27^th of June, 1981: A Plateau of Cultural Transformation in Helsinki Central Prison

MA Ilkka Levä, University of Helsinki 2006

In my paper I exam the societal vibrations of one prison escape made in 27^th of June, 1981 from the Helsinki Central Prison in Sörnäinen, Finland. This escape and its investigations in the Prison department of ministry of Justice gave rise to a new way of conducting the solitary confinement in Helsinki Central Prison. This shift can be conceptualised as transformation in the level of prisoner-warden relationship in the illustration case of Helsinki prison.

My approach is based on the cultural theory of philosopher Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. My theoretical standpoint can be operationalised by asking how the cultural customs of the treatment of prisoners changed after the escape episode. I also try to evaluate the historical value of this case to Finnish prison administration. This is done by presenting the case and the reverberations it produced to prison administration and changes made in the grass-root level of Helsinki Central prison. My proposition is that the alterations made to the prison system after this incident incorporated both negative and positive effects.