Based on research the author conducted in 2006 at a men's medium-security correctional facility and on the author's experiences during that research, this article provides some insight into the issues associated with interviewing inmates. Included are discussions of gaining access to prison, negotiating Institutional Review Boards, the construction of study concepts and instruments, inmate identity, and institutional influence. Emphasizing narrative and interactionist approaches, the author's goal is to help researchers understand their role in the interview process and the author introduces an organizational interview tool called “identity moments,” wherein researchers can facilitate the retrospective and interpretative practice of building meaning through narrative. The purpose of the author's work is to provide some critical insights into conducting prison research so that future researchers might have a head start.
In recent years, the United States government along with prison authorities have worked to pass laws preventing incarcerated people from accessing cellular technology and using social media behind bars. Yet through the acquisition of contraband cell phones, some incarcerated people have subverted these laws to create a presence on social media, particularly on the popular social media app TikTok. We introduce the term social reclamation to describe the use of social media by imprisoned people to achieve three primary goals: (1) to remain connected to society through engagement with current social and cultural trends, (2) to reclaim self-narratives of everyday life by sharing lived experiences behind bars, and (3) to expose the unseen dehumanizing reality of prison industrial complex. Through the analysis of select prison TikTok videos we situate these acts of social reclamation on Rubin’s continuum of friction-resistance, and we conclude by juxtaposing our findings to state-centered narratives that claim cell phone use in prison poses a threat to public safety.
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