DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2024.11.3.3
Dmytro Yagunov, D.Sc. in Political Science; PhD in Public Administration, Member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Member of the Confederation of European Probation (CEP), Member of the Howard League for Penal Reform
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen,Germany
How to cite: Yagunov, D. (2024). Informal Hierarchies in Modern Prisons: Nature, Manifestations, and Threats to Human Rights. Evropský politický a právní diskurz, 11, 3, 24-42. https://doi.org/10.46340/eppd.2024.11.3.3
Abstract
The modern discourse of informal prison hierarchies, which is limited only to classic categories like ‘violence’, ‘ill-treatment’, and ‘inter-prisoner violence’, is not sufficient for the complex analysis of contemporary person landscapes in prisons. For the purposes of preventing ill-treatment and inter-prison violence, it is necessary to have a broader look at the nature of these phenomena, where such a broader approach demands considering the economic and political aspects of informal hierarchies in modern prisons, as well as the issues of corruption.
From the European perspective, there is a sharp distinction between prison landscapes in post-Soviet and other states. In many European states, prison violence is a sphere of personal relations and personal habits of individual prisoners. In contrast, post-Soviet prisons have hierarchical and well-organised violence based on illegal economic activities, black markets, and extortion of money from prisoners. The latter situation is typical for post-Soviet states. Here, following our conclusions, we can take the pessimistic approach that in most post-Soviet jurisdictions, the State lost control over the prison system as it must be controlled according to contemporary international human rights standards. There is no doubt that such a State controls its prison system but does it for the aims of legitimized criminality, increasing the level of restrictions for prisoners. Finally, informal prison hierarchies undermine totally the main feature of the criminal law, namely the aims of criminal punishment. Instead of rehabilitation, incapacitation, protection of society and deterrence, we have only deterrence, but not the deterrence of potential offenders but the illegal deterrence of prisoners aimed at forcing them to join or at least to support informal prison hierarchies. The amalgamation of criminal and prison subcultures creates a very dangerous trend that also undermines basic principles of the protection of society, which are declared to be protected by the criminal justice system. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official position of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) or any other organizations with which the author is affiliated.
Keywords: prison, prison system, torture, ill-treatment, informal prison hierarchies, organised crime, prison rituals, total institutions, prison gangs.
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