Foucault’s Critique of the Disciplinary Prison Environment

This chapter will firstly analyse the crisis that currently faces prisons in England and Wales, the USA, and globally, to ascertain the causes of the extraordinarily high levels of mental health problems of those who are incarcerated, when compared to the general population. Secondly, barriers that Mental Health In-Reach Teams (MHIRTs) have experienced in trying to provide equivalent mental health care services for prisoners will also be discussed by McNeil. The punitive discourse of the prison environment clashes with the nurturing discourse propagated by MHIRTs. Thirdly, this chapter will provide a Foucauldian critique of the prison environment. McNeil will apply Foucault’s concepts of panopticism, power/ knowledge and governmentality to argue that such an environment is inadequate for rehabilitating prisoners, as it destroys prisoners’ mental health and well-being.