ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 advances the argument that the functioning of law is contingent on the staff who implement it, but also on the institutional context in which it is applied. It suggests that ‘structural’ constraints manifest as the proceduralisation of law, whereby processes, paperwork and bureaucracy seep into the unit in ways which prioritise process over procedural or substantive justice. The chapter highlights how ‘structural’ constraints influence the limited (and contingent) ways in which prisoners access and engage with legal resources and safeguards. Together, they cultivate, for staff and prisoners, a lack of faith and distrust of legal mechanisms and processes. Importantly, they create a sense that the rules and processes privilege the ‘other’ (i.e. staff group or prisoner group). Specifically, for prisoners, they create a degree of ‘legal authority’ – they justify the decisions of those in power – but fail to create ‘legitimate authority’ (they do not render those decisions ‘legitimate’).
