In various fields of science: religious studies, anthropology, sociology, ethnography, social philosophy, the term «mana» is widely used, which refers to a certain magical force that fills the world around. Scientists put forward various theories about the essence of the phenomenon of mana, the origin of belief in mana and the connection of mana with the formation of taboos and magic techniques. The paper describes for the first time the phenomenon of prison mana as prevailing among those serving sentences of imprisonment and involved in the prison subculture, the idea of the existence of a certain negative force that can «infect» a person in the course of his life in conditions of prison social isolation. Examples of the formation of prison taboos are given, their brief classification is given. It is shown that many prison taboos are associated with the presence of an informal caste structure of the prison society. Examples of using the techniques of simial, contagious, cathartic and apotropetic magic in conditions of penitentiary space are described. The characteristic of the main psychological and physical factors characteristic of the penitentiary space, which, according to the author, can contribute to the emergence of the phenomenon of prison mana, is given. The role of the logical method “inference by analogy” is emphasized in the formation of a magical worldview when a person is in prison for a long time. Scope of the research results: in the practice of the penitentiary system. The paper describes for the first time the phenomenon of prison mana, which is characteristic of the socio-cultural penitentiary space. It is argued that the discovered phenomenon of prison mana gives rise to numerous taboos in the prison subculture, which are typical for places of deprivation of liberty and that the conditions for the emergence of the phenomenon of prison mana are the psychological and physiological characteristics of a person’s stay in the institutions of the penitentiary system.
Ponomarev Sergey Borisovich – Doctor of med. sciences, professor, Moscow, Research institute of the Federal penitentiary system, Chief researcher.
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