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New Perspectives on Prison Masculinities pp 91–121Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

“Don’t Mess with Me!” Enacting Masculinities Under a Compulsory Prison Regime

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

  • The original version of this chapter was revised. The name “de Viggiani” has been now included in the family name along with Nick as “Nick de Viggiani”. The correction to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65654-0_14.

Abstract

It is our nature to conform; it is a force which not many can successfully resist […]. Self-approval has its source in but one place and not elsewhere – the approval of other people […] by the natural instinct to passively yield to that vague something recognized as authority, and […] by the human instinct to train with the multitude and have its approval. (Mark Twain 1923: p. 401)

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Change history

  • 20 February 2020

    Incomplete author name was visible on springer.com and palgrave.com due to the name “de” was mentioned under the particle tag. This has been now updated under the family name as “de Viggian” so the correct name is visible on the website.

Notes

  1. 1.

    Closed category-C training prisons are for adult prisoners who are serving medium- to long-term sentences, who are employed in a variety of education, employment and offending behaviour programmes. They accommodate prisoners who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who do not have the resources and will to make a determined escape attempt (MoJ 2011a).

  2. 2.

    Under the Incentives and Earned privileges Scheme (PSO 4000), prisoners are incentivised and rewarded with privileges through good behaviour and performance. Prisoners on enhanced level receive additional visits, better accommodation, additional time for association, more private cash and priority consideration for higher rates of pay. (MoJ 2011b).

  3. 3.

    “Nonce ” is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (2016) as “a sexual deviant; a person convicted of a sexual offence, esp. child abuse.” The term may be derived from nance, meaning nancy-boy, or from nonse, the Lincolnshire dialect meaning ‘good-for-nothing fellow’ (OED 2016). ‘Nonce’ is also interpreted as an abbreviation for ‘Not of Normal Criminal Ethos’ (McFarquhar 2011).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health & Social Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Nick de Viggiani

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  1. Nick de Viggiani
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Scottish Prison Service, Edinburgh, UK

    Matthew Maycock

  2. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Kate Hunt

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de Viggiani, N. (2018). “Don’t Mess with Me!” Enacting Masculinities Under a Compulsory Prison Regime. In: Maycock, M., Hunt, K. (eds) New Perspectives on Prison Masculinities. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65654-0_5

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