Rio’s New Social Order: How Religion Signals Disengagement from Prison Gangs

Johnson, Andrew; Densley, James A.

doi:10.1007/s11133-018-9379-x

Cited by 40 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Notably, both forms of embodiment pertained to what women would no longer do. Embodying religious commitment often involves sacrificing mainstream behaviors or common vices (Glassman, 2018; Johnson & Densley, 2018). These sacrifices take on an additional meaning in an environment defined by deprivations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Religious narratives not only shift perspectives on the meaning of past crimes but also have practical applications for normative behavior and even desistance. Religious participation may be accompanied by concrete behaviors, including prayer, formal attire, and avoidance of alcohol and tobacco (Johnson & Densley, 2018). Religious narratives can facilitate prosocial community engagement (Flores & Cossyleon, 2016) and activism (Flores, 2018).…”

Section: Narratives Of the Incarcerated Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research almost exclusively on incarcerated men shows how religious narratives offer feelings of self‐worth, hope, and a sense of greater purpose (Clear, Hardyman, Stout, Lucken, & Dammer, 2000; Cooney & Phillips, 2013; Dubler, 2013; Hallett, Hays, Johnson, Jang, & Duwe, 2017; Kerley, 2014; Maruna, Wilson, & Curran, 2006). Religious narratives offer men a sense of redemption (Erzen, 2017; Johnson, 2011) that can lead to gang disengagement (Flores, 2014, 2018; Johnson & Densley, 2018) and even criminal desistance (Maruna, 2001, 2004; Vaughan, 2007). We know far less, however, about the role of religion among incarcerated women, who face unique pathways to incarceration (Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009), a markedly different prison social order (McCorkel, 2013), and gendered pains of imprisonment (Crewe, Hulley, & Wright, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Redemption and reproach: Religion and carceral control in action among women in prison

Ellis

2020

Criminology

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Criminologists are increasingly interested in how a variety of justice‐adjacent institutions scaffold surveillance and punishment in the U.S. criminal justice system. A relevant but understudied institution within the carceral state is that of religion. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork inside a U.S. state women's prison, I interrogate how religion—predominately conservative and evangelical Protestantism—served dual purposes in light of carceral control. Religion offered redemptive narratives to counter punitive carceral narratives promulgated by the state. At the same time, this narrative shift from “flawed” to “faithful” prescribed particular forms of embodiment: avoiding fights and rejecting sexual relationships with women. These forms of Protestant embodiment aligned with carceral purposes, such that women who reprimanded others for breaching religious norms were simultaneously enforcing prison rules. Although rhetorically challenging official prison narratives on the meaning of incarceration, Protestant narratives in practice regulated women's emotional and sexual behaviors and fostered a system of informal surveillance among incarcerated women. These findings illuminate how organizational narratives are linked to individual action. More broadly, they suggest how an institution such as religion can undergird state authority within an intractable context of carceral control.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Narratives Of the Incarcerated Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Redemption and reproach: Religion and carceral control in action among women in prison

Ellis

2020

Criminology

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“…prison gangs also tend to be more organized, hierarchical, and entrepreneurial than street gangs’ (Johnson and Densley, 2018: 5). Indeed, Johnson and Densley (2018) go on to outline how prison gangs can also offer perceived ‘benefits’ to prisoners in the form of ‘prison governance’; that is to say, informal mechanisms and systems through which to protect prisoner property rights, mediate disputes and enforce order. While these observations by Johnson and Densley (2018) are specifically in relation to Brazilian prison gangs, similar observations have been made by Skarbeck (2014) in relation to US prison gangs.…”

Section: Prison Gangs – a Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘If You’re Down With a Gang Inside, You Can Lead a Nice Life’: Prison Gangs in the Age of Austerity

Maitra¹

2020

Youth Justice

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In many countries, there has been growing academic attention towards the activities of street and prison gang members. However, while much of the American literature explores the experiences of prison gang members, such investigation has been notably absent in the English context. This article seeks to address this deficit in the literature. Through gathering data from interviews with active prison gang members, it shows how reduced staffing levels in English prisons has led to an increasingly ‘ungovernable’ prison space. This, in turn, has led to an increase in levels of gang membership. Most notably, the high numbers of street gangs ‘imported’ into prisons has had the unintended effect of creating several ‘in prison’ gangs, which form for the first time in prison, with their members seeking protecting from more established gangs. This proliferation of gangs has had a significant impact on rates of in-prison violence, and how prisons are managed.

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“…In the case of male gang members, some suggest that engaging in religious practices can facilitate gang disengagement and desistance (see Johnson and Densley, 2018), both because religion serves as a credible ‘desistance signal’ to others (Densley and Pyrooz, 2019), and because it helps re-orientate masculine expression away from the street and engagement in criminal networks and onto conventional social, family and household roles (Flores, 2014). Giordano et al (2008: 102) also highlight that engagement in a religious community can be compatible with differential association theory and that religious practice can introduce offenders to strong social bonds and attachments to conventional others which can subsequently generate the social capital that supports gradual disengagement from crime (Hallet and McCoy, 2014; Stansfield et al, 2018).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I Get More in Contact with My Soul’: Gang Disengagement, Desistance and the Role of Spirituality

Deuchar¹

2019

Youth Justice

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This article explores the links between gangs, masculinity, religion, spirituality and desistance from an international perspective. It presents insights from life history interviews conducted with a small sample of 17 male reforming gang members in Denmark who had become immersed in a holistic spiritual intervention programme that foregrounded meditation, yoga and dynamic breathing techniques. Engagement with the programme enabled the men to begin to perform broader versions of masculinity, experience improved mental health and well-being and develop a greater commitment to criminal desistance. Links with religious and spiritual engagement are discussed, and policy implications for the UK gang context included.

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Rio’s New Social Order: How Religion Signals Disengagement from Prison Gangs

Cited by 40 publications

References 68 publications

Redemption and reproach: Religion and carceral control in action among women in prison

Redemption and reproach: Religion and carceral control in action among women in prison

‘If You’re Down With a Gang Inside, You Can Lead a Nice Life’: Prison Gangs in the Age of Austerity

‘I Get More in Contact with My Soul’: Gang Disengagement, Desistance and the Role of Spirituality

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