‘There is no sincerer love than the love of food’ (George Bernard Shaw, 1903): The meaning of food and its uses in prison subculture
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370818769258 |
| Author | Moran Davidian,Tomer Einat |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370818769258
European Journal of Criminology
2019, Vol. 16(2) 127 –146
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370818769258
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‘There is no sincerer love
than the love of food’
(George Bernard Shaw,
1903): The meaning of food
and its uses in prison
subculture
Tomer Einat and Moran Davidian
Bar Ilan University, Israel
Abstract
This study examines the ways in which the prison service handles food and analyses the uses and
meanings of food in prison subculture. Using semi-structured interviews and content analysis, data
were collected and analysed from 20 ex-prisoners who were incarcerated in maximum-security prison
facilities for a period of three years or more. Our main findings are that, according to the interviewees’
testimonies, (a) the Israel Prison Service (IPS) makes manipulative and abusive use of food in order to
perpetuate its power; and (b) food serves as a means to determine the relationship between prisoners
and staff, govern social status or rejection in the prison subculture, or pass the time. We have four
main conclusions. First, the IPS nutrition policy differentiates and discriminates among prisoners and
clearly violates the basic human rights of prisoners, thus suggesting an abuse of power. Second, the
IPS’s use of food as a tool for punishing or rewarding introduces and perpetuates inequalities and
encourages the illegal prison trade in food and food products. Third, cooking in prison, especially in
light of its illegality, constitutes a symbolic expression of resistance to the institution and a meaningful
way of coping with boredom. Lastly, food and its possession in prison serve as very powerful tools for
constructing and perpetuating exploitation and unequal power relations among prisoners.
Although the study suffers from two limitations – the validity of the adolescents’ responses and
the small sample size – its findings lead us to propose that an improvement in the food products
that are accessible to prisoners and permission to cook in their cells are inexpensive and legitimate
means of bettering both the prisoners’ quality of life and the social atmosphere in prison.
Keywords
Clandestine economy, food, power, prison subculture
Corresponding author:
Tomer Einat, Department of Criminology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.
Email: einatt@mail.biu.ac.il
769258EUC0010.1177/1477370818769258European Journal of CriminologyEinat and Davidian
research-article2018
Article
128 European Journal of Criminology 16(2)
Introduction
Prison can be extremely stressful for prisoners owing to either the composition of the
prisoner population who, for the most part, have had a troubled life prior to incarceration
(Crewe, 2009; Walsh, 2006) or the prison environment itself (Haney, 2006; Hulley et al.,
2011). Upon admission to prison, most prisoners face an anomic, violent, aggressive and
crowded community (Crewe, 2011; Lawrence and Andrews, 2004); various structural
deprivations of freedom and autonomy (Buckaloo et al., 2009); and humiliating trials
that test their pain tolerance, self-confidence, mental resilience, alertness and intelli-
gence (Bensimon et al., 2015; Steiner and Meade, 2016). Several studies have shown that
prisoners perceive imprisonment as humiliating and hurtful (Crewe, 2011; Hancock and
Jewkes, 2011), leading them to suffer from higher levels of mental and emotional dis-
tress (for example, low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, and anxiety) than in general
society (Mills and Kroner, 2005).
In order to cope with these circumstances, maintain a sense of pride, self-respect and
mental and physical health, and gain some power and control, prisoners employ several
illegal techniques and strategies (Skarbek, 2012; Smoyer and Blankenship, 2014) – the
most common being the possession of legal (cigarettes, canteen goods) and illegal (drugs,
alcohol) goods and their illegal trade (Constantinou et al., 2015).
Although criminological and penological studies on illegal trade (secret or sub rosa
economy) in prison subculture began in the mid-1950s (Sykes, [1958] 2007), relatively
few studies have focused on its main psychosocial functions and roles (Godderis, 2006;
Ugelvik, 2011). Furthermore, a close examination of the research on illegal trade in
prison subculture has shown a total disregard of the status, roles and significance of food
within this trade. This is surprising in light of the abundance of academic literature con-
cerning the wide range of meanings and roles of food in numerous cultures and subcul-
tures (Collins, 2009; Koster, 2009).
The aim of this study, therefore, is to fill this lacuna by exploring the cultural, social
and psychosocial functions and meanings of food in prison subculture and analysing the
strategies used by both the prisoners and the prison service in order to fulfil them. The
specific objectives of this study are:
1. To examine the ways in which the prison service handles food, as perceived and
described by 20 ex-prisoners.
2. To analyse the uses and meanings of food in prison subculture, as perceived and
presented by 20 ex-prisoners.
In this way we seek to broaden the criminological, sociological and psychological under-
standing of prison subculture and of the powers and variables that affect its development
(Mathiesen, 2000).
Literature review
Customs and rituals regarding food and its consumption are social-cultural events. They
connect their participants to the norms and values of the cultures in which they live and
help shape their cultural identity and identification (Fieldhouse, 2013; Seema and
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