The Prison and the Varieties of Suffering: An Exchange
Prisons are the predominant means through which states punish wrongdoers. Punishment, by definition, is supposed to be painful, unpleasant, or a matter of making wrongdoers suffer (as Prof Leo Zaibert tends to put it). Reflecting on her long and path-breaking career devoted to understanding prisons, in her forthcoming book (working title: Aristotle’s Prison: A Search for Humanity and Justice), Prof Alison Liebling exposes the excesses of suffering and inhumanity often, perhaps increasingly, found in prisons. It is not merely that bad prisons happen to punish much more severely than they are supposed to do, but that the excessive suffering they inflict is often damaging and cruel in ways that are actually at odds with the declared rehabilitative goals of the criminal justice system. With Prof Liebling’s forthcoming book as a background, this conversation will explore some of the problematic aspects of modern prisons and punishment.
February 8, 2024 @ 12:15-1:15pm (EST)
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Alison Liebling, Univ. of Cambridge
Alison Liebling is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Cambridge and the Director of the Institute of Criminology’s Prisons Research Centre.
Leo Zaibert, Univ. of Cambridge
Leo Zaibert is Andreas von Hirsch Professor of Penal Theory and Ethics and the Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Ethics