird das Gefängnis zu einem System, das sich zu-
Akzeptanz des Rassismus in dieser Landschaft – er er- nehmend selbst trägt und seine eigene Population her-
scheint aber ideologisch verbrämt als Sorge um die vorbringt. Angetrieben wird dieser Prozess von der stän-
öffentliche Sicherheit im allgemeinen oder in der Rhetorik dig expandierenden Infrastruktur einer routinemäßigen
der Resozialisierung und Wiedergutmachung (und des Identifikation und Überwachung. Die freie Gesellschaft
Verständnisses für den Wunsch der Opfer bzw. deren wird auf diese Weise in den Machtbereich des Gefäng-
Angehörigen nach Vergeltung). Es ist kein Zufall, dass in nisses miteinbezogen, wodurch dieses gestärkt wird und
Großbritannien und den USA die Wahrscheinlichkeit im eine Unterklasse von Dauerhäftlingen entsteht. Und, wie
Gefängnis zu landen für Personen dunkler Hautfarbe am Barnsley mit Bezug auf die Situation in Großbritannien
höchsten ist. Wie Angela Davis bemerkt, entsprach die anmerkt, stieg mit der Entstehung privater Gefängnisse
Zusammensetzung der Gefängnispopulation in Kalifor- auch die Zahl der Strafgefangenen pro Kopf der Bevöl-
nien im Jahre 2002 – 35,2% Latinos, 32% Afro-Amerika- kerung, da ihnen immer mehr Personen zugeführt wer-
ner und 29,2% Weiße – keineswegs der demographi- den, die für diese Unternehmen, unterstützt durch staatli-
schen Situation im Bundesstaat Kalifornien insgesamt. che Mittel, Gewinne erwirtschaften. Wie Richard Vogel
Das moderne Klassensystem im Westen überschneidet betont, besteht außerdem ein Zusammenhang zwischen
sich mit dem traditionellen Rassismus, der auf die mer- dem Anstieg der Gefängnispopulation und der Deindu-
kantilistische Sklaverei und die koloniale Eroberung zu- strialisierung, von der ja die Minderheiten am stärksten
rückgeht. betroffen sind.
Man sollte auch nicht vergessen, dass das Gefängnis Insgesamt betrachtet lassen sich also an der „Einsperr-
weit über seine Mauern hinaus durch seine Überwa- welle“ und der schärferen Gangart der Justiz wirtschaftli-
chungsmechanismen und die Furcht, die es erzeugt, auf che, soziale, klassen- und rassenbezogene Aspekte her-
die gesamte soziale Landschaft einwirkt. So beschreiben ausarbeiten. Außerdem hat die Entwicklung den ideologi-
die Bürokraten im kalifornischen Department of Correc- schen Effekt, ihre wahre Natur zu verschleiern, indem sie
tions (CDC) eine merkwürdige Geographie der Macht: sich als natürlich und für die Gesellschaft notwendig gibt.
Anstatt sich nur auf die Gefängnisse und die dort Inhaf- Hier macht die ideologische Rolle und Wirkung der Ge-
tierten zu beziehen, sprechen die Beamten von „dem fängnisse die ideologische und gesellschaftliche Funktion
CDC-System“ mit einer „Gesamtpopulation“ von fast der kulturellen Produktion deutlich: Kulturelle Produktion,
290.000 Personen. Etwa sechzig Prozent dieser Popula- besonders unter dem globalen Kapitalismus, sollte die
tion wird vom Department „in Gewahrsam gehalten“. Die Struktur unserer Gesellschaft und die Art und Weise, wie
übrigen „verbüßen den Rest ihrer Freiheitsstrafe auf diese Struktur weltweit reproduziert wird, aufzeigen und
freiem Fuß“ als auf Bewährung entlassene „parolees“ – sich ernsthaft damit auseinandersetzen. European
Mitglieder einer halbfreien Unterklasse. Aus der Sicht Corrections Corporation bezieht Position als eindeutige
des Gefängnisbürokraten hört das Gefängnisregime nicht Warnung vor den Folgen der verschiedenen Akkumula-
am Tor der Anstalt auf: „das System“ reicht auf die Stra- tionsstrategien, die fortwährend neue Territorien der Aus-
ße hinaus, die Trennlinie zwischen dem Gefangenen beutung erschließen – von der DNA und der Biodiversität
drinnen und dem Staatsbürger draußen verschwimmt. bis zum Wasser. Indirekt weist das Projekt auch auf die
Ca. 6,6 Millionen AmerikanerInnen leben unter behördli- Rolle der staatlichen Gewalt bei dieser Entwicklung hin.
cher Aufsicht – im Gefängnis, oder auf Bewährung als Und es warnt davor, dass mit globalen Strömungen
sogenannte „parolees“ oder „on probation“ (meist Pro- neue, verwerfliche Strategien von Amerika nach Europa
gramme auf „county“-Ebene, die bei kleineren Delikten herüber getragen werden.
eine Freiheitsstrafe ersetzen.) Dieser Personenkreis, der
Zitierte Texte:
zwischen Gericht, Zuchthaus, Gefängnis, und bedingter Angela Y. Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? (New York: Seven Stories Press,
Entlassung hin- und herpendelt, ist in der Mehrzahl arm 2003).
und von dunkler Hautfarbe. Francis Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, New Class War (New York: Panthe-
on, 1983).
Mit der massiven Zunahme der Freiheitsstrafen – die Francis Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, Regulating the Poor (New York:
Zahl hat sich in den vergangenen zweieinhalb Jahrzehn- Pantheon, 1971).
ten vervierfacht –, stieg auch die Zahl der politisch „mar- Christian Parenti, Lockdown America: Police and prison in the age of crisis.
(New York: Verso, 2000).
kierten“, kriminalisierten Personen, die in diesem System Richard D. Vogel, Capitalism and Incarceration Revisited.
der sozialen Kontrolle zirkulieren. Ein Ort in diesem www.monthlyreview.org
Kreislauf, der häufig übersehen wird, ist die Gemeinde,
Christian Parentis letzte Bücher sind Lockdown America und The Soft Cage;
wo „parolees“ und „probationers“ als „ungefangene“ er ist „post-doctoral Fellow“ an der City University von New York's Graduate
Zombies der Justiz auf freiem Fuß aber unter behördli- Center.
Jeff Derksen lebt in Vancouver, Kanada, wo er an der Simon Fraser Uni-
cher Aufsicht leben. versity arbeitet.
„Parole“ und „probation“ sind nicht nur einfach Funktio-
13Privatization and reconstruction of the Munich-Stadelheim correctional facility
Imprisonment in Great Britain HM Prison Doncaster
A video with Mark Barnsley
I've always refused to work in prison. I'm not gonna as-
sist the state in terms of running my own imprisonment,
Mark Barnsley: The way that these private prisons are in terms of keeping the place clean, in terms of making
run you could equate to an ideal capitalist economy in a bars, in terms of making uniforms for screws. I'm certain-
microcosm, because the private companies own the ly not going to help some private company profit from my
prison, they are paid for the prisoners being there by the incarceration. And so I always refused to work, and was
states. They own the workshops where products are pro- punished for it as a result. I had days added to my sen-
duced by slave labour and they also own the shops tence, I spent long periods in segregation because of
where the prisoners can spend their money. The private that. If you're a prisoner, you are forced to work, it's com-
prison companies have their charges, the prisoners, in pulsory. If you don't work, you are punished. You have no
the position that capitalism would ideally like all its work- rights, you have no trade union rights, you have no
force. They're at work and when they're not at work, they health and safety rights, you have no minimum wage.
are locked up, and they are there to start the next day. The states or the private company that imprisons you
They don't have days off sick, they are not allowed to can really treat you as they want. They can exploit you in
have days off sick, they can't go on holiday, they can't whatever way that they want.
hide and pretend to be ill. They are always there avail-
able to produce for the company and everything that they It's important for people in mainland Europe, I think, to
earn goes back to the company. So the company really understand the role of the United Kingdom in acting as a
maximises its profit from those prisoners. bridgehead, in terms of introducing prison privatisation
into the continent, from the United States. Since the Sec-
After more that eight years of imprisonment, after spend- ond World War, Britain has existed very much as “airstrip
ing nearly two years in solitary confinement, I was finally one,” as an additional state of the USA. Private prisons
released from Whitemoor Prison, in June 2002. When routinely neglect their prisoners, because as capitalist
the day of my release came, it was a bright, sunny day, companies they're constantly looking to make more profit
and I remember being walked from the prison reception and they will make cutbacks wherever and whenever
to the gates. It's a short distance, but of course I wasn't they can – that's intrinsic to what they're doing. But they
used to walking more than just a few yards, because do have a legal duty of care to the prisoners they are put
everywhere in prison it's split up with gates. I wasn't in charge of. One of the ways that that was routinely ig-
used to not being in handcuffs. I wasn't used to seeing nored at HMP Doncaster. I actually sued the prison, suc-
the sky. So to see the horizon and to feel the sun on my cessfully, for breach of duty of care.
face and arms, that in itself was a novelty. Because in all
my time in prison I'd never had a view over the prison The architecture at HMP Doncaster is quite unusual for
wall. All I had to look at was concrete and steel. And then prisons these days – in as much that, as you can see,
suddenly the gates moved back and the world outside the wings of the prison, which are located one on top of
was waiting for me, and I could see my friends and sup- the other, are very high. That's unusual, because what
porters. So after eight years the state had had me in its we've seen in recent years, following the uprising at
clutches, it just spat me back out on the pavement. Strangeways Prison in 1991, is that prisons are built on a
lower level. What happened in the Strangeways uprising
I've been a political activist all my life. I've been fighting in 1991 is that the prisoners got onto the roof of the
for justice for myself and other people all my life. This building, and so a prison protest, as sign of prisoner re-
has not made me a friend of the state, it's made me very sistance, of working class defiance, was put on the world
much an enemy of the state. It's marked me out as stage. And that lasted for a period of some time, that
somebody they do not like. When I was most politically these men were able to remain on the rooftop of the
active in the 70s and 80s, my house would be raided, I prison defying the full might of the state. And so after
would be searched, I would be stopped in the street, I Strangeways the state was determined that that would
would be arrested, I'd be beaten up, the police would try not happen again, that they would not have to suffer that
to fit me up, in the way they eventually did in 1994, when same embarrassment. And that's the reason why prisons
they took advantage of a situation where I had been at- are generally built on a lower level. Even at HMP Don-
tacked to send me to prison for twelve years. And of caster, although it's built much higher, if you look closely
course when I went into prison, nothing changed, be- at the rooftops you can see that there's actually a mas-
cause I wasn't prepared to surrender, I was constantly sive overhang of something like twelve feet, of two or
marked out for special treatment. When I was first in HM three meters, to stop people climbing onto the roof.
Prison Doncaster, I was the prisoners' representative,
elected by the prisoners, basically acting as a shop stew- The prison is split up into three house blocks, each
ard, negotiating with the enemy, from in this case a posi- house block has four wings. And a man was trapped in a
tion of great strength, communicating across barricades. cell that was on fire, a very dangerous position to be in.
And what happened was that when they eventually were When the prisoners tried to find a screw to unlock the
in a position of strength, they ghosted me. I was moved, door, we couldn't find a screw on the entire house block,
basically taken off the wing out of the prison, to get me not one, and the prisoners actually had to rescue the
away from the other prisoners, to prevent any solidarity man themselves. It's a wonder that there weren't more
action. So that was the first time I was ghosted, I was deaths, some of the things I saw there were absolutely
moved from there to Lincoln Prison. That was the first appalling. It ended up with basically prisoners being
time I was moved, out of 22 successive times that I was forced to run the prison, in the sense that we provided
moved while I was in prison in the next eight years. for ourselves. The wing I was on, which was a particular-
16ly militant wing, the screws were literally frightened to strong because it's really the worst thing that the state
come on there, and all they used to do was to push the can do to you. So I like to think that I won that struggle.
food on there three times a day, when they eventually
got that together, and the rest of the time we would take Well, at the moment no private prison company controls
care of ourselves. a maximum security prison and I think that's unlikely to
change, because the state does realise that on some
After a few weeks I transferred down onto “C Wing,” level they're incompetent and that they can't be trusted.
which was the most militant wing and known as “Beirut.” So all the maximum security dispersal prisons, in this
And on that wing, really we had complete control over it. country we've still a very small number, are run by the
The governor of the prison, Kevin Rogers hid in his office state. What's happened in recent years is that they've
for the first six months the prison was open, he was tended to try and hold maximum security prisoners in
frightened to come out. smaller and smaller units, so that if they rebel, they can
be subdued more easily.
In the 1980s the British prison population was very high.
The prisons were unable to cope, people were impris- When we look back to the pre-prison era, which is, no
oned around the country in police cells, in camps. The doubt, far distant in history, we see that punishment was
Conservative government at the time, despite all their public, executions were designed to intimidate people, to
natural objections to this, had to do something to reduce frighten people, to say, if I stand against the state, that
the prison population. And so they introduced “half remis- will happen to me: I will be tortured and I will be killed.
sion,” they gave time for good behaviour for sentences But eventually these public executions became the
under four years, so they were effectively split in half. scenes of unrest, that's, rather than be frightened by
They told judges and magistrates to consider prison as a them, people began to identify with the executed person.
last resort. And now we see how times have changed For that reason, it was necessary to move punishment
because of private prisons. In this country we now have away from the public gaze. And that's one of the reasons
the highest per capita prison population in Europe for the that prison is deliberately kept a secret world. Now, what
first time. There's a disproportionate number of prisoners we're seeing in modern times is that criminality is being
from black and Asian backgrounds in British prisons. But not viewed as something that is evil as it was in days
something that almost all prisoners have in common is gone by, but it's being viewed as a sort of psychological
that they're working class. In the eight years I spent in illness. Anybody who thinks that prison as a concept
high security prisons, I never met a single middle class could work in terms of curing crime, they'd have to be in-
person. That's not to say that there aren't occasionally sane. If that was the case, the prison population would
middle-class people who go to prison, but it's very rare, be going down, it wouldn't be going up. We build more
and when they do go to prison, they don't go to high se- and more prisons and we lock up more people.
curity prisons.
I was in a better position than most prisoners because I All European countries will come under immense pres-
had a political consciousness, and I had a lot of support sure to build private prisons. And when those private
from outside. And one of the ways that this support mani- prisons come, it's inevitable that the prison population
fested itself was when I was at Wakefield Prison. will rise. So if the people of Austria want to spend more
money locking up people, if they want to see more of
High Security State Prison Wakefield their brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and
fathers go to prison, then they should be happy to see
Since the 1970s Wakefield had had a reputation as the prison privatisation. If they'd rather spend their money on
most brutal prison block in the country, it was originally other things, then they should say no to it.
the site for the first control unit to be set up in this coun-
try. And when I was held there, the conditions were ab-
solutely brutal, something from another century – stone
floors, no heating, no bedding, maybe one shower in two Mark Barnsley, anti-prison activist in Great Britain
weeks. Every time I came out of the cell I would be intim-
idated, exercise in a cage, for maybe half an hour to an Transcription of a video by Ressler/Krenn, 17 min, 2003
hour per day, total isolation, no books allowed, no writing The video is part of the container-Installations.
materials, letters frequently intercepted. From the mo-
ment I arrived there, I was determined to get out and
with other comrades proceeded to initiate action against
the prison to get me moved. Fortunately, I could rely up-
on the solidarity of comrades outside, and there were
several “noise protests” outside the prison where demon-
strators came and picketed outside, and made noise, re-
leased fireworks, came with placards and banners. Very
intimidating for the screws who worked here. They liked
to keep what was happening to prisoners secret and this
exposed what they were doing and so it signalled what
was in fact a victory for solidarity. When I was moved –
it's only once in a while, every ten years that anybody is
moved out of Wakefield Prison through their own choice,
so it is a struggle I was pleased to win. Whenever I was
put in solitary confinement it always made me feel very
17You can also read
