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Serving Time with a Sea View: The Prison Cell and Healthy Blue Space

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The Prison Cell

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

Abstract

This chapter explores the significance of sensory interactions with blue space through the bars of a prison cell window. The architecture of incarceration is almost always assumed to impinge on the lives of those residing in carceral space in harmful rather than therapeutic ways. Drawing on notions of therapeutic landscapes and data collected from a prison located on a seashore in the UK, this chapter theorises the prison as a nurturing rather than punitive environment by examining the relationship between the prison cell and the lived experience of blue space. In doing so, it expands the possibilities for both the disciplinary theorisation of therapeutic blue space and the micro-scale health benefits that may be generated by a reconsideration of prison siting and environmental outlook, particularly from the prison cell.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Strange and Kempa (2003) for a critical analysis of tourist experiences on Alcatraz Island.

  2. 2.

    For Foley and Kistemann, ‘blue’ is used in reference to ‘its established associations with oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water’ recognising also ‘the myriad shades and forms (grey, brown, dark, oily, muddy, clear) that are recognisable dimensions of water bodies at different scales’ (2015: 158).

  3. 3.

    For a comprehensive review of therapeutic blue space, see Foley and Kistemann (2015), where examples range from interactions with European rivers to Canadian lakes.

  4. 4.

    Here we consider that although, in some cases, such spaces may be experienced negatively, their healing intention usually prevails.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Jennifer Turner

  2. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Dominique Moran

  3. Department of Social & Policy Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Yvonne Jewkes

Authors
  1. Jennifer Turner
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  2. Dominique Moran
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  3. Yvonne Jewkes
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Correspondence to Jennifer Turner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Jennifer Turner

  2. School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

    Victoria Knight

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Turner, J., Moran, D., Jewkes, Y. (2020). Serving Time with a Sea View: The Prison Cell and Healthy Blue Space. In: Turner, J., Knight, V. (eds) The Prison Cell. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39911-5

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