Abstract
For the most part, the general public will never set foot inside a prison. They are institutions which are set apart from the rest of society and are intended to house only the worst and most dangerous criminals. Given this separation, the general public possess little knowledge of what actually occurs behind prison walls. Nevertheless, in the modern political climate it has become tacitly accepted that prisons are a necessity. This has led to prison numbers rising exponentially over the last 30 years, resulting in staggering statistics cataloguing the number of individuals being imprisoned (p. x).
With this growing prison population, as noted by Jewkes in her foreword, there is a growing need to research the hidden world of the prison in order to understand its social dynamics. Therefore, ethnography takes on a heightened importance in order to discover the world and social dynamics in which prisoners now live. It is surprising to note that Wacquant stated at the turn of the century that there has been ‘a curious eclipse of prison ethnography’ (Wacquant, 2002: 385) However, there has been something of a renaissance of prison ethnography in the British context in recent years. (Liebling, 1999) This is important, as prison ethnography can allow for a near complete immersion into the hidden prison world and can provide unique insights into the dynamics of prison life. As such, the use of the ethnographic method within prisons should be seen as a vital tool in understanding the unique social world of the prison.
While the use of ethnography has become more prevalent, it is vital that any ethnographic research that is undertaken is done well and conducted in a responsible manner. This is important in terms of gathering data and the responsibility which is owed by the researcher to the prisoners they are researching. As such, it is useful that a dedicated text devoted to prison ethnography is now available. Conducting ethnography is a complex and multi-faceted endeavour, and the different aspects which encompass the practice of prison ethnography are covered in detail within the book. Given the detail and breadth of topics that the book covers, the text is going to be most advantageous to researchers who are new to conducting prison ethnographies, as well as practitioners transitioning from prison worker to prison ethnographer given that a large section of the book is devoted to this very topic.
With this in mind, the Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography seeks to demonstrate the utility of prison ethnography and the challenges researchers can encounter when utilising this methodological approach. The book is split into four distinct parts: ‘About Prison Ethnography’, ‘Through Prison Ethnography’, ‘Of Prison Ethnography’ and ‘For Prison Ethnography’. Part One of the book explores the theoretical and practical issues which encapsulate the practice of ethnography. Part Two considers the insights that ethnography can provide in the wider social context. Part Three discusses the different roles and identities which ethnographers can adopt and how they handle these. Part Four explores the value of prison ethnography beyond the prison itself. The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography explores a wide and diverse array of issues and it is this which makes it such a valuable resource both for the seasoned and novice prison researcher.
A common theme amongst the chapters contained within the Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography is the need to build rapport with prisoners themselves and the staff which run the various institutions. This can be initiated through similar characteristics such as skin colour, as detailed by Earle and Phillips in Chapter 12; or by being an ex-prisoner, as enunciated by Davies in Chapter 23; or even by being a prison governor, as shown by Bennett in Chapter 15. While institutional access can be granted through prior relationships, rapport between researcher and participant is integral to carrying out an ethnographic project. It is the building of the rapport in prison with both prisoners and staff which facilitates access once inside the prison. Without such a rapport, access can be limited as prisoners can be more inhibited when they speak with researchers and prison staff may even limit access to prisoners. This would inevitably place limits on the utility of the research as a whole. Therefore, the book is admirable in consistently highlighting such an integral aspect of conducting a prison ethnography.
The need to manage identities and roles re-emerges in several chapters. This is most evident in Part Three of the book, which sees various former practitioners who have become researchers negotiate their new roles and identities. These include Jamie Bennett, a prison governor who transitioned into the role of a researcher. He discusses in detail the management of this changing identity, from the change in roles through to the different clothes he wore and how this affected other people’s views of him as well as the view he had of himself. This brings a much-needed insight into being an ‘insider’ researcher and the challenges which accompany this role. In a similarly detailed fashion, Abigail Rowe discusses her experience as a prison ethnographer in a women’s institution as a gay female researcher. Rowe notes that researchers themselves can be used as a tool when conducting prison ethnography. Therefore, the identity that she portrayed had an effect on how others viewed her and how she inevitably viewed the institution. This need to manage identity is an important point which is quite often overlooked in prison ethnographies and is therefore an important point to highlight, especially for the novice researcher. Both of these chapters, and the other reflections on identity and the self throughout the book, help to illustrate that ethnography is a reflexive methodology. It is a complex tool that can be utilised in a variety of ways and can provide unique insights into the complex world of the prison, dependent upon the unique perspective of the individual researcher.
Despite the need to manage identities and build rapport with prisoners being an integral part of conducting a prison ethnography, it also has to be remembered that it is the prisoners who are the focal point of the research and not the researcher. However, prison ethnographies often focus on mainstream prisoners and often neglect sub-ordinated groups in the prison environment. This is a point made by Waldram in Chapter 11 who reminds us that prison ethnographers have a responsibility ‘to represent the experiences and perspectives of their participants equally, regardless if they are victims or perpetrators, good, bad or evil’ (p. 215). This chapter in relation to Waldram’s research in Canada highlights the fact that sexual offenders comprise a notable part of the prison population and thus have an effect on the dynamics of the prison environment, but are largely ignored in prison ethnographies. Ignoring them and failing to discuss them adequately does ‘a great injustice to those participants and the tradition of ethnography’ (p. 227). Given the increase in numbers of sexual offenders within prisons in England and Wales, it should be hoped that their experiences of imprisonment garner more academic attention. Without such attention, their impact on prison life and the impact prison life has on them will go undiscovered and will be a noticeable gap within the academic literature. Indeed, as noted by Crewe and Levins in Chapter 6, ‘if we are drawn to marginalised people, we should be drawn to those prisoners who are especially marginalised’ (p.139). Therefore, the Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography does more than simply outline the challenges of conducting ethnographic research in prisons. It also highlights the areas where it is lacking and can be more detailed.
The book contains a number of valuable chapters which provide unique insights into prison research, but Chapter 7 stands out as particularly useful for the novice researcher. Written by Sloan and Wright, the chapter highlights the things that need to be known, but are not always explicitly stated, for ‘green’ ethnographers. This chapter admirably highlights the various issues that may arise during the first experiences of conducting prison ethnography, such as when things go wrong, access to institutions and dressing appropriately for the situation. These are all issues which ‘green’ ethnographers are eminently concerned with and it is admirable that these two scholars have taken the opportunity to provide advice for the novice researcher on these pertinent issues.
The value of the book is best stated by Jewkes in the foreword when she comments that ‘one of the exciting things about the Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography is that it reveals why we do ethnographic research’ (p. xii). It is only by entering the hidden world of the prison that the true experiences of prisoners and the realities of living in a prison can be fully understood. Through the book’s exploration of key issues which concern conducting and carrying out a prison ethnography, it highlights the value of using this diverse methodology in what is a complex and multi-faceted environment. As such, the Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography is an essential text for prison ethnographers, but is most beneficial to the novice researcher or researchers transitioning from working in prisons to researching prisons.