Abstract
It is undeniable that some black and minority ethnic groups are significantly over represented in the criminal justice system in England and Wales (see, for example, Cavadino and Dignan, 2007). In prisons, the deepest end of the system, the situation is stark. One in every four prisoners is from black and minority ethnic communities whereas those groups account for only one in ten of the general population (Berman, 2012). The prison, therefore, represents both an outcome of the racial dynamics of society more generally and a particular niche of society where racial diversity is a lived reality. It is against this background that Coretta Phillips offers an ethnographic account of the contemporary ‘multicultural’ prison.
Phillips opens the discussion by locating the structural mechanisms through which prison populations are formed. In particular, she elucidates the ‘enduring trialities’ of race, masculinity and poverty that shape a prison population largely drawn from men at the margins of society. These power structures are deeply entrenched in capitalism but also within those societies with a history of institutions exercising racialized power such as slavery or, as in the case of England and Wales, colonialism. However, the concern of this book is not solely in these macro-level structural forces, but also in the meso-level responses of the particular institution, and the micro-level processes of day-to-day social interaction.
On an institutional level, the last 15 years have seen a determined response to deeply entrenched racial difference in public services. This followed the formal recognition of ‘institutional racism’ in Justice MacPherson’s (1999) report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. This charge was also recognized as a factor in the murder of Zahib Mubarek in Feltham prison in 2000 (Keith, 2006). Subsequent work by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2005) and the National Offender Management Service (2008) has maintained a focus on exposing the fact that minority ethnic prisoners report experiencing greater weight and pain in imprisonment, and receiving a poorer quality service. This official determination to expose and address institutional racism has also taken place against a backdrop of the problematization of Muslim prisoners as a result of the ‘War on Terror’ (Liebling et al., 2012) and political and public concern about migration (Boworth and Bhui, 2013). There is therefore an internal organizational dynamic that has tensions and conflicts, where diversity and multiculturalism are seen both as enabling progressive reform and a potential risk to the established order.
What is absent from previous studies of race in prisons is attention to the day-to-day social interactions that pervade such spaces. These are issues that Phillips expertly draws out using an ethnographic approach, being embedded in two distinct prisons, with a research colleague, for almost two years. In using such a methodology, Phillips sets out to answer in particular the following series of questions: How are ethnic identities articulated in the prison setting? Are these identities politicized, and is there solidarity? Is the social world of the prison characterized by tension or by accommodation? What roles do masculinities and religious identities play? Are these identities deployed in order to mitigate or resist the pains of imprisonment and the exercise of control?
The first empirical chapter explores ‘Ethnic identities, faith and the dynamics of multicultural con-vivilaity’. Many—mainly US—works point towards the dysfunctional racial tensions within prisons but, in contrast, Phillips reveals the everyday accommodations and adaptations that enable a diverse group of people to live together peacefully in the confined space of the prison. She draws upon Paul Gilroy’s (2006) work on multicultural conviviality to describe and discuss these processes. This is particularly relevant as many prisoners come from diverse neighbourhoods and the values and practices that support this are, to some degree, imported into prisons. Phillips reveals the ways in which prisoners reconnect with and intensify aspects of identity, including religion, while in prison, and how they often form loose, small groups and factions for mutual support and solidarity. These processes can enhance ethnic identity and solidarity. At the same time, different groups and individuals learn to co-exist in important social spaces. For example, the self-cook area is identified as a particular place that could be the source of conflict but is instead shared in a spirit of accommodation, tolerance and respect. What is revealed in this chapter is the process of creating and maintaining social order within the multicultural prison.
The second empirical chapter is concerned with racialized masculinities. The first aspect of this is ‘violent masculinity’ as a prevalent feature of prison life, with the acquisition of social status through intimidation, fear and physical conflict. Within this context, men both engaged in it and sought security through solidarity. There were a range of groups and affinities that existed, including traditional postcode of locality affiliations, as well as that of urban gangs and a degree of solidarity between those of shared Muslim faith. Phillips also discusses the presentation of hypermasculinity. This is displayed through activity within the prison subculture, through body image, dress and sexualized interactions with women. It is suggested that these identities can act as a form of protection, but also as a form of resistance to institutional control and to deep-seated historical disempowerment. More hopefully, the chapter describes the aspirational identities of some prisoners to become good fathers or husbands. Throughout this part of the book, Phillips unravels the complex, conflicted and variable ways in which men express masculinity, including how they are shaped by situational ideals of masculinity, and how this intersects with racial and ethnic identities.
The final empirical chapter addresses the ‘pains of racism’. The chapter takes as read the deep seated bias that exists, and draws upon prisoner narratives to illustrate the perceptions, feelings and actions that have been reified into the term ‘institutional racism’. Phillips goes on to discuss the ways in which prisoners adapt to these particular pains, including what she identifies as: fatalistic acceptance; collective resistance; and individual rebellion. The chapter also concerns itself with the pains experienced by the white majority, who sometimes report feeling bewildered, isolated and fearful of diversity and multiculturalism. The contribution of this chapter is its ability to bring to light, through rich ethnographic detail, aspects of racial and ethnic identity that form part of the pains of imprisonment.
This book is a significant achievement. It is a worthy addition to the growing body of prison ethnography in England & Wales, as it draws out the ways in which daily experiences shape and are shaped by wider social forces. Issues of race and ethnicity have been given significant academic and professional attention over the last 15 years in particular, but in my view no previous prison study has provided such a rich exploration of the everyday social dynamics of the multicultural prison. As this book so vividly illustrates, the experience of contemporary life, including prison life, cannot be fully understood without taking account of multiculturalism. On both a theoretical and an emotional level, this work is a poignant reminder that racial power, social marginalization and masculinity are not objectified structural constructs, but are lived experiences that exist in the lives of real people, including those in prison.