ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on original empirical material from the under-researched penal context of Latin America. It contributes to the renewal of ethnographic perspectives in prison studies, after a puzzling eclipse of empirical research since the 1980s, at the very time the prison sector underwent an historical boom worldwide. Prisons inspired by the US model in Colombia have attempted to dispossess inmates of their sense of self by the destruction of personal privacy and the permanent exposure of the body. 'Resistance goes beyond secondary adjustments', or rather combines with them, to establish a balance of power likely to change the rules of the camp. In these tactics, there is a space for collaboration between the inmates and the rulers, since many of the prisoners' initiatives are tolerated and a lot of their claims are eventually approved. The association of Agamben and Goffman's perspectives is particularly relevant to grasp the complexity of carceral space.
