Prison order through the hyperopticon, collectivism, and atomisation: The surveillance and disciplining of Ukrainian prison officers
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13624806221141423 |
| Author | Anton Symkovych |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
Prison order through the
hyperopticon, collectivism, and
atomisation: The surveillance
and disciplining of Ukrainian
prison officers
Anton Symkovych
University of Melbourne, Australia;
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Abstract
Bentham’s idea of the panopticon has long influenced the theorisation of prison order.
However, this model of control has been applied almost exclusively to prisoners.
Drawing on ethnographic work in Ukraine, I argue that the disciplining of prison officers
through institutionalised mutual surveillance was just as important tothe maintenance of
prison order. Broadening the theorisation of prison order byintroducing the concept of
hyperopticon, I argue that prison order in a Ukrainian prison hinged on two opposites:
collectivism of prisoners and atomisation of prison officers, both depending on the sys-
tem of multifaceted and excessive surveillance.
Keywords
Hyperopticon, polyopticon, prison management, Ukraine, prison officers, penal culture
Introduction
The distinctive feature of post-Soviet prisons is their collectivist nature (Azbel et al.,
2022; Piacentini and Slade, 2015; Symkovych, 2018d). Emerging from the communist
ideological insistence on the collective and from a practical need to manage the work
and housing of incarcerated people on an industrial scale, the Soviet prison system
Corresponding author:
Anton Symkovych, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, 3010, Vic, Australia.
Email: anton.symkovych@unimelb.edu.au
Article
Theoretical Criminology
2023, Vol. 27(3) 481–498
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/13624806221141423
journals.sagepub.com/home/tcr
created a model in which prisoners lived in large barracks among the people with whom
they worked during the day. Combined with a deeply institutionalised underworld pris-
oner society, these shared lives of constant intimate proximity meant that the informal
order depended on mutual surveillance and subjugation of the individual to the collective
good of predictable life. Owing to chronic understaffing and the centrality of the Soviet
prison’s industrial production, the formal authorities accommodated –and largely
depended on –this informal prisoner self-organisation (Cressey and Krassowski, 1958;
Karklins, 1989; Piacentini, 2004). This model of negotiated order has survived the col-
lapse of the Soviet Union. Despite continuously evolving, prison order in most
post-Soviet states continues to depend on the collectivist prisoner underworld (Azbel
et al., 2022; Oleinik, 2003; Slade and Azbel, 2022; Symkovych, 2018a).
The second party to this negotiated social order in the post-Soviet prison worlds –uni-
formed prison staff –has largely evaded scholarly attention. To fill this gap, drawing on a
larger ethnographic study in a men’s medium-security prison in Ukraine,
1
I explain the
peculiarities of the organisation and management of uniformed prison officers. I argue
that role separation, institutionalised interdepartmental rivalry, and mutual surveillance
made the prison governable, despite critical understaffing, modest pay, and low staff
morale. I refine the theorisation of the concept of the polyopticon (Piacentini and
Slade, 2015) by demonstrating that this multifaceted surveillance applies not only to pris-
oners, but also to staff, culminating in what I term the hyperopticon –a system of total,
excessive surveillance, wherein the watchers are simultaneously watched –even the auto-
cratic and omnipotent prison commander himself. I argue that despite carceral collectiv-
ism, prison order also depends on staff atomisation.
The article first explains the nature of prisoner involvement inthe generation of order in
non-westernprisons, and more specifically, thecentrality of carceral collectivism as the dis-
tinctive feature of post-Soviet penality. After briefly explaining the methodology, I outline
Ukrainian penalityin flux: the interaction of continuous reforms and the resilience of Soviet
legacies, including carceralcollectivism, militarism,and a fear of negative visibility.Next, I
explicate the organisational structure of the UkrainianPenitentiary Service (UkrPS) and its
struggles. I then sketch the role of the prisoner underworld in prison order. I go onto
explain the ‘divide-and-rule’practice thatrendered the prison governableby institutionalis-
ing staff fragmentation and mutual surveillance. I conclude by discussing the resilience of
the Soviet governance model through the hyperopticon thatcontinues to underpin the pro-
duction of prison order in Ukraine three decades after the fall of Soviet communism.
The prisoner collective and negotiated prison order
Developing Bentham’s idea of the panopticon, Foucault (1975) famously contended that
the perception of constant surveillance generates regulation in even the minutest aspects
of everyday prison life. Mindful of this surveillance, prisoners develop self-censorship
and regulation in waysthat effectively extend and embody official monitoring, controlling ,
and disciplining pow er. Contrary to this imposed individualised self-discipline in the West,
order in many non-western prisons depends on prisoner collective self-regulation and
mutual dependency. Highlighting the exceptionality of post-Soviet penality, Piacentini
and Slade (2015) demonstrate that prison order in this region works through the
482 Theoretical Criminology 27(3)
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