Injustice and Prophecy in the Age of Mass Incarceration : The Politics of Sanity

Why do the UK and US disproportionately incarcerate the mentally ill, frequently poor people of colour? Via multiple re-framings of the question - theological, socioeconomic, and psychological - Andrew Skotnicki diagnoses a 'persecution of the prophetic' at the heart of the contemporary criminal justice system. This interdisciplinary book draws on criminology, theology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and psychiatric history to consider the increasingly intractable issue of mass incarceration. Inviting a new, collaborative conversation on penal reform as a fundamentally 'life-affirming' project, it defends the dignity of those diagnosed as mentally unstable and their capacity for spiritual transcendence Front Cover Injustice and Prophecy in the age of Mass Incarceration: The Politics of Sanity Copyright information Table of contents Introduction 1 Overview of the Problem of Mental Illness and Incarceration Statistical data The ever-shifting understanding of madness Biblical and pre-modern sources Madness, disease, and confinement The growth of and crisis within psychiatric care The rise and fall of moral treatment Mental illness as pathology Biology, psychotherapy, and the fate of the mentally handicapped Biology, drugs, and deviance Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) Conclusion 2 How We Think about the Mentally Ill Ethics, language, and human nature Ethical universalism, a-historicity, and its response to the (presumably) mentally ill The permeable boundary between the physical and the metaphysical Conclusion 3 Why Do We Punish the Mentally Ill? Socioeconomic factors Neoliberalism Colored crazy Depleted social services, police discretion, and the determination of medical experts The conundrum of mystical experience Criminology, net widening, and social control Psychological factors, projection, and scapegoating Projection and scapegoating Kierkegaard’s proto-psychology Conclusion 4 A Profile of the “Mad” Prophet The personality of the prophets They announce a message no one wants to hear They are chosen and compelled to speak on behalf of the oppressed The prophet is a creature of solitude Prophets are crazy Prophets are compassionate Coda Common sense Critique of common sense Insight Insight is uncanny and unwanted Insight involves a sudden release from inner tension Insight derives from inner conditions Insight is concrete and abstract Insight becomes part of the mind’s habitual structure Insight implies a metaphysics Conclusion 5 Prophetic Types and the Penal Sanctuary The voluntary prophet: determination to speak the truth despite fierce opposition The involuntary prophet: diffuse rage over social injustice The prison as prophetic sanctuary Conclusion The prophet as world saver Notes Index Back Cover "Why do the UK and US disproportionately incarcertate the mentally ill, frequently poor people of color? Via multiple reframings of the question--theological, socioeconomic, and psychological--Andrew Skotnicki diagnoses a 'persecution of the prophetic' at the heart of the contemporary criminal justice system. This interdisciplinary book draws on criminology, theology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and psychiatric history to consider the increasingly intractable issue of mass incarceration. Inviting a new, collaborative conversation on penal reform as a fundamentally 'life-affirming' project, it defends the dignity of those diagnosed as mentally unstable and their capacity for spiritual transcendence." -- Publisher, page four of cover Why do the UK and US disproportionately incarcerate the mentally ill? Via multiple re-framings of the question-theological, socioeconomic, and psychological- Andrew Skotnicki diagnoses a "persecution of the prophetic" at the heart of the contemporary penal system and society more broadly.