‘The tug of war over Hart Island’
The 18 July 2021 NY Times includes an article entitled ‘The tug of war over Hart Island.’ A mile long, Hart Island is in Long Island Sound and is part of the Bronx (New York, US). Hart Island is still used as the ‘potter’s field’ for the city, with over a million New Yorkers buried […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: addiction, homeless, island, isolated dislocation, prison
Fencers
According to a recent BBC news item, young men and women jailed in Senegal are taking classes in fencing once a week. BBC news CNN news Many elements of this story illustrate aspects of Social Role Valorization and PASSING, such as valued roles in the domain of leisure, competency and image enhancement, positive expectations, relevant […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: good things of life, PASSING, prison, SRV
radio interview ‘Exploring the shadow world of ICE prisons’
This radio interview contains much material that is instructive in terms of societal devaluation. One claim made in the interview is that these prisons, many of them for-profit, exploit the labor of the prisoners. If accurate, this may remind us of similar exploitative practices which were common at many institutions. See for example these reports: […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: institution, prison, Wolf Wolfensberger
transporting prisoners
Some of the wounds resulting from social devaluation (as described by SRV) include being cast into the devalued role of menace and/or subhuman, as well as distantiation. A recent commentary in the 14 June 2015 NY Times Magazine provides a first-person account of a typical practice of prisoner transport. The writer comments about being driven […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: image communicators, menace role, prison, Social Role Valorization
Guardian article: ‘Secrecy surrounds Texas prisoner transfers in wake of rioting’
This 2015 newspaper article is relevant to the process of societal devaluation and resultant wounding taught in leadership level Social Role Valorization workshops. The key focus of the title and article has to do with distantiation, particularly removing prisoners to unknown locations. However, the entire article bears analysis from an SRV perspective. Marc Tumeinski Tweet
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: devaluation, prison, Social Role Valorization, wounding
NY Times article: ‘Rikers to Ban Isolation for Inmates 21 and Younger’
This NY Times article would be interesting to read, analyze and discuss from an SRV perspective (e.g., in an SRV study group, university class, etc.). Some angles for analysis and discussion might include: • segregation and congregation of prisoners • lack of culturally valued analogues for prison • interpersonal identification (or lack thereof) between guards […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: congregation, culturally valued analog, developmental model, interpersonal identification, model coherency, prison, segregation, SRV study group
article: Experiences of subculture within a prison community
This UK article looks at societal devaluation associated with prisons, particularly with prisoners with additional devaluing conditions (e.g., intellectual impairment.) From the article: • As part of my third-year learning disability branch placement in a British prison I looked at social role valorisation and how people with learning disabilities are perceived in society. • People are […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: osbur, prison, Social Role Valorization, SRV, Wolf Wolfensberger
Globe and Mail news item: when prison feels like home
Thanks to Bill Forman for sharing this news item from the Globe & Mail. The brief anecdote is an example of being socialized into the devalued role of prisoner, so that the role eventually becomes internalized (Wolfensberger, SRV monograph, 2004, p. 27). This example touches on many elements of role theory, such as the power […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: devalued roles, prison, role expectations, social roles
Prisons and ‘setting access’
This NY Times article entitled ‘Alabama’s White Elephant’ describes several likely problematic consequences of a new federal prison for women being built in Alabama (US). Many of these problems can be framed and understood in an SRV/PASSING context. It would also be possible to draw out even more likely negative consequences which are not mentioned […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: non-programmatic, PASSING, prison, social devaluation, Social Role Valorization, SRV
SRV in the News – May 18, 2012
Recently in Canada, there has been a media sensation over the release of former media baron and still-writer and columnist Conrad Black from an American prison (where he was serving time for various white-collar crimes). On May 4th, despite having renounced his citizenship in 2001, Black arrived in Canada a free man, on a 1 […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Conrad Black, interpersonal identification, prison, Social Role Valorization, SRV, Wolf Wolfensberger