Gender and prison organisation : some comments on masculinities and prison management

Carrabine, E; Longhurst, BJ

Abstract

The paper explores the significance of some contemporary writing on masculinities to the management of male prisons. It argues that the incorporation of gender into discussions of imprisonment is an important development, but that there has been a tendency to focus on prisoners rather than prisons as organisations. Drawing on work which has emphasised the gendered nature of contemporary organisation structure and struggles, the paper examines interactions around masculinity in ‘routine’and ‘exceptional’types of prison management. The discussion of the routine leads, inter alia, to an examination of the place of the body in struggles over control. The consideration of the exceptional points to the significance of the processual constitution of masculine identity. The emphasis on contestation and constitution is reiterated in the conclusion which connects the approach developed to some contemporary research on female prisons.

Citation

Carrabine, E., & Longhurst, B. (1998). Gender and prison organisation : some comments on masculinities and prison management. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 37(2), 161-176. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2311.00088

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 1998
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2012
• Journal: The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice
• Print ISSN: 0265-5527
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 161-176
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2311.00088
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2311.00088
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Reprinted in D. M. Britton (ed.) Gender and Prisons, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, ISBN 0754625133, International Library of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Penology, Second Series.