Sound, Order and Survival in Prison: The Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown

The soundscape of prison life is that of constant clangs, bangs and jangles. What is the significance of this cacophonous din to those who live and work with it? This book tells the story of a year spent with a UK prison community, bringing its social world vividly to life for the first time through aural ethnography. Kate Herrity’s sensory criminology challenges current thinking on how power is experienced by the imprisoned and the lasting effects of incarceration for all who spend time in these environments.The soundscape of prison life is that of constant clangs, bangs and jangles. What is the significance of this cacophonous din to those who live and work with it? This book tells the story of a year spent with a UK prison community, bringing its social world vividly to life for the first time through aural ethnography. Kate Herrity’s sensory criminology challenges current thinking on how power is experienced by the imprisoned and the lasting effects of incarceration for all who spend time in these environments Front Cover Sound, Order and Survival in Prison: The Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown Copyright information Dedication Contents Acknowledgements 1 Just Landed Why sound? Stethoscope-ing (auscultation) Welcome to “chaos” Orientation 2 What Are You Hearing Right Now? Relegating the interview Acclimating and positioning Listening for power What are you listening to? 3 Warp and Weft Beyond the walls Certain songs “The best sound you’re gonna hear” Absence 4 “He’s Never Even Had a Magnum!” “Pretending to press the brakes” From temporal vertigo to temporal dissonance Leaving it behind 5 Weft and Warp Emotional geography Feeling the range Sanctuary 6 A Night Inside Night falls In the dark Brian 7 Talk to Me “I can’t” Intimacy and ethics Locked in 8 Kackerlackas Geographies of emotion and exclusion “Going for a shit, Sir?” Stain and stigma 9 A Kettle, a Penguin and a Word Arrow A kettle A Penguin A word arrow Breaking silence Taking it, and giving it back 10 Emotional Contagion Trouble rumbling “Burn is your currency” ‘Bubbly’ Earworms ‘Mood hoovers’ 11 Arrhythmia Rhythms of violence On the netting Cell fire 12 Polyrhythmia A ‘good’ day The regime ‘Feeding time’ 13 Jingle Jangle Keys Brut and Old Spice “I hear a lot of things, me” 14 Disentangling Power and Order Bottom up Conducting the noise Listening to legitimacy Listening to order 15 Learning the ‘Everyday Tune’ “The noise of the place” Orderly disorder Rituals and routines 16 Listening to Power Every contact matters Banging Rapid, rhythmic: Bangbangbang Slow, rhythmic: Bang. Bang. Bang. Arrhythmic: Bangbang ... bang. Bang ... bang Rapid: moving location around the wing Power, the institution 17 Singing Frogs, Looping the Slam Looping “Now I think he’s alright” Damage 18 ‘The Auld Triangle’ Triangles and bells “The biggest house in Midtown” Prison, sound and the cultural imagination 19 The Hustle and Bustle “You’ve got to keep busy, else your head will pop” Camouflage Metronome and machine 20 Phasing Going right back into it Phasing emotion “It keeps us all going” 21 Polyrhythmia Revisited Humming along to the everyday tune Rhythms and routines Strangeways and the false dichotomy 22 Bells, Whistles, Ships and Prisons Listening Time and space Representations Rip tide Coda 23 Shipping Out Leaving, on a jet plane Catalyst and comparison Inside/outside Notes Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 13 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 References Index