The transgender pains of imprisonment

Matthew Maycock

doi:10.1177/1477370820984488

Abstract

Sykes (1958) famously outlined five deprivations constituting the ‘pains of imprisonment’, later developed in a range of research, including research considering the gendered pains of imprisonment. Despite an increase in the visibility of transgender people in society and within prison settings, the specific pains of imprisonment experienced by transgender people have been largely overlooked. Within this context, this article analyses interviews with 13 transgender people in custody, facilitating an analysis of life within prison for transgender people. The article makes a unique contribution to the study of transgender people in custody within the devolved Scottish penal context, being the first to use the analytical lens of the ‘pains of imprisonment’ to consider the particular deprivations or frustrations that transgender people experience within prison settings.

Highlights

Sykes (1958) famously outlined five deprivations constituting the ‘pains of imprisonment’, later developed by Goffman (1961), Cohen and Taylor (1972) and others to analyse the multiple painful implications of imprisonment
The marginalization of women within penology has been considered in a number of studies (Crewe et al, 2017; Moore and Scraton, 2013) that have highlighted the gendered nature of the pains of imprisonment
These studies are limited to the extent that they equate gender to women, underpinned by a biological essentialism that excludes the narratives of transgender people, for whom gender has a particular significance (Westbrook and Schilt, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Sykes (1958) famously outlined five deprivations constituting the ‘pains of imprisonment’, later developed by Goffman (1961), Cohen and Taylor (1972) and others to analyse the multiple painful implications of imprisonment. The analysis of the gendered pains of imprisonment is welcome, women are assumed to be cisgendered, and there is no consideration of whether transgender women might be part of the sample, and of the pains they might experience as a result of imprisonment. This is problematic for a number of reasons despite growing evidence of an increase in transgender people in society (Flores et al, 2016; Nolan et al, 2019) and in custody.. This is problematic for a number of reasons despite growing evidence of an increase in transgender people in society (Flores et al, 2016; Nolan et al, 2019) and in custody. Jenness and colleagues’ research in Californian prisons (Jenness, 2010; Jenness and Fenstermaker, 2014; Jenness and Gerlinger, 2020; Jenness et al, 2019; Sexton et al, 2010) has been hugely influential in the field of transgender people in custody, the specific experiences of transgender people have not been considered in Scotland until now

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Conclusion