Are there still Contrasts in Tolerance? Imprisonment in the Netherlands and England 20 years later

Twenty years ago, David Downes in his classic study, Contrasts in Tolerance, interviewed Dutch prisoners held in England and English prisoners held in the Netherlands and concluded that the Dutch provided a more humane penal system. Since that time, there have been significant changes in penal polic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Punishment & society 2011-07, Vol.13 (3), p.283-306
Main Authors: Kruttschnitt, Candace, Dirkzwager, Anja
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Changes
Comparative Analysis
Correctional System
England
Imprisonment
Netherlands
Organization theory
Organizational Research
Penal policy
Political Factors
Prisoner treatment
Prisoners
Prisons
Punishment
Tolerance
United Kingdom
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Summary:Twenty years ago, David Downes in his classic study, Contrasts in Tolerance, interviewed Dutch prisoners held in England and English prisoners held in the Netherlands and concluded that the Dutch provided a more humane penal system. Since that time, there have been significant changes in penal policies in both England and the Netherlands, which call into question both his conclusions and many of the current comparative analyses of penal trends. We examine the conditions of confinement for both Dutch prisoners held in English prisons and English prisoners held in the Netherlands to determine whether and how these carceral environments have changed over time. We draw on recent organizational research on ‘inhabited institutions’ to help advance our understanding of both transformations and continuities in penal trends across different political contexts.
ISSN:1462-4745
1741-3095
DOI:10.1177/1462474511404333