At Work

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter is dedicated to prisoners’ experiences at work. It begins with a description of the legal and institutional framework of work in Swiss prisons. It then explores prisoners’ experiences of various working contexts and how work affects their corporal and spatial experience of imprisonment. After that, the chapter sheds light on prisoners’ various temporal experiences at work and the ways they rearrange institutionally established work rhythms according to their individual needs. Finally, it presents the experience of being a worker and how this affects prisoners’ sense of self. It argues that work signifies a potential and important social space where prisoners search for recognition, which they may experience through the valorization of their individual skills and competences and the attribution of trustworthiness.