Docile Bodies

Prison Uniforms and the Dress of Subservience

Docile Bodies
A Chain Gang in South Carolina, c. 1929 - 1931. Doris Umann. Courtesy of the International Center of Photography.
Prison literature and theory often focuses on the oppressiveness of the system, the callous discipline enforced on the prisoner, the strict rules which often seem arbitrary in their focus and the often patronising attitude of the authorities. We often assume that prison is an environment so infused with control and discipline that the inmates have no choice but to bow...

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