In the eye of the beholder: Meaning and structure of informal status in women's and men's prisons*

This article is based on primary research conducted by the authors in Northern Ireland in the Mourne House women's unit at Maghaberry Prison in 2004 and in Ash House women's prison unit in Hydebank Wood Young Offender Centre from 2005–2006. It explores the imprisonment of women in prison in the context of a society slowly and unevenly emerging from violent conflict and against a backdrop of the global rise of women's imprisonment over the past two decades. The history of the gendered punishment of politically motivated prisoners is explored, followed by discussion of the findings of primary research in Mourne House women's unit, and after its closure, in Ash House. The conclusion analyses how women's prison experiences in the North contribute to an understanding of the contested terrain of agency and resistance. Finally, the article explores the potential for, and barriers, to change within women's imprisonment in Northern Ireland.

In this article, we conjoin two long‐standing lines of inquiry in criminology—the study of prison life and the study of sexual assault—by using original qualitative and quantitative data from 315 transgender women incarcerated in 27 California men's prisons. In so doing, we advance an analysis of the factors and processes that shape their experience of sexual victimization in prison. The results of qualitative analysis of 198 reported incidents of sexual victimization exhibit a range of types of sexual victimization experienced by transgender women in prison and reveal the centrality of relationships to their experiences of victimization. Findings from logistic regression models buttress the qualitative results, highlighting a factor that consistently and powerfully indicates vulnerability to sexual victimization is involvement in consensual sexual relationships with male prisoners. Together, the data demonstrate the prominence of intimate partner violence in prison, complicate the distinction between consent and unwanted sexual experiences in the lives of transgender women in prisons for men, and shine a light on the workings of gender in a total institution that privileges heteronormativity at the expense of the safety of transgender women in prisons for men. We discuss the implications of our findings in light of timely policy concerns.

This article uses Joan Acker's (1990) theory of gendered organizations to frame an analysis of the construction of occupational choice. Utilizing interview data collected from correctional officers (N = 36) working in a men's and a women's state prison, I examine these officers' strong preference for work in the men's prison. Reasons for preferring work with men draw on a comparison of male to female inmates in which the latter are seen as emotional and irrational, an ideal typical construction of the men's prison as a “real penitentiary,” and a feeling among officers that supervisors in women's prisons are less able to enforce institutional rules. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this case study for a theory of gendered occupational choice and gendered organizations.

Recognizing that prisons house diverse populations in equally diverse types of environments, we utilize a unique data set and employ two well-known sociological concepts—collective identity and collective efficacy—to examine overlapping communities in which transgender women in prisons for men are situated and experience prison life. Findings from our mixed-methods analysis reveal that despite their considerable diversity, transgender prisoners embrace a collective identity and perceive collective efficacy as transgender prisoners more so than as prisoners per se; their collective identity and perceptions of collective efficacy are predicated on social-interactional factors rather than demographic characteristics and physical features of the carceral environment; and the more time a transgender inmate spends in prison, the more likely she is to identify with a community of transgender prisoners, but the less likely she is to feel an affective commitment to the transgender prisoner community or to expect other transgender prisoners to act on her behalf in prison. This novel application of dynamics generally understood to operate in social movements and residential neighborhoods—collective identity and collective efficacy, respectively—to the transgender community in California’s prisons sheds insight into the ways in which transgender women in prisons for men experience prison life, the loyalties around which prison life is organized, and the complexities around which communities in prison are structured.

Since prison life is out of common people’s sight, the media have a particularly important role in legitimating or, conversely, de-legitimating public discourses and policies about punishment, incarceration and rehabilitation. In the present study, our analysis was grounded in 83 news, 55 of these about men prisons, 24 about women prisons and 4 news about public policies in general, although having specificities about men’s and women’s prisons published in a Portuguese national newspaper between 2005 and 2014. The analysis suggests that, with very few exceptions, gender is an important issue in the media construction for men's and women's prisons and male and female inmates; gender norms of masculinity and femininity are essentialized, justifying different practices of control in prison policies. Dangerous, violent, resistant and manipulative male inmates call for prison policies based on risk control and managerialism, whereas docile and reliable female inmates call for policies grounded on rehabilitation but also security. Apart from this representation, our analysis also shows that the news, in general, tends to align with a reformist approach, failing to interrogate the wider role of imprisonment in social control or to discuss its alternatives.

Women's prisons have traditionally been viewed as less violent compared with men's prisons. While the male inmate subculture has long been studied and theories developed to explain the existence of such a subculture, women's prisons and female inmate subcultures have not been examined as thoroughly. Compared to men's prisons and male inmates, female prisons were viewed as less volatile, the relationships between female inmates were described as attempts to replicate family relationships in the community, and interactions between female inmates and correctional officers were seen as being less antagonistic. However, women's prisons may differ significantly from how they have been perceived and the existence of a female inmate subculture that includes aggressiveness, violence, and victimization may play a larger role in women's prisons than originally believed. Given the common and extensive histories of victimization and trauma that many female inmates bring to prison, in addition to the losses associated with motherhood, facing a more aggressive and violent inmate subculture may make incarceration especially trying for women. In addition, the effects of loss and victimization prior to and during incarceration may make the challenges of reentry even more difficult for women leaving prison.

Gender beliefs that led to different directions in the development of women's and men's prisons are especially apparent in the 1608 proposal that madre Magdalena de San Gerónimo made to the King of Spain. Examined in its historical context, this proposal for a prison for "recalcitrant women" shows that women's prisons in Spain developed out of early policies on prostitution and Magdalen houses, religious beliefs, and concerns about order and authority. The proposal influenced subsequent penal policies and promoted a gender-specific transition from corporal public punishments into private reformatory incarceration.

In the United States, sexuality and sexual relationships were foundational concepts for understanding women's prisons that generally receded from carceral research as the nation's incarceration rates climbed. This study reevaluates classic themes of sexuality and women's prison informal organization using social network and health data collected in two Pennsylvania women's prison units (n = 118). Sampled women perceived a high prevalence of prison-based sexual relationships and overwhelmingly endorsed the rights of sexual minorities. Additionally, network analyses found that sexual minority women had similar friendships, social status, and self-reported health as their heterosexual peers across both units, suggesting an absence of sexual stigmatization or group segregation processes. However, older, longer-term incarcerated women were more likely than their peers to hold unfavorable views toward prison sex. This was particularly evident in a “good behavior” unit holding many older, long-term residents where overt sexual behaviors could jeopardize the unit's stability and privileges.

We aimed to investigate the epidemic situation of tuberculosis (TB) in prisons in the central region of China. Tuberculosis screening was carried out in two prisons in middle China. A sum of 3,459 prisoners accepted chest X-ray examination; 40 of them were diagnosed as active TB patients. The active TB prevalence (1,156/105) was significantly higher than that of the province and China's general population (P < 0.01). As for gender, TB prevalence in men's prison (1,589/105) was higher than that in the women's prison (946/105). Nevertheless, the risk of having TB in women's prison was much higher than that in the men's prison when compared with the TB prevalence from the province (women: OR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.34, 4.22; men: OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.90, 2.60) and the China's general population (women: OR = 3.30, 95% CI: 2.15, 5.09; men: OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.29, 3.30). In view of the severe epidemic situation of TB in prisons, integrating medical resources to establish a consummate and effective management system is necessary.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the informal social structure of a state correctional institution for women. Of sociological concern for this researcher was the process whereby the informal social structure emerged as women differentially defined the situation in prison and directed lines of action in response to their interpretation of the form al social structure. Further, in order to understand why the informal social structure developed, it was important for this researcher to explain the process whereby the interaction patterns of the women in this institution developed relatively stable and repetitious structure. In addition to seeking an understanding of the process of interaction emerging into structures, this researcher was concerned with the nature of the relationships that were created and sustained as well as the types of interaction found in prisons. An examination of the literature suggested that leadership in the form of deference patterns had been studied in men's prisons but not in women's prisons. Further, the literature on women's prisons suggested some basic disagreements among Giallombardo, Ward and Kassebaum, and Heffernan with regard to the nature of homosexual involvements in women's prisons. Thus, this researcher designed a research project to examine the process of the emergence of interaction patterns, the nature of interaction with special emphasis on two types of interaction (leadership and homosexuality), and the relationship of interaction, leadership, and homosexuality. The major instrument utilized by the researcher for gaining insight into the patterns of interaction at this institution was field observation. In addition, to the direct observation of the everyday activities of the women, an open- ended questionnaire was used in interviewing every available and willing woman in the research population. Finally, biographical and criminal background data were gathered on each woman from the case history record files. The findings suggested that women who interpreted the informal social structure as meaning that their best adjustment in prison was to withdraw from other women were the isolates. However, other women in interpreting the formal social structure directed lines of action that allowed them to be highly involved in work assignments and treatment programs. Thus, these women were the high interactors, and leaders of this institution. Further, the leaders were also found to be homosexual studs who were outspoken and willing to stand up for themselves and for change in regulations that would benefit the entire population. Finally, this researcher's findings with regard to the nature of homosexual relationships differed from Giallombardo's findings. While Giallombardo found pseudo families based on relatively permanent homosexual dyads, this researcher found brief homosexual dyads. Additional research would be needed to clarify and explain these differences.

Building on previous work which has conceptualized the embodied experience of imprisonment as prison time ‘inscribed’ on the body, this article argues that the experience of reintegration after release from prison is similarly embodied and corporeal. It contends that while scholarship of prisoner reintegration post-release has identified the stigmatization of ex-inmates as a challenge to their successful re-entry, the embodied experience of this process has remained under-researched. Drawing on extensive research with women prisoners, former prisoners and prison staff in the contemporary Russian Federation, the article presents empirical evidence that explores the embodied experiences of release and reintegration, identifying specific examples of prison time being ‘inscribed’ on the body which prove problematic for former prisoners, and demonstrating the ways in which their attempts to ‘erase’ or overwrite these inscriptions constitute a stage in the continual corporeal process of becoming. The article suggests that these insights could inform better understandings of experiences of reintegration, and could in turn inform the improvement of provision of services to prisoners during incarceration.

This research draws on original data to empirically assess how an array of factors – including features of the self, the prison environment, and prisoners’ interactions with each other – shape the probability of transgender women in prisons for men experiencing sexual victimization and non-sexual physical assault. Logistic regression analyses reveal that, in general, the same factors that predict sexual assault per se predict sexual victimization more generally as well as non-sexual assault. The most consistently powerful predictor is an interactional variable: whether transgender women report having been in a consensual sexual relationship with another prisoner, which consistently approximately triples the odds of all three categories of victimization (i.e., sexual assault, sexual victimization, and non-sexual assault). The prominence of this durable interactional predictor points to lifestyle and routines as the most proximate influence on victimization – sexual or otherwise. This, in turn, allows for both a more robust understanding of the social organization of violence and victimization within prison settings as well as a more robust understanding of the relationships between different types of victimization.

In this article, we investigate the degree to which prison shapes transgender women’s perceptions of themselves as gendered people in prisons for men. Drawing on original data collected from 315 transgender women in 27 prisons for men in California, a mixed-methods analysis reveals that transgender women in prisons for men report higher levels of self-perceptions of femininity while incarcerated, especially for those who report sexual victimization by other prisoners. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in light of recent calls for more theory and research on femininities as well as the policies and practices that undergird prisons as one of the most sex-segregated institutions.

Research of inmate social order is a once-vibrant area that receded just as American incarceration rates climbed and the country's carceral contexts dramatically changed. This study reengages inmate society with an abductive mixed methods investigation of informal status within a contemporary men's prison unit. The authors collect narrative and social network data from 133 male inmates housed in a unit of a Pennsylvania medium-security prison. Analyses of inmate narratives suggest that unit "old heads" provide collective goods in the form of mentoring and role modeling that foster a positive and stable peer environment. This hypothesis is then tested with Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) of peer nomination data. The ERGM results complement the qualitative analysis and suggest that older inmates and those who have been on the unit longer are perceived by their peers as powerful and influential. Both analytical strategies point to the maturity of aging and the acquisition of local knowledge as important for attaining informal status in the unit. In sum, this mixed methods case study extends theoretical insights of classic prison ethnographies, adds quantifiable results capable of future replication, and points to a growing population of older inmates as important for contemporary prison social organization.

Some of the issues raised in the show present interesting questions involving bioethics. Corrections officers regard inmates differently than medical staff regard patients. There is little concern for the inmates’ autonomy in the series, and, I suspect, in real life. By definition, prison requires the loss of liberty, and unlike in a doctor-patient context, inmates realize that seeking the help of corrections officers will elicit further retribution by fellow inmates. While the warden is sympathetic towards Piper, he repeatedly mentions that he will not be able to help her through her time in prison. This is a practical reality understood by both prison staff and the prisoners. This is not to diminish the job of corrections officers, but their time is spent differently than hospital staff. For instance, the warden is forced to view requests for seemingly innocuous items, such as a new freezer, with a great deal of suspicion. These are a very different set of concerns. Orange is the New Black is Netflix’s new hour-long series set in a women’s prison that mixes elements of comedy and drama. The show is Netflix’s fourth attempt at original programming, and while it appears to be a TV show, the only way to watch the show is by streaming the show through a Netflix account. The show was created by Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, and like Weeds, Orange is the New Black tells a unique story from the perspective of an unconventional female protagonist. The series is based on Piper Kerman’s memoir documenting her time in a women’s minimum security prison in upstate Connecticut. The female protagonist in the show is also named Piper, and the show’s comedy and drama is based on her being forced to transition from her upper-middle class life with her fiance, played by Jason Biggs, to life in prison. The show is often funny, and while the minimum security prison seems surprisingly dangerous, it is not as though the prison life is similar to that of HBO’s Oz. Many of Piper’s fellow inmates have goofy nicknames and seem to be women who have encountered misfortune more than they are hardened criminals. The show features an unsavory guard who is shown smuggling contraband for the inmates. However, the warden is portrayed sympathetically, while a different guard is portrayed as being kind to the inmates. While the show is not particularly focused on the public policy issues that surround prisons, the major plotline in one episode follows the inmates attempt to capture a chicken, believed to carry drugs, in the prison yard; issues such as the smuggling of contraband and the ethics (or lack thereof) of prison staff often come up. Still, many of the misdeeds on the show are committed by the prison guards. One guard is shown bringing contraband into the prison, while another is involved in a sexual relation with an inmate. Given that these events occur in real life, these are not exactly revelations when portrayed on the show. What is interesting is that the show does not portray the love affair negatively, but simply portrays the guard and inmate as two people in love. This may be because the show does not have many ways to include a romance, but it is surprising to see such an ethically dubious act portrayed positively. These considerations are decidedly not the focus of the series, but are there to those who want to pay attention. Overall, the series is well-written and the performance by Taylor Shilling in the main role is very strong. The show’s plot is decidedly different from standard TV fare, and the critical acclaim it has received is well justified. The show is definitely worth checking out, and I’ll continue to watch the second season.