Punishment and Madness »

The focus of this book is on the government of prisoners with mental health problems in England and Wales over the last twenty-five years. The wider context and backdrop to the book is the shift to 'late modernity', which, since the 1970s has seen massive structural change in most Western societies, affecting the social, economic and cultural spheres, as well as the field of crime and punishment. This book investigates whether these profound transformations have also led to a reconfiguring of responses to mentally vulnerable offenders who end up in prison. Specifically, it explores how this group of prisoners has come to be viewed increasingly as sources of 'risk', requiring 'management' or containment, rather than as people suitable for therapeutic responses.

The book draws on primary research carried out by the author, including interviews with key informants involved in the field during this period, such as former cabinet ministers, senior civil servants, campaigners and academics. In conducting this investigation, the author has developed a method of research which combines and synthesizes different forms of analysis to create a novel approach to socio-historical research.

List of Tables     ix
Acknowledgements     xi
Introduction: Punishment, prisons and madness     1
Background and context     1
Research guestions and key themes     9
Overview of the book     16
A brief history of imprisoning the 'mad'     19
The 'Great Confinement': 'Madness' in the houses of correction     20
'Madness' in the early modern prison     22
'Madness' and the Victorian penal system     24
'Madness' and the emergence of penal-welfarism     28
The rise of prison psychology and psychiatry     31
'Madness' in the era of rehabilitation     33
Conclusion     39
The New Right and managerialism, 1980-1990     41
Context: Britain in the 1980s     41
Prisons and mental health under the Thatcher administrations     47
Conclusions     64
The Woolf report and prison reform, 1990-1993     69
Context: Political and penal 'crises'     69
Woolf, Reed and prisoners with mental health problems     72
Conclusions     94
Penal populism and austere institutions, 1993-1997     97
Context: 'Back to basics'     97
Howard's way: Penal populism?     99
Conclusions     117
New Labour and risk management, 1997-2005     123
Context: The rise of New Labour     123
Refiguring health care and managing 'dangerous' offenders     125
Conclusions     145
Conclusions     149
The impact of late modernity on the government of prisoners with mental health problems     150
Critical issues and themes     156
Future policy and research     162
Punishment and madness     169
Appendix     171
References     173
Index     193