Social scientists have used three different approaches to discuss and analyse total institutions, such as prisons and asylums. The first one draws back to Rusche and Kirchheimer, and relates the transformations of prisons to the qualtiative changes in economy. The second one recalls the social- control related approaches put forward by Foucault, Cohen and Garland. The author, in his work, uses the intractionist perspective of Erving Goffmann to describe and analyse the story of two former inmates, a man and a woman