Abstract
The irreversible succession of time can wreak havoc on an individual within the correctional system. The Cage of Days: Time and Temporal Experiences in Prison, a ten-year project, explores the experiences of offenders through the lenses of two individuals with dissimilar circumstances, K. C. Carceral (pen name), a formerly incarcerated convict criminologist, and Michael G. Flaherty, a sociologist who focuses on temporal experiences. Carceral and Flaherty, using Carceral’s field notes of more than 30 years, Carceral’s interviews with 39 fellow inmates, and convict memoirs, unlock how prisoners navigate the mosaic of time and how time affects a prisoner. This creates a platform for the reader to interpret the abstract nature of time and how it is constructed within the environment of a prison.
Time is an abstract concept that is constructed by society, but the rules and expectations concerning time may change when an individual is locked within a correctional facility. The authors within the first two chapters tackle the clockwork logic of correctional facilities by first outlining the historical development of punishment, from torture to time in private confinement. This detailed analysis continues by illustrating, for example, how time is maintained within the structural rhythm and routine of prison to ensure a particular temporal experience for the inmate. The temporal experience, as articulated by Carceral and Flaherty, will affect the perceived sensory dimensions (e.g., rest, exercise, socializing, pleasure, security) of the prisoner, thus affecting the prisoner’s interpretation of time. One of the latent functions of the prison structure is that it ensures that inmates’ time is controlled by prison authorities. This section highlights how temporal experiences are constructed by the link between space, time, and the purpose of the place in which one is located.
The next couple of chapters explore the inherent circumstances of the offender serving time with limited control contrasted with an individual’s intrinsic need to control their time in alignment with their goals. The authors illustrate inmates' obsessive need to regain temporal autonomy through modifying their perception of time. This section moved beyond the often expressed and sensationalized media misconception of an offender being in control of their time (e.g., they have all day to do something) to the realization of what the system does to affect an inmate’s time and ultimately their perception of it.
The physical nature of time for some in society is marked by pivotal events, but this becomes difficult if an individual is within a prison. Carceral and Flaherty, in Chapters Five and Six, outline distinctive ways prisoners mark the passage of time and their lack of forward momentum. The authors also unlock how tactics to mark the passage of time may not work for the inmate, resulting in the inability to classify time into past, present, and future. The last chapter comes back full circle to explain how inmates navigate time and suggests that the penal system is really an experiment exploring the relationship between involuntary confinement and temporal experiences.
This book is well written and methodically organized with the imperative of providing an empirically grounded analysis of time and temporal experiences of offenders. This structure creates two distinctive contributions. The first is that the book challenges the reader to interpret their construction of time and how time can affect a person differently when the individual is confined behind prison walls. This insight within the classroom can be invaluable. Faculty members often look for a book such as this that hits the mark on making the material real for the students. The second contribution is that the reader will gain insight concerning the prison experience from both someone inside and someone outside the correctional system, due to the book’s dual authorship. The perceived mutual respect between the two authors creates a platform in which the reader is cognizant of both views even when they challenge each other.
These contributions make the book an imperative to include within a corrections course, introductory sociology course, or an introductory criminal justice class. It would be appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate students. Flaherty is one of the leading scholars in the area of temporal experiences, so it is not surprising that the book provides new insight into a population often forgotten. Interested readers may also benefit from other works by both authors. Works by K. C. Carceral include the following: Prison Inc.: A Convict Exposes Life Inside a Private Prison and Beyond a Convict’s Eyes: Doing Time in a Modern Prison. Works by Michael G. Flaherty include the following: The Textures of Time: Agency and Temporal Experience and A Watched Pot: How We Experience Time.