Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Saying the Unsayable: Foregrounding Men in the Prison System

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
New Perspectives on Prison Masculinities

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that whilst men comprise 95% of the prison population in England and Wales (MoJ 2017), and dominate the prison and criminal justice systems across the world, they do not dominate the academic and policy discourse surrounding punishment and penal reform. Instead, certain groups such as women, young people, ethnic minorities, religious groups or the mentally ill tend to be given specific attention. Rarely are men in prison as a group foregrounded within critical discourse around penal policy and research; rather, they are ‘seen’ (whilst simultaneously going ‘unseen’) as the norm, the stereotype and the population that prison was designed for in the first place.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Most men in society also do not offend.

  2. 2.

    One potential reason for this is the fact that ‘prison masculinity’ is often seen as ‘bad masculinity’ rather than being associated with positive connotations.

  3. 3.

    Interestingly, Greer made the observation that ‘Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release’ (2012: 270).

  4. 4.

    Many thanks to Dr. Gwen Robinson for this point.

  5. 5.

    These can also hold prisoners who are classified as Category B. Both prisons and prisoners are categorised—usually these would be matched where possible, but a prisoner will have to be situated in a category of prison equivalent or higher than their own categorisation.

  6. 6.

    All dispersal prisons will be high-security (Category A) prisons, but not all high-security prisons will be dispersals (many thanks to Nicholas Addis for clarifying this!).

References

  • Aresti, A. (2010). ‘Doing time after time’: A hermeneutic phenomenological understanding of reformed ex-prisoners experiences of self-change and identity negotiation. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ash, J. (2009). Dress behind bars: Prison clothing as criminality. London: I.B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC. (2013, December 16). Self-harm ‘four times more likely’ in female prisoners. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25366160

  • Behan, C. (2002). Transformative learning in a total institution. Unpublished MA Dissertation, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

    Google Scholar 

  • bell hooks. (2000). Feminist theory: From margin to center (2nd ed.). London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bibbings, L. S. (2014). Binding men: Stories about violence and law in late Victorian England. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Blagden, N., & Perrin, C. (2015). Man up interim report across three London prisons. Available at http://www.safeground.org.uk/impact-evidence/full-list-programme-evaluations/

  • Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women and rape. London: Penguin; New York: Fawcett Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, M. (2007). Prisoner confrontations: The role of shame, masculinity and respect. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christie, N. (1986). The ideal victim. In E. A. Fattah (Ed.), From crime policy to victim policy. New York: St. Martin’s.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, C. (2014). Male rape is a feminist issue: Feminism, governmentality and male rape. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corston, B. J. (2007). The Corston report: A report of a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system. London: Home Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crewe, B. (2006). Male prisoners’ orientations towards female officers in an English prison. Punishment & Society, 8(4), 395–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crewe, B. (2009). The prisoner society: Power, adaptation, and social life in an English prison. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Finateri, L. M. (1999). The paradox of pregnancy in prison: Resistance, control, and the body. Canadian Women’s Studies, 19(1&2), 136–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavin, J., & Huss, L. (2014). Feminism and prisons: Why “Add-Incarceration-and-Stir” doesn’t cut It. Available at http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/24957-feminism-and-prisons-why-add-incarceration-and-stir-doesnt-cut-it

  • Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L. (2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: Toward a theory of cognitive transformation. The American Journal of Sociology, 107(4), 990–1064.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greer, G. (2012). The female eunuch. Hammersmith: Fourth Estate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannah-Moffat, K. (1995). Feminine fortresses: Woman-centred prisons? The Prison Journal, 75(2), 135–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawton, K., Linsell, L., Adeniji, T., Sariaslan, A., & Fazel, S. (2013). Self-harm in prisons in England and Wales: An epidemiological study of prevalence, risk factors, clustering and subsequent suicide. The Lancet. Early Online Publication, 16 December 2013. Doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62118-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, S. (2014). Sex, love and abuse: Discourses on domestic violence and sexual assault. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heidensohn, F. (1985). Women and crime. Hampshire/London: Macmillan Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howe, A. (2008). Sex, violence and crime: Foucault and the ‘man’ question. Oxon/New York: Routledge-Cavendish.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jewkes, Y. (2002a). The use of media in constructing identities in the masculine environment of men’s prisons. European Journal of Communication, 17(2), 205–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jewkes, Y. (2002b). Captive audience: Media, masculinity and power in prisons. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jewkes, Y. (2005). Men behind bars: “Doing masculinity as an adaptation to imprisonment”. Men and Masculinities, 8, 44–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M. S. (1994). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame, and silence in the construction of gender identity. In H. Brod & M. Kaufman (Eds.), Theorizing masculinities. Thousand Oaks/London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCorkle, R. C. (1992). Personal precautions to violence in prison. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 19(2), 160–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Messerschmidt, J. W. (1993). Masculinities and crime. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messerschmidt, J. W. (2001). Masculinities, crime, and prison. In D. Sabo, T. A. Kupers, & W. London (Eds.), Prison masculinities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Justice. (2015a). http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/hmps/

  • Ministry of Justice. (2015b). http://www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/before-after-release/obp

  • Ministry of Justice. (2015c). Costs per place and costs per prisoner: National offender management service annual report and accounts 2014–15 management information addendum, Ministry of Justice Information Release. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/471625/costs-per-place.pdf

  • Ministry of Justice. (2017). https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2017

  • Moolman, B. (2011). Permeable boundaries: Incarcerated sex offender masculinities in South Africa. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of California, Davis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of National Statistics (ONS). (2015). Population estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: Mid-2015. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/latest

  • Phillips, C. (2012). The multicultural prison: Ethnicity, masculinity and social relations among prisoners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Potts, D. (1996). Why do men commit most crime? Focusing on masculinity in a prison group. Wakefield: West Yorkshire Probation Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, J. (2006). Penal populism. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prison Reform Trust. (2016). Bromley briefings prison factfile, Autumn 2014. Available at http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Publications/Factfile

  • Rumgay, J. (2004). Scripts for safer survival: Pathways out of female crime. The Howard Journal, 43(4), 405–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabo, D., Kupers, T. A., & London, W. (Eds.). (2001). Prison masculinities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Safe Ground. (2014). Man up development project evaluation. Available at http://www.safeground.org.uk/impact-evidence/full-list-programme-evaluations/

  • Safe Ground. (2015). http://www.safeground.org.uk/programmes-services/man-up/

  • Schmid, T. J., & Jones, R. S. (1991). Suspended identity: Identity transformation in a maximum security prison. Symbolic Interaction, 14(4), 415–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan, J. (2011). Men inside: Masculinity and the Adult male prison experience. Unpublished PhD Thesis, The University of Sheffield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sloan, J. (2012a). You can see your face in my floor’: Examining the function of cleanliness in an adult male prison. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 51(4), 400–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan, J. (2012b). Cleanliness, spaces and masculine identity in an adult male prison. Prison Service Journal, 201, 3–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. (1984). The state of the prisons: Grendon, the Barlinnie special unit, and the wormwood scrubs annexe: Experiments in penology. British Medical Journal, 288, 472–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, G. (1958). The society of captives: A study of a maximum security prison. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (2007 edition).

    Google Scholar 

  • Toch, H. (1998). Hypermasculinity and prison violence. In L. H. Bowker (Ed.), Masculinities and violence (pp. 168–178, xviii, 267 pp). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahidin, A., & Tate, S. (2005). Prison (e)scapes and body tropes: Older women in the prison time machine. Body and Society, 11(2), 59–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walklate, S. (2004). Gender, crime and criminal justice (2nd ed.). Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, D., & O’Sullivan, S. (2004). Images of incarceration. Winchester: Waterside Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wykes, M., & Welsh, K. (2009). Violence, gender & justice. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi/Singapore: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, V. D., & Reviere, R. (2006). Women behind bars: Gender and race in US prisons. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Jennifer Sloan

Authors
  1. Jennifer Sloan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Scottish Prison Service, Edinburgh, UK

    Matthew Maycock

  2. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Kate Hunt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Sloan, J. (2018). Saying the Unsayable: Foregrounding Men in the Prison System. In: Maycock, M., Hunt, K. (eds) New Perspectives on Prison Masculinities. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65654-0_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65654-0_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65653-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65654-0

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation