No man’s land: How women in prison and correctional officers perceive and negotiate formal and informal codes of conduct in an Australian prison

Abstract

Imprisoned women differ from their male counterparts. Research has found that, compared with men, imprisoned women encounter additional social controls, navigate more complex interpersonal relationships with fellow prisoners and prison officers, and experience a different prison culture. Over the past 70 years, research has examined rules and rule-breaking in men's prisons. Far less attention has been paid to women's rule-breaking, and little is currently known about how imprisoned women negotiate and respond to prison governance systems. Therefore, it is crucial to consider how women's varying experiences and treatment in prison influence their decision to comply with the various codes of conduct existing in the prison. This thesis explores how imprisoned women and corrections officers in an Australian prison negotiate rules. It challenges the dominance of male-focused accounts of prison and rule-breaking behaviour in the criminological and policy literature. To accomplish this, this study brings literature from criminological studies into conversation with sociological scholarship on justice, power, resistance, and gender dynamics. Ch 1 introduces the research problem, outlines an initial review of the literature on rule-breaking in a women's penal context and articulates the purpose of the study. Ch 2 presents an analysis of women's penality and theories for understanding imprisoned women and their rule-breaking behaviours. It also demonstrates how most research has taken a quantitative approach primarily focused on interviews conducted with male prisoners. Ch 3 provides an overview of the research design and methods used in the study, describing the 20 imprisoned women and 14 officers from a prison in NSW who participated. Ch 4 to 6 draw on qualitative interviews with imprisoned women and prison officers. They examine how the prison environment, culture, and the complex interpersonal interactions occurring among imprisoned women and between officers and women influence rule-breaking behaviour and associated outcomes. Ch 4 explores how a structured and infantilising environment imposes social control on women, influencing both their compliance and rule-breaking behaviour. It also attends to the negative effects of gendered resources and the impact of sexualised treatment by male officers on women's behaviour in prison. Ch 5 examines how some women selectively and periodically used violence to uphold the prison code and retaliate against perceived violations, while trying to conceal such action from authorities. This chapter demonstrates women's various strategies for maintaining safety and order and providing/receiving emotional support, all while navigating the formal and unwritten prison rules. The framework of procedural justice (PJ) is applied in Chapter 6 to analyse the interpersonal interactions and power dynamics between officers and incarcerated women, particularly as this relates to the enforcement of rules and punishment of infractions. This study highlights how rule enforcement practices are applied and how officer integrity significantly influences the experiences and perceptions of women in prison - and their corresponding relationships with corrections officers, other prisoners and their wider social networks. Overall, this thesis produces rich empirical data on women's experiences of prison rules and culture. Contributing conceptual insights to the field of criminology, it also improves understandings of the complex interrelationships existing between officers and imprisoned women, to better inform gender-sensitive and research-led policymaking. It highlights the importance of processes of fairness, justice, and resistance in research on imprisoned women, contributing to enhanced visibility of the unique and diverse challenges this population faces while in the penal system. Addressing these issues is essential for improving how prisons respond to and manage the experiences of imprisoned women. Show more