Prison revelations and jailhouse encounters: Inquisitorial prisons as places of Judaizing activism and cross-cultural exchange

Abstract

Prisons are a special site of cross-cultural encounter and religious illumination. People from di ferent ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds meet each other and inevitably share ideas and experiences. The space of the prison, especially the inquisitorial prison, places an identity upon the prisoner and he or she can either embrace, dissimulate, or reject that identity. The Inquisition is concerned with identity; its interrogations are meant to unmask the “true” intention and beliefs of the accused and transform the heretic back into a child of the church. This stress on the performance of identity informs the social encounters within prison cells. (from Introduction)