"I try and make my cell a positive place": Tactics for mitigating risks to health and wellbeing in a young offender institution. (May 2019) - Mehay, Anita
Abstract: Prisons provide an important public health opportunity to improve the health of a hard-to-reach population. However, the prison as a place for health promotion requires greater attention. Using De Certeau's concept of tactics, semi-structured interviews with 35 young men who had screened as low on an anxiety and depression scale, illustrate how they stitch together discrete tactics to navigate the prison system and mitigate the risks to their health and wellbeing. These involve a process of being vigilant to the cracks in the system whilst appropriating objects and seeking out spaces of comfort. Understanding imprisonment in this nuanced approach provides greater insights into the interplay of health and place with the potential to inform context-relevant practice and policy. Highlights: Prisons are unhealthy places yet some young men reclaim some control over health. Prison 'freezes' the transition to adulthood, but tactics are used to 'unfreeze'. Creative tactics include re-appropriating objects and creating spaces for comfort. Networks of tactics alter and retexture the prison space to mitigate risks to health. Understanding everyday life of imprisonment should inform practice and policy.