4: Institutional Thoughtlessness: Prison as a Place for Dying

Author:
Renske Visser
Publication Date:
21 Mar 2025
Pages:
55–68
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529236682.ch004
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This chapter challenges readers to reflect on their thinking about prison as a place of death, dying and loss. What is considered a death in custody differs around the globe and therefore it is unclear how many people die in prison each year. This chapter aims to highlight the humanity of those dying in this institutional setting and to show how prisons are challenging environments with complicated bureaucratic rules and power dynamics. These rules and dynamics are not always consistent with the needs of dying prisoners and can result in what is called ‘institutional thoughtlessness’. What is more, dying people in prison also challenge assumptions about whose life is deemed ‘grieveable’ and who is deserving of care and access to a so-called ‘good death’. Prison as an institution shapes the way people think and feel about death and dying in these environments, and with a growing and ageing prison population globally, these issues around life and death deserve our attention.

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