Esto es un agujero
2020/ Ongoing project
Under the title Esto es un agujero (This is a hole) includes a last wide series of works that analyzes the practice of interior design within the total prison institution and proposes an approach to the form and function of objects framed in a context of deprivation of liberty, isolation, surveillance and punishment. The research raises the idea that the shape and color of the furniture are another discipline that allows control of the body, guaranteeing the subjection of its forces and imposing a docility-utility relationship.
«(…) a) Nurses It could be said that in the functional structure of the Penitentiary Psychiatric Hospital, the presence and performance of the so-called nurses constitutes a crucial point. According to what we were told, at the time of our visit there were about 45 nurses in the Center, who in practice perform the functions of psychiatric caretakers, caregivers or assistants, monitoring, controlling and «governing» the daily life of patients. However, they are not health professionals nor do they belong to the Center’s staff. They are simple inmates, who, with these peculiar «destinations», redeem part of their sentence: for every two days of «work» they reduce one day of sentence, and can also benefit from other «extraordinary reductions». They come from any state prison and have managed to become nurses by voluntarily requesting it and meeting the minimum requirements of being «convicted» of second or third degree (in reality, all are classified as second degree) and of having previously observed appropriate conduct. This last requirement should not be evaluated too rigorously, since, as we could see, some nurses had been very conflictive (participation in riots, rebellions, self-harm, etc.) in their prisons of origin. Perhaps these «destinations» are not highly appreciated among common prisoners. They are apparently requested by those who have long sentences to serve, sometimes for crimes of blood; those who have little time left to meet and want to shorten it however; and those who reside in Madrid, or in its vicinity, and thus seek to be closer to their relatives, lawyers, etc. In any case, inmates do not need any suitable preparation, knowledge or skills to carry out health tasks, and much less to treat mentally ill patients. Nor are they trained to do so, nor are they instructed or guided minimally, neither before nor after the achievement of «destiny.» Despite being on almost permanent duty, nurses do not receive any remuneration or gratification for the «work» they do. They continue to be penalized inmates, subject to the prison regime and regulations. As one of the Center’s doctors told us, «the nurse, if he passes, is punished», although without clarifying the meaning of this «passing». Because, in fact, most of them «hang out» very often with the patients they have to care for, and are not penalized for doing so. The sanctions are due, above all, to lack of discipline towards higher levels, and consist of more or less abbreviated isolation in the cell itself, or exceptionally in expulsion and return to the prison of origin. Something that all nurses try their best to avoid, because they know that they would not enjoy the «sympathy» of their former colleagues and that they would lose their privileges.(…)
REPORT ON THE PENITENTIARY PSYCHIATRIC ASSISTANCE CENTER OF MADRID (*)
Alicia ROIG SALAS, Teresa CAPILLA, Serafín CARBALLO and Enrique GONZÁLEZ DURO
(*) Report of the Legislation Commission of the Spanish Association of Neuropsychiatry presented to the Board of Directors. 1985
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