Oñati Socio-Legal Series

Introduction: Sociology of law and prison studies: The social uses of law within the prison’s legal field

Luca Sterchele — 2025-07-30

This article examines the role of law and its social uses within the carceral field. Prisons are institutional settings saturated with official legal norms, yet their operative application is deeply shaped by the prison’s distinct social, symbolic and moral order. Introducing the contributions collected in this Special Issue, the article explores how law is practically mobilized, reinterpreted, or rendered ineffective in everyday prison life. It calls for an empirically grounded sociology of law that shifts attention from abstract legal frameworks to the situated practices through which legal norms are invoked, contested, or bypassed. Legal resources are thus conceptualized as part of a broader repertoire of normative tools deployed to exercise institutional control or articulate practices of resistance. By adopting a socio-legal perspective, the article aims to reframe the relationship between formal legal structures and the lived normative orders that emerge within carceral institutions. It contributes to bridging Prison Studies and the Sociology of Law by addressing fundamental questions about the role of law in highly regulated yet socially complex environments.

The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law

Iñaki Rivera — 2025-07-30

This contribution intends to follow the "red thread" of a gradual and constant "devaluation" (in Spain) of the alleged guarantor paradigm of prison criminality. Despite the constitutionalization (in 1978) of the status of persons deprived of liberty, such devaluation has been occurring both in the field of law production and at the time of its interpretation and application. But in the last decade, this devaluation or reduction of the rights of prisoners has not only been accentuated, but a progressive process of "administrativization of penitentiary law" seems to have become naturalized which, by way of regulating the most important aspects of the life of prisoners (isolation, coercive restraints, penitentiary work, etc.), in simple ministerial orders, prison administration circulars and daily practices, has been demonstrating a marked departure from the principle of legality and the rule of law. This Paper investigates all this through the dramatic example of the so-called "mechanical restraint" of prisoners. This trend nullifies the democratic sense of punishment, its parliamentary debate, its judicial control and returns to a "prison autonomy" that must be investigated.

Harm and governance of prisons’ systemic overcrowding

Simone Santorso — 2025-07-30

Overcrowding has been on the national policy agendas of many jurisdictions for decades. While many other aspects of punishment are largely investigated as penal policy-related issues, overcrowding has not received the same attention. This article investigates how we may best understand prison congestion by considering it as a widely accepted operational condition for many prison systems. Following a brief introduction on how overcrowding is a structural problem in many jurisdictions, the essay is developed into three independent, but related, parts: an analysis of overcrowding and its definitional issues that includes a discussion of the theoretical and epistemological challenges it poses; a discussion of the impact and legitimacy of congestion on incarceration experience via the notion of ‘harm’; and, finally, the discussion of the concept of ‘governance of systemic overcrowding’. By doing so the paper aims to challenge the current knowledge on prison overcrowding and wants to suggest a new analytical standpoint, which, however, is deserving of further research.

Privatization as bureaucratization

Nathan Rivet — 2025-07-30

Contemporary prison privatization has been the focus of many studies. While most research mainly looks at political factors and practical results, few have explored the organizational impact of outsourcing. Despite privatization being often seen as a sign of liberalization and deregulation, this article uses the French prison privatization example to highlight the connection between privatization and bureaucratization. Based on observation and interviews, this study makes three claims. First, it argues that prison privatization is a changing relationship between public and private sectors, leading to controversy over private accountability. Second, it suggests that outsourcing contracts create a new layer of law with public compliance officers becoming a new form of legal oversight. Third, it shows how these controllers enforce contract terms in their own interest, resulting in an adversarial legal culture between public and private services. The article concludes by suggesting a fresh approach to studying privatization using qualitative methods.

Prison educators in the shadow of prison rules

Giovanni Torrente — 2025-07-30

The essay presents the findings of a research study that investigated the legal and professional culture of prison officers responsible for supporting and rehabilitating inmates. The professional roles of educators, social workers, and experts in psychology and criminology were introduced into the Italian prison system following the reform of 1975 and subsequent amendments. Nearly 50 years after the reform came into effect, numerous questions remain open regarding the impact within the Italian prison system. Specifically, the research sought to determine to what extent these experts have influenced the professional culture and the culture of punishment among prison actors in Italy. Furthermore, more generally, the study questioned the impact of these roles on Italian prison practices. The results stem from three distinct periods of direct and participant observation during which the researcher served as a prison educator at a Northern Italian prison. The qualitative data collected suggest that treatment officers have only partially influenced the professional culture of other prison actors. Moreover, there appeared to be limited ability to alter the daily practices of the prison. Instead, these officers seem to have been profoundly influenced by the prison environment, which has facilitated the development of at least three critical issues addressed in the text: bureaucratization, defensive behaviour, and adherence to a punitive culture.

Learning to labor in prison

Luca Sterchele — 2025-07-30

Taking the case of prison healthcare reform in Italy as an empirical basis, the article explores the ways in which legal intervention is materialized in the social relations, cultural horizons and operational practices of prison healthcare workers, focusing on the concept of (embedded) “legal culture”. Drawing on the findings of ethnographic research conducted over the last nine years, the article explores the relationship between clinical and legal languages in everyday prison life: observations are made about the processes through which clinical assessments can be “translated” and “reinterpreted” into the language of legal codes specific to the prison setting. The results suggest the possibility of partially questioning readings that identify the processes of prisonization of healthcare operators as the sole cause of the reproduction of governmental elements in prison health practice. The legal cultures of prison staff and health professionals do not appear to be as different as at first sight.

Learning and training while serving time

Perla Arianna Allegri — 2025-07-30

The article presents the results of empirical research on vocational training activities within the Italian prison context. The research constitutes an attempt to bring rehabilitation rhetoric into dialogue with the practices that emerged from the interviews conducted with inmates, educators and vocational trainers, through the lens of prison sociology. In particular, the paper delves into the dynamics of professional cultures within the Italian prison system, exploring how norms inherent to the teaching professions intersect with the institutional environment and actors. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the fragmentary nature of penal control exercised in the prison environment through the recomposition of the framework of interactions occurring among different professional and legal cultures of educators, prison officers and vocational experts.

Convict and critical criminology

Elton Kalica — 2025-07-30

This paper examines critical issues that arose during an innovative educational initiative directed at inmate students, offering both a reflective analysis of prison living conditions and the acquisition of methodological tools useful for prison research. With a particular focus on the potential and challenges of developing prison-based projects within the framework of Convict Criminology, the author employs an auto-ethnographic narrative to illuminate the theoretical and methodological difficulties encountered by participants. Specifically, this work problematizes the internalization of the prison’s institutional culture as it hinders the development of the cultural and political awareness necessary to analyse prison through a critical perspective.

The Italian Supervisory Court’s professional culture and practices

Daniela Ronco — 2025-07-30

This article presents a socio-legal reflection on the role of the Italian supervisory judge in shaping the prison moral environment. The Italian supervisory judges ("magistrati di sorveglianza") officially perform two main functions: supervising the enforcement of sentences; and monitoring application of the law in prisons. They should therefore play a key role in terms not only of achieving the rehabilitative ideal, but also of preventing violations of prisoners’ rights. Nevertheless, traditionally they have never fully accomplished their mission of prison supervision, and only in a very few cases do they regularly visit prisons, since they are usually more focused on other (often bureaucratic and formalistic) tasks. Using ethnographic notes collected while acting as an external expert in an Italian Supervisory Court, in this paper I will reflect on how informal norms affect the ordinary practices and the decision-making process, with reference to both of the above-mentioned institutional mandates.

Illegalisms and discipline in a Brazilian prison

Andre Ribeiro Giamberardino — 2025-07-30

The article summarizes research with an empirical sample of all cases of severe disciplinary misconduct for possessing a cell phone in a prison of Curitiba in 2017. The question posed for analysis is which parameters would determine the imputation of disciplinary responsibility for cell phones seized from this or that prisoner. From the study of the processes and participant observation, it becomes evident how, in the great majority of cases, the prisoners who take responsibility for the seized items do so because they do not have family in the region, because they have a high remnant penalty or to get some form of payment, not being the real owners of the devices. The application of the disciplinary sanction, with knowledge of the falsity of the confession, indicates that prison administration operates as a manager of illegalisms and not from the legal/illegal binomial.

Gangs, mafia, organised groups in prisons: the formal and informal strategies of managing the “public enemy"

Michele Miravalle — 2025-07-30

How does the label of “public enemy” influence the strategies of managing prisons? Using insights coming from on-the-field research conducted in different countries (mainly inside the prison for gangs in Triángulo Norte – El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras – and into “high security” units for mafia members in Italy), the article focuses on the forced relationship between two complex organisations, the State and its punitive apparatus on one side and the organised groups, the non-state actor, on the other. Organised groups bring inside the walls of prison their habitus, organisation, leadership, hierarchy, symbols, typical of that continuum. The special units for dangerous prisoners are becoming a transnational strategy for experimenting different forms of relationship between State and criminal organisations: recognition, degradation, desertion and the underestimated desistance.

The role of solitary confinement in maintaining prison order

Rachele Stroppa — 2025-07-30

The contribution aims to explore the strict relationship between the imposition of solitary confinement and the institutional need to maintain prison order. After a theoretical reflection from a socio-legal perspective on the concept of prison order, a selection of qualitative results of an ethnographic research started in 2018 in Catalan prisons will be proposed. The aim will then be to deconstruct the formal justifications of the isolation measures proposed by the institutional discourse, providing elements on the relevance that the policy of managing the risk of violent behaviour assumes in the imposition of solitary confinement. Subsequently, the impact of isolation measures on the daily lives of prisoners will be analysed, also addressing their perceptions. The aim is to clarify the real functions of solitary confinement and, in particular, to what extent and at what cost it contributes to the maintenance of order within the prison walls.

Law as a weapon

Alessandro Maculan — 2025-07-30

Grounded in Bourdieu’s field theory and drawing from qualitative research conducted in a Northern Italy prison, this study aims to investigate how prisoners strategically utilize the law, rules, and regulations within the prison field. The law is conceptualized as a form of objectified cultural capital – a weapon wielded by prisoners to achieve specific objectives. Findings from this research reveal that despite the challenges and constraints prisoners encounter when asserting their rights through legal means, the utilization of the law is intricately linked to navigating the operational logic of the prison field. By aligning their actions with this logic, prisoners seek to mitigate unintended consequences and maximize benefits.

Designing technology for legal work

Terhi Esko — 2025-07-30

This article discusses how legal professionals perceive the change in their work practices and work-related boundaries as they participate in the design and implementation of a new information system. By looking empirically at a large-scale IT development project within the judicial system in Finland, the paper contributes to debates on how technology development affects the key elements of legal work and how legal expertise is perceived when designing IT systems for the public judiciary. Drawing from research literature on science and technology studies (STS), particularly literature on expertise and boundaries, the article suggests four main findings. First, IT design is seen as an additional task with clear boundaries between legal and technological knowledge. Second, the embodied aspects of legal expertise are connected to issues of autonomy and individual work practices. Third, IT design and use affect organizational flexibility and boundaries between and within organizations. Fourth, there are changes in hierarchical relations and work divisions between judges and legal secretaries.

Police uses of law

Federico M. Lorenc Valcarce — 2025-07-30

This article explores how law and the administration of justice shape the daily tasks of Buenos Aires Province Police officers and what legal knowledge they deploy to articulate their work with the judiciary. Based on 17 interviews conducted in 2021 with police personnel of various ranks in the city of Mar del Plata, the study analyzes how they interpret, apply, and negotiate legal norms, as well as the training challenges and tensions with procedural requirements. The methodological approach is qualitative and includes fieldwork combining semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The findings show that, far from being mere enforcers of the law, officers construct the meaning of legal norms in practice, mediating between their role as judicial auxiliaries, community demands, and their own institutional logics.

Blockchain evidence versus the State

Sebastián Rivero Silva — 2025-07-30

RAIMUNDO is an innovative decentralized application (DApp) designed for the legal sector, leveraging Ethereum's sustainable blockchain technology (now based on Proof of Stake) to certify documents. By using a dual-hash system, it enables attorneys to produce tamper-proof "blockchain evidence," eliminating the need for state intermediaries. This empowers legal professionals, especially in regions with authoritarian regimes or corruption, to independently certify documents. However, judicial acceptance of blockchain evidence varies. Common law systems increasingly recognize it as valid, while civil law jurisdictions, with formal and state-centric traditions, often prioritize public certification over private digital methods. Factors such as blockchain's anonymity and the strict public certification duties of European notaries contribute to this divide. Although technically compatible with notarial roles in civil law, the integration of blockchain into regulatory frameworks remains uncertain, highlighting the need for ongoing evaluation of its evidentiary value compared to traditional public documents.

FemTech markets

Asta Zokaityte — 2025-07-30

This article examines the emergence and growth of the FemTech industry, which aims to address healthcare disparities affecting women by offering targeted technological solutions. Despite its promising goals, FemTech’s reliance on venture capital and financial markets has led to a business model prioritizing profitability and scalability over equitable healthcare access. Drawing from extensive fieldwork and financialization studies, this article reveals how financial capital shapes FemTech’s development, influencing product design, target markets, and consumer accessibility. Venture capital requirements and market imperatives often push FemTech firms to focus on high-income consumer segments, favouring products like wellness apps and fertility tracking tools while under-serving populations with complex or less profitable healthcare needs. This dynamic raise critical questions about FemTech’s capacity to democratise healthcare, as it risks reinforcing existing healthcare inequalities by catering primarily to affluent and digitally connected users. The study argues for regulatory frameworks that prioritise health equity, suggesting that without intervention, FemTech’s alignment with venture capital will continue to shape it as a sector more invested in consumer capture than in addressing fundamental health injustices.

About 'another' urban order control tools

Paz Irarrazabal Gonzalez — 2025-07-30

This research aims to study the formal control of urban space in Santiago, Chile, through a socio-legal approach with a normative orientation (Lacey 1996). The article presents significant findings from fieldwork conducted in downtown Santiago during 2023–2024. It was observed that, alongside national police forces, public space is governed by municipal inspectors and the little-known figure of "copamiento" agents. Lacking legal power, these agents employ order control strategies known as "copamiento" (filling) and "desplazamiento" (displacement). This article questions the legality and the state's relationship with these phenomena. It concludes that the territorial control exercised by these agents represents an extension of the police state, characterized by a high degree of informality and opacity, and what I call here “alegality”, which challenges fundamental principles of the rule of law and reflects disdain toward certain social groups.

The role of cultural pluralism in Indigenous peoples’ defense of nature’s rights

Mohammadreza Jodyvash — 2025-07-30

Ecuador, by incorporating the Rights of Nature into its constitution, has presented an innovative approach to environmental protection, recognizing nature as a subject with rights. This legal transformation emphasizes the intrinsic value of ecosystems and affirms the right of natural entities to exist, grow, and regenerate. Alongside this, the rights of Indigenous peoples, as guardians of biodiversity, have been strengthened, and their deep connection to ancestral lands is formally recognized. However, the implementation of this legal framework faces challenges, primarily stemming from the conflict between economic priorities and environmental protection. Deforestation in the Amazon, intensified by resource extraction and infrastructure development, poses a threat to global climate balance. Despite international and Indigenous efforts to counter this trend, ineffective law enforcement continues to hinder sustainable conservation. This article, through a dogmatic and analytical approach, concludes that improving this situation requires the development of legal mechanisms, increased participation of Indigenous communities, and a redefinition of economic growth with an emphasis on the long-term health of the planet.

The institutionality of integration measures for naturalized citizens in Brazil

André Pereira Crespo — 2025-07-30

The objective of this article is to analyze public policies for the social integration of naturalized citizens in Brazil. The hypothesis is that there is a low degree of legal institutionalization in these policies. The research seeks to answer whether sufficient public policies exist to integrate naturalized individuals into Brazilian society. The content analysis covered recent migratory flows, the legal-institutional framework for naturalization in Brazil, and government actions related to social integration. It found that the New Migration Law introduced normative advancements, yet the insufficiency of integrative public policies reflects governance issues. At the mesoinstitutional level, the research revealed a high degree of legal institutionalization, with the roles of law as a goal, institutional arrangement, and toolbox being fulfilled. However, at the microinstitutional level, government actions showed a low degree of institutionalization, with deficits in inter-institutional coordination and the effectiveness of integration-oriented actions. The main conclusions indicate that the lack of targeted educational policies, cultural barriers, and the absence of specific indicators hinder the integration of naturalized Brazilians. The research recommends the implementation of coordinated, accessible public policies with greater social participation and reduced waiting times for naturalization. It emphasizes the need to overcome institutional challenges to ensure full citizenship and social inclusion for immigrants seeking to become Brazilian citizens.