The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law

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 occ...

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Main Author: Iñaki Rivera
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2025-07-01
Series:Oñati Socio-Legal Series
Subjects:
Online Access:https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/2031
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author Iñaki Rivera
author_facet Iñaki Rivera
author_sort Iñaki Rivera
collection DOAJ
description 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.
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publisher Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law
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series Oñati Socio-Legal Series
spelling doaj-art-780bdc8a3ef44f63b8b91b66f4bdb3972025-08-20T03:34:45ZengOñati International Institute for the Sociology of LawOñati Socio-Legal Series2079-59712025-07-011541162118410.35295/osls.iisl.20312832The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of lawIñaki Rivera0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7035-4267Universidad de BarcelonaThis 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.https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/2031prisondevaluation of rightsmechanical restraintsdemocratic culture
spellingShingle Iñaki Rivera
The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
Oñati Socio-Legal Series
prison
devaluation of rights
mechanical restraints
democratic culture
title The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
title_full The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
title_fullStr The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
title_full_unstemmed The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
title_short The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
title_sort fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law
topic prison
devaluation of rights
mechanical restraints
democratic culture
url https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/2031
work_keys_str_mv AT inakirivera thefallofaguaranteedcultureintheproductionoflaw
AT inakirivera fallofaguaranteedcultureintheproductionoflaw