Violence as Information During Prison Reform: Evidence from the Post-Soviet Region Gavin Slade
British Journal of Criminology 2015
Published in the British Journal of Criminology, 2015, final version available at
Abstract When reform occurs in prison systems, prisoner insecurity increases. One reason for this is disorganization. The disruption to informal governance structures, distributions of power, and mechanisms for establishing trust, causes conflicts. This paper argues that a key mechanism linking disorganization to conflict and violence is information flow. Incomplete information in interpersonal interaction marks prison settings. Informal institutions for producing certainty for both staff and prisoners emerge to overcome this. Such institutions are handicapped by reform directed at reducing informal prisoner controls. In such cases, violence becomes an information-generating activity and can substitute for reputation. The paper examines this proposition as it applies to prisoners and staff through a critical case study of radical prison reform in the South Caucasus country of post-Soviet Georgia
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Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski (September 12, 2015). Journal Article – G. Slade, “Violence as Information During Prison Reform: Evidence from the Post-Soviet Region”, 2015. Post-Soviet Armies Newsletter. Retrieved January 17, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/t1rc