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Abstract
Not all heroin users that enter the prison estate continue to use heroin or access opiate maintenance or detoxification treatment programmes. Some prisoners decide to self-detoxify. The literature on self-detoxification is thin and focuses on the decisions and practices of self-detoxification in community settings. Less attention has been given to the role of the body and the lived experience of self-detoxification in prison settings. The aim of this paper therefore is to examine the process of self-detoxification in prison, with a particular focus on the role of the body, embodiment and prisoner social relations. This paper draws on Drew Leder’s (Citation1990) absent body theoretical framework and the literature on prison masculinity to analyse qualitative interviews with recently released prisoners. It shows how the decision to self-detoxify can be understood as part of the masculine performance of keeping a low profile. Keeping a low profile helped the participants minimise the risks of victimisation. The self-detoxification techniques the participants used were underpinned by an awareness of the body as poisoned by heroin, suffering because of its presence, rather than its absence. This study has implications for prisoners’ access to opiate maintenance and detoxification treatment programmes and harm reduction services upon release.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The main focus of the study was the experiences of heroin dependent individuals’ transitions from the community to prison.
2 Individuals do not simply arrive at prison. The journey to prison for some begins when they are arrested by the police and taken to a police station, where they are locked in a cell until their court appearance. From the police station they are transported in a secure vehicle to court, in which they are locked in holding cell with other prisoners, only separated by dividing walls. At court they are likely to be locked in a cell with another individual, until the conclusion of their court appearance and they are taken to prison. The journey from the crime scene or police station following arrest can take several hours or days.
3 Carl’s stomach pains during heroin withdrawal were intensified by his irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). His dys-appearing stomach produced a complicated social experience in which his body became a source of shame and embarrassment due to his lack of control over his bowels and the physical and social organisation of his prison cell. The lack of privacy and no separation of the toilet from the social space of the cell meant that he had to use the toilet in front of his cell mate.