PHILOSOPHY IN THE PRISON

Abstract

The article posits that contemporary industrial penitentiaries in Russia have evolved into sites of military mobilization, labour exploitation, psychic traumatization, and desocialization. Consequently, Belarusian correctional facilities have devolved into institutions of labour exploitation, political and cultural humiliation, and the dissemination of repressive political discourse. These penitentiaries deviate significantly from the Enlightenment-era ideals of penal reform, as articulated by M. Foucault, and from the notion of prisons as instruments of repression, as expounded by A. Davis. Consequently, the role of the imprisoned philosopher within the penal system evolves, shifting from individual spiritual resistance to the broader struggle against systemic coercive transformation. In the
Western democracies of the 20th century, there was an increasing association of the prison with the school system, re-socialisation, re-inculturation and re-qualification programmes. In contrast, in Russia and Belarus, there has been a shift in focus towards the military-industrial complex, modern PR and the new system of exchange — political human trafficking. Consequently, the role of philosophy in prison and of the imprisoned philosopher is undergoing a fundamental change. The central question guiding this study is the conceptualisation of the philosopher within the context of the prison system. The present article undertakes a comprehensive
analysis of the prison as a hegemonic system of political thought and related practices, examining.