The Revolving Door of Penal Institutions – A Narration of Lived Experience

Abstract

Remand to prison whilst awaiting trial can be seen as a short yet indeterminate prison sentence without the judicial sanction of criminal responsibility. Given the increasing reliance on remand as a targeted strategy for crime control it would seem pertinent to consider, not just the statistics of how such a policy plays itself out at the present time, but also to take into account the lived experience of those incarcerated thereby providing a more informed understanding of the long term efficacy of such a strategy. It is not the intention of this paper to make specific policy recommendations, but only to suggest an alternative method for understanding policy implications. This paper uses an ethnographic approach to unstructured interviews with seven people who have extensive prison experience and highlights the impact remand has had, not just on themselves, but on their families as well.