Over time I realized that superintendents didn’t exist in a bubble – their actions are only relevant in the context of the orders from above, the politics of the time and the great personal strain involved in managing large numbers of staff and inmates. In my work on carceral islands in colonial Australia, I have found it difficult not to demonise the brutal superintendents, and feel sympathy for those who allowed a little latitude into the prison regime for the benefit of the prisoners. Nevertheless, it struck me that a computer game might be a good way ‘in’ to the perspective of prison management. After all, I spend enough of my free time (and his!) thinking and talking about convicts.
When my other half pointed out that there was a computer game where you could run your own prison, he probably didn’t think I would actually play it.
