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• Published in: Terrains/Théories Vol. 16
• Main Author: Adrien Primerano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre 01.12.2022
• Subjects: confinement; autism; institutions
• ISSN: 2427-9188
• DOI: 10.4000/teth.5034

Since the early 2000s, legal developments and recommendations of good practice have produced a set of new standards aimed at "well-treatment" in medical and social institutions. However, the use of restraint has not disappeared from professional practices in institutions. This article examines this apparent paradox by seeking to understand the discourses and practices surrounding the confinement spaces in medical-educational institutes (IME) for autistic adolescents. The "confinement space" designates rooms where one of the uses is to lock up an individual alone. This use is structured around the idea of a benefit for the person locked up, around a dimension of learning and progress, in the mastery of norms, of the framework, and of the expected behavior. These dimensions are grouped together here under the heading of educational objectives. However, recourse to confinement also takes the form of a test of professionalism, bringing into play the ethical and moral dimensions of the educators’ work. They seek to legitimize their practices by relying on psychologists and psychiatrists, by demanding greater protocolization. The idea of "valve" emerges finally, in the confinement as a use to make the emotional work of the educators sustainable, as a default practice in view of the organizational context.