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The Social and Cultural Context of Mental Illness in Prison

Galanek, Joseph D.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1319746577

Abstract Details

2011, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Anthropology.
This dissertation investigates how social and cultural processes in a maximum security state penitentiary may mediate the course and outcome of severe psychiatric disorder for inmates. It identifies those processes which may contribute to recovery from severe psychiatric illness in prison. Participants included 20 inmates diagnosed with a severe mental illness and having a high mental health treatment needs. Participants also included 23 prison staff. Through ethnographic interviews and direct observation of the prison environment, this research identifies how social processes such as relationships with staff and inmates, as well as cultural constructions of mental illness, may mediate positive outcomes for inmates with severe mental illness. In terms of social processes, inmates and staff identified that relationships with penitentiary staff were crucial for inmates’ functioning and well-being within the institution. These relationships were structured along institutional cultural ideals of respect and trust. Rather than the prison being a site of “total control”, correctional officers in particular were able to exercise a high degree of flexibility in their interactions with mentally ill inmates to ensure that these inmates received appropriate treatment. Additionally, inmates’ relationships with treatment staff were also identified as crucial to inmates’ positive functioning within the penitentiary. Participants also identified that positive relations with both mentally ill and non-mentally ill inmates contributed to psychiatric stability by offering social support and opportunities to engage in pro-social activities within the institution. Cultural constructions of mental illness in the penitentiary also mediated course and outcome of psychiatric disorder. These constructions created an institutional space for these inmates that warranted a more flexible interactional style from staff. Staff reports of inmates’ complex clinical histories confounded discrete constructions of personality disorder, substance abuse disorders, and major mental illness. Further, staff and inmates identified contextual factors such as employment, appropriate housing, and coping skills as critical as pharmacological interventions for psychiatric stability within the prison. This dissertation contributes to anthropological theories of psychiatric disorder, social theory as it relates to prisons as total institutions, applied anthropological work with vulnerable populations, as well as correctional policies in the United States.
Atwood Gaines (Committee Chair)
Eileen Anderson-Fye (Committee Member)
Lee Hoffer (Committee Member)
Amy Blank Wilson (Committee Member)
303 p.
Criminology; Cultural Anthropology
mental illness; prison; medical anthropology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Galanek, J. D. (2011). The Social and Cultural Context of Mental Illness in Prison [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1319746577

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Galanek, Joseph. The Social and Cultural Context of Mental Illness in Prison. 2011. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1319746577.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Galanek, Joseph. "The Social and Cultural Context of Mental Illness in Prison." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1319746577

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1319746577
3,873
© 2011, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.