Introduction

Abstract

The research reported here is a study of language as a means of control and resistance in a prison educational setting. It is based on the linguistic analysis of a Cognitive Skills Programme for prisoners and investigates the role of discourse in the production, reproduction and negotiation of ideology, dominance and power. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), combined with Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), as a framework, this study explores some of the ways in which ideological meanings about offenders may be constructed in spoken and written ‘crime-control’ discourse.