Secure Lives : The Meaning and Importance of Culture in Secure Hospital Care

Though institutional care for people suffering from mental illness was phased out in the last century, mentally disordered offenders remain the exception to this rule. The numbers detained in medium secure care have increased and new initiatives in high secure care have created specialist facilities for individuals thought to be particularly dangerous to other people. This means that the nature of institutional life, and in particular the balance between continuing detention for its own sake and care and treatment designed to allow for discharge to a more normal life in the community, should continue to pre-occupy us. Secure Lives is a unique study of life in a high security hospital, based on original research material obtained in the mid 1990s. Compelling personal accounts from staff and patients, as well as case study material, illustrate the complex culture of a high security hospital. The book explores the complex relationship that exists between staff and patients, the social hierarchy, and life amongst potentially dangerous and mentally ill individuals. Though there are many texts on forensic psychiatry in practice, this book provides a first-hand account of life in an environment never seen by those outside its walls. Part 1: Some Abstract Nouns: Institutions, Culture, Crime and Madness 1: Institutions, Culture and the Culture of Institutions 2: Crime and Madness Part 2: Methods and their Meaning 3: What We Actually Did and Why 4: Reflexivity: Who am I to Ask Questions? Part 3: Power and Praxis: Who Is In Charge of the Ward? 5: Daily Life 6: What are the Mechanisms of Power? 7: Ward Life under the Microscope: the Maintenance of Power Part 4: Culture and Change 8: Do Wards Have Cultures? 9: Culture on the Move: Resistance and Reality Part 5: Thinking Ahead 10: Looking Back 11: Anthropology and the Individual: Knowing me, Knowing you 12: Secure Care Some Abstract Nouns : Institutions, Culture, Crime And Madness -- Methods And Their Meaning -- Power And Praxis : Who Is In Charge Of The Ward? -- Culture And Change -- Thinking Ahead. Annie Bartlett. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 325-351) And Index.