A parallel hierarchy emerged in overcrowded prisons
How can inefficient, undesirable and even downright harmful institutions remain in place, despite better solutions? Oscar Karlsson, who recently graduated with a doctorate in history, has written in his dissertation about prisons that were never truly intended for prisoners. In particular, Oscar Karlsson has studied English prison ships and Swedish fortress prisons from about 200 years ago. The conditions for the prisoners were utterly unacceptable.
The harbour on Marstrandsön and Carlsten’s fortress at the end of the 1700s.
“The prison staff were well aware of the prisoners’ parallel order, but chose not to disturb it too much because they feared that it would lead to riots.”
Oscar Karlsson, Doctor of History
Oscar Karlsson.
In his dissertation in history, Oscar Karlsson compares English prison ships in Portsmouth with fortress prisons on the Swedish west coast from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. What these facilities had in common was that they were not originally built to function as prisons or to house prisoners.
“Over 30 prisoners were literally kept in the same room and the conditions were terrible. The prisoners formed connections with each other and learnt new criminal skills. In view of this, the few who left prison were often consummate professional criminals. Although these circumstances were well known, it would take a long time before they were phased out”, says Oscar Karlsson.
Harmful institutions were allowed to persist
The aim of the thesis has been to investigate how ineffective, undesirable and even directly harmful institutions managed to survive for so long, despite the fact that better solutions were available, according to Oscar Karlsson:
“Some key conclusions are that protracted criminal law discussions about new prisons resulted in reliance on older forms of punishment. Moreover, these older forms of punishment not only remained in place, but were developed and refined during the period studied.”
Previous research has treated the prison ships and fortress prisons unfavourably, and often regarded them as static institutions or as early modern remnants in a modern age, Oscar Karlsson says.
“Another central conclusion of my thesis is that these institutions were part of a larger criminal justice system, which meant that the activities of other institutions were completely dependent on the prisons not being taken out of use. The costs of dismantling the prisons were simply too high.”
Subcultures with their own rules
Oscar Karlsson says that one chapter that has been particularly interesting and fun – and at the same time very challenging – to write is about the prisons’ subcultures, i.e. the prisoners’ hierarchies, structures and their own rules.
“The prisoners’ voices rarely appear in the source material. Instead, you have to find your own way to the voices that have often been silenced or entirely overlooked in the official documents.”
By examining everything from diaries to court records and comments from prison committees and prison chaplains, Oscar Karlsson has gained good insight into what it was like in the prisons at that time.
“It became clear to me that the prison staff were well aware of the prisoners’ parallel order, but chose not to disturb it too much because they feared that it would lead to riots. There was a kind of balance of power that in turn prevented change and thus contributed to the longevity of the institutions.”
Evokes thoughts about similarities
Oscar Karlsson believes that his research can give rise to a lot of thoughts about why some of today’s unwanted and inefficient institutions are not being dismantled or fundamentally redesigned.
“A contemporary example could be the HVB homes (residential care homes for young people), which seem to be struggling with some problems”, says Oscar Karlsson.
In the future, Oscar Karlsson wants to research youth violence in Sweden during the post-war period, for example perceptions of young people’s violence during the years 1950 to 1980.
Text: Kristina Rörström
Photo: Gothenburg City Museum (painting), Magnus Karlsson (portrait)
More about the research
Oscar Karlsson’s PhD position has been part of a research collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, UK, and the School of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, Halmstad University, a “Split-Site PhD”.
More information
Research at the School of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
