Abstract:There is a significant and growing volume of research into the way in which offenders desist from crime, their resettlement and re-entry into society following a custodial sentence. As is too often the case in criminological research, women are underrepresented in these areas of investigation. This research aimed to investigate how women in the last three months of a prison sentence plan and prepare for their release. Using data generated from qualitative interviews with women prisoners and prison staff over a 13 month period in a closed women's prison in England, this paper will argue that women prisoners have motivation and desire to desist from crime post release but their attempts to plan for release are hindered by a responsibilisation discourse that runs throughout the institution and by a severe lack in all forms of capital (social, cultural, economic and symbolic). This not only results in many women being released with little support in place to help them achieve their aims of a crime free life in the future but also highlights the problems with a prison system based on male centred knowledge.
The building of a new 'super prison' in Wrexham, North Wales has begun amidst a wider expansion of the penal industrial complex. Campaigns are mobilising nationally and locally against the project. This article examines the concerns surrounding what will become the United Kingdom's largest prison and argues that its construction is a symptom of a wider ideological attack on marginalised groups while also examining the case against prison expansion.
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