Abstract
This chapter will explore: prisoners’ perspectives on imprisonment; some challenges of researching prisons and imprisonment; sources readily available to undergraduate students and general readers; and prisoner autobiography, memoir, and online resources for further research.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Prisoner Autobiographies
There are many autobiographies and memoirs by prisoners and former prisoners. Several are available in second-hand bookshops. Consider reading at least one as a companion to this book. Most are not just about prison but are rich in detail about lives prior to incarceration. Some are classics of literature; others express the raw, unmediated experience of imprisonment. The following list is not exhaustive, but will introduce you to some autobiographical works on prison life.
Abbott, J. H. (1981). In the belly of the beast: Letters from prison. Random House.
Aitken, J. (2006). Porridge and passion. Bloomsbury Academic.
Archer, J. (2004, 2005 and 2006). Prison diaries: Three volumes. St. Martin’s Press.
Armstrong, P. (2017). Life after life. Gill books.
Atwood, S. (2009). Hard time: A Brit in America’s Jail. Mainstream Publishing.
Behan, B. (1961). Borstal boy. Corgi Books.
Betts, R. D. (2009). A question of freedom: A memoir of learning, survival, and coming of age in prison. Penguin.
Boyle, J. (1984). The pain of confinement: Prison diaries. Pan Books.
Callan, K. (1998). Kevin Callan’s story. Time Warner.
Campbell, B., McKeown, L., & O’Hagan, F. (Eds.). (1994). Nor meekly serve my time: The H-Block struggle 1976–1981. Beyond the Pale Publications.
Cannings, A. (2006). Against all odds. Time Warner Books.
Conlon, G. (1991). Proved innocent. Penguin Books.
Davis, A. (1988). An autobiography. International Publishers.
Hassine, V. (2011). Life without Parole: Living and dying in Prison Today. Oxford University Press.
Healy, J. (2008). The Grass Arena. Penguin Books.
Hill, P. (1995). Forever lost, forever gone. Bloomsbury.
Irwin, M. (2017). My life began at forty. L.R. Price Publications.
James, E. (2003). A life inside: A prisoner’s notebook. Guardian Books.
James, E. (2016). Redemption: A memoir of darkness and hope. Bloomsbury.
Kerman, P. (2010). Orange is the new black: My time in a women’s prison. Random House.
Kropotkin, P. (1872 [1991]). In Russian and French prisons. Black Rose Books.
Leech, M. (1993). A product of the system: My life in and out of prison. Victor Gollancz.
Lerner, J. (2010). You ain’t got nothing coming: Notes from a prison fish. Doubleday.
Lord, A. (2015). Life in Strangeways: From riots to redemption—My thirty two years behind bars. John Blake Publishing.
Maguire, P. (2008). My father’s watch: The story of a child prisoner in 70s Britain. Fourth Estate.
McVicar, J. (1974 [2002]). McVicar by himself. Artnick.
Pryce, V. (2013). Prisonomics: Behind bars in Britain’s failing prisons. Biteback.
Smith, N. (2005). A few kind words and a loaded gun: The autobiography of a career criminal. Penguin.
Wilde, O. (1898 [1999]). The ballad of reading gaol. In O. Wilde (Ed.), The soul of man and prison writings. Oxford University Press.
Wyner, R. (2004). From the inside: Dispatches from a Women’s Prison. Arum Press.
Appendix 2: Online Resources for Researching Prisons and Imprisonment
The following is a list of online resources for undertaking further research. It is not exhaustive, so you will likely come across others in your studies. However, as with hardcopy sources, read, study and use them critically. These web addresses were live at the time of publication (2022). They are listed alphabetically in each section. The inclusion of these resources (including websites) does not verify their accuracy, nor is it an endorsement of the content available on them.
Official Sources
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prisons-in-england-and-wales
Oversight and Monitoring Bodies
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/about-hmi-prisons/
Independent Monitoring Boards
National Preventative Mechanism
https://www.nationalpreventivemechanism.org.uk/
Prison and Probation Ombudsman
Penal Reform and Campaigning Organisations
Amnesty International
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/
Community Action on Prison Expansion
Critical Resistance (USA)
http://criticalresistance.org/
Death Penalty Information Center (USA)
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/home
Howard League for Penal Reform
Inquest
International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA)
National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders
Penal Reform International
Positive Prison? Positive Futures (Scotland)
http://www.positiveprison.org/
Prison Legal News (USA)
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/
Prison Reform Trust
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/
Sentencing Project (USA)
http://www.sentencingproject.org
Women in Prison
http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/
Representative Bodies
Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee
Prison Governors Association
https://modernising-justice.co.uk/sponsor/prison-governors-association/
Prison Officer Association (UK)
Prisoner Voice/s
British Convict Criminology
https://britishconvictcriminology.co.uk/
Convict Criminology
Ewrin James Prison Diary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/erwinjames
Inside Time
Jail Guitar Doors
https://www.jailguitardoors.org.uk/
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
Koestler Arts
https://www.koestlerarts.org.uk/
National Prison Radio
https://prison.radio/national-prison-radio/
Pen
https://pen.org/publications/prison-writing-awards-anthology/
Unlock
User Voice
Write to Freedom
https://www.writetofreedom.org.uk/
Penal History
Clink Prison Museum
Digital Panopticon
https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/
Eastern State Penitentiary
Kilmainham Gaol Museum
https://kilmainhamgaolmuseum.ie/
London Metropolitan Archives (with records on prisons)
National Justice Museum
https://www.nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk/
Penal Press
Prison History
https://www.prisonhistory.org/
Prison Memory Archive
https://www.prisonsmemoryarchive.com/
Other Sources
Abolitionist Futures
Ava DuVernay (2016) 13th—Netflix
Bent Bars Project
https://www.bentbarsproject.org/
Carceral Geography Working Group (CGWG)
https://carceralgeography.com/about-3/
Civic Dignity
Clinks
Eugene Jarecki (2012) The House I Live in
European Prison Education Association
European Society of Criminology Working Group’s Prison Life and the Effects of Imprisonment
https://effectsofprisonlife.wordpress.com/
Inside Stories (film)
https://www.prisonsmemoryarchive.com/feature_films/inside-stories/
Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research World Prison Brief
Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/about
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (USA)
Prisons: the Rule of Law, Accountability and Rights (PRILA)
https://www.tcd.ie/law/research/PRILA/
Solitary Watch
University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology (Comparative Penology)
https://www.compen.crim.cam.ac.uk/Blog/blog-pages-full-versions
World Prison Brief
https://www.prisonstudies.org/world-prison-brief-data
Podcasts/Webinars
After Strangeways webinar video
https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/tags/after-strangeways-webinar-video
Ashley T. Rubin, The Deviant Prison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlS7qMSJc_c
Dominque Moran, ‘Can Green Space improve the well-being of people who work in prisons?’ Locked up Living Podcast.
https://linktr.ee/LockedUpLivingPodcast
Ear hustle
Lockdown: Prisons: Abolition or Reform?
https://soundcloud.com/novaramedia/the-lockdown-prisons-abolition-or-reform
Secret Life of Prison—Prison Radio Association and Prison Reform Trust
https://prison.radio/the-secret-life-of-prisons/
Strangeways Riot 1990 (1)
https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/news/2020-09-10/25-days-april-part-1-strangeways-podcast-out-now
Strangeways Riot 1990 (2)
https://secretlifeofprisons.libsyn.com/25-days-in-april-part-2
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Behan, C., Stark, A. (2023). Prison Research: Methods, Approaches and Sources. In: Prisons and Imprisonment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09301-2_15
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