CIAO DATE: 9/07
Culture and Conflict: Volume 55 (Fall 2004)
Understanding prison as a confrontation ground between clandestine armed groups and the State is not obvious. In deed, the capture and the confinement of “terrorists” first appear as an end. But in Germany, during the 1970s, imprisoned members of “urban guerrilla” groups have transformed the prison enclosure into a real conflict arena between them and the West German State. The article reconstitutes, in a triple relation, the history of this conversion of the prison into a political confrontation area and the subsequent politization of the penitentiary universe. This text firstly describes the constitution of this penitentiary space into a conflict scene by the progressive elaboration of a specifically adjusted “subversion” strategy. The text then presents the concrete modalities and effects produced by this transformation of the prison. Lastly, this article shows how this battle transformed into an ordeal for a State which reaction was seen by many as exaggerated and not respectful of the democratic requirements itself referred to. The critiques the State suffered from and the whole affair can be understood as the moment – in both meanings – through which the legitimate way to confine radical political opponents has been collectively redefined.