Like Father, Like Son: A Psychoanalytical Approach to Interviewing in Extreme Circumstances

Abstract

Psychoanalytic concepts are extremely important in working within a maximum-security prison, and especially in some of the most extreme parts of this difficult environment. To be most effective and most empathic, one needs to be aware of the impact of the prison environment. Emotionally, there is a tendency to identify with the inmates, to fear their and one's own aggressive impulses, and to retaliate or punish for these impulses. Within the identification with these inmates, there is also recognition of the difficulties in their backgrounds and factors that contributed to their being in the penitentiary.