date
- 23.05.2025
seminar
Tasos Theofilou “The prison. A discussion with Tasos Theophilou”
Prisons are a parking lot and a gym for prisoners, a headquarters and a school for crime, a guilty secret for justice and a black box for civil society. In this seminar, Tasos Theofilou, a man who lived inside Greek prisons and, upon leaving, did not stop observing and writing about them, will present his recent book on the subject. The author experienced prison in a double capacity, as a prisoner but also as an observer of the prison’s daily life, thus transforming his personal experience into a language capable of countering the stereotypes produced by the news, the various committees and the film directors. The book is a brief dive into the blind spot of the Greek social formation and its institutions, where rights are nullified by their very application. Taking the book as a starting point, the seminar will look into the black box of everyday life in prisons, the penitentiary puzzlement and its relationship with the criminal economy.
Οι φυλακές είναι πάρκινγκ και γυμναστήριο για τους κρατούμενους και τις κρατούμενες, διευθυντήριο και σχολείο για το έγκλημα, ένοχο μυστικό για τη δικαιοσύνη και μαύρο κουτί για την κοινωνία των πολιτών. Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι γραμμένο από τον Τάσο Θεοφίλου, έναν άνθρωπο που έζησε μέσα στις ελληνικές φυλακές και βγαίνοντας δεν σταμάτησε να τις παρακολουθεί και να γράφει γι’ αυτές. Με άλλα λόγια, έναν άνθρωπο που τις έζησε διπλά, ως φυλακισμένος και ως παρατηρητής της καθημερινότητάς τους, μετατρέποντας την προσωπική του εμπειρία σε γλώσσα ικανή να σταθεί απέναντι στα στερεότυπα που παράγουν οι ειδήσεις, οι επιτροπές και οι σκηνοθέτες. Και είναι μια σύντομη κατάδυση στο τυφλό σημείο του ελληνικού κοινωνικού σχηματισμού και των θεσμών του, εκεί όπου τα δικαιώματα ακυρώνονται από την ίδια την εφαρμογή τους».
Συζήτηση για το βιβλίο «Η φυλακή» και με αφορμή αυτό για τις φυλακές, τη ζωή και την καθημερινότητα σε αυτές, το σωφρονιστικό σάστισμα και την σχέση του με την παραβατική οικονομία.
bio
Tasos Theofilou was born in December 1982 in Thessaloniki and lives in Kypseli. A graduate of the Social and Pastoral Theology Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 2007, he only managed to move on to the next academic stage in 2024 by completing his master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Western Macedonia.
He has worked as a distributor of advertising leaflets, as a video club employee, as a waiter in taverns and cafes, as a waiter at the canteen of the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaloniki, as an author, as a canteen attendant in Domokos prison, as a scribe in Korydallos prison, a court reporter, a restorer of police and court reports, a worker in the production of advertising key chains, an editor, a publisher, an organizer of events and book festivals and a researcher of police and court narratives in the interwar press.
Something that has affected him greatly and forces him to write about it constantly, to avoid the costs of psychotherapy, is his five-year detention in Greek prisons (three and a half years in Domokos prison and in Korydallos prison) for a series of serious charges that were brought against him in August 2012 and for which he was finally acquitted in June 2017.
seminar video
seminar video
date
- 23.05.2025
bio
Tasos Theofilou was born in December 1982 in Thessaloniki and lives in Kypseli. A graduate of the Social and Pastoral Theology Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 2007, he only managed to move on to the next academic stage in 2024 by completing his master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Western Macedonia.
He has worked as a distributor of advertising leaflets, as a video club employee, as a waiter in taverns and cafes, as a waiter at the canteen of the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaloniki, as an author, as a canteen attendant in Domokos prison, as a scribe in Korydallos prison, a court reporter, a restorer of police and court reports, a worker in the production of advertising key chains, an editor, a publisher, an organizer of events and book festivals and a researcher of police and court narratives in the interwar press.
Something that has affected him greatly and forces him to write about it constantly, to avoid the costs of psychotherapy, is his five-year detention in Greek prisons (three and a half years in Domokos prison and in Korydallos prison) for a series of serious charges that were brought against him in August 2012 and for which he was finally acquitted in June 2017.
seminar video
seminar video
seminar
Tasos Theofilou “The prison. A discussion with Tasos Theophilou”
Prisons are a parking lot and a gym for prisoners, a headquarters and a school for crime, a guilty secret for justice and a black box for civil society. In this seminar, Tasos Theofilou, a man who lived inside Greek prisons and, upon leaving, did not stop observing and writing about them, will present his recent book on the subject. The author experienced prison in a double capacity, as a prisoner but also as an observer of the prison’s daily life, thus transforming his personal experience into a language capable of countering the stereotypes produced by the news, the various committees and the film directors. The book is a brief dive into the blind spot of the Greek social formation and its institutions, where rights are nullified by their very application. Taking the book as a starting point, the seminar will look into the black box of everyday life in prisons, the penitentiary puzzlement and its relationship with the criminal economy.
Οι φυλακές είναι πάρκινγκ και γυμναστήριο για τους κρατούμενους και τις κρατούμενες, διευθυντήριο και σχολείο για το έγκλημα, ένοχο μυστικό για τη δικαιοσύνη και μαύρο κουτί για την κοινωνία των πολιτών. Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι γραμμένο από τον Τάσο Θεοφίλου, έναν άνθρωπο που έζησε μέσα στις ελληνικές φυλακές και βγαίνοντας δεν σταμάτησε να τις παρακολουθεί και να γράφει γι’ αυτές. Με άλλα λόγια, έναν άνθρωπο που τις έζησε διπλά, ως φυλακισμένος και ως παρατηρητής της καθημερινότητάς τους, μετατρέποντας την προσωπική του εμπειρία σε γλώσσα ικανή να σταθεί απέναντι στα στερεότυπα που παράγουν οι ειδήσεις, οι επιτροπές και οι σκηνοθέτες. Και είναι μια σύντομη κατάδυση στο τυφλό σημείο του ελληνικού κοινωνικού σχηματισμού και των θεσμών του, εκεί όπου τα δικαιώματα ακυρώνονται από την ίδια την εφαρμογή τους».
Συζήτηση για το βιβλίο «Η φυλακή» και με αφορμή αυτό για τις φυλακές, τη ζωή και την καθημερινότητα σε αυτές, το σωφρονιστικό σάστισμα και την σχέση του με την παραβατική οικονομία.
