Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control

Understanding prison living: Mitigating the problem of ‘incompatible’ incarcerated people through the perspectives of correctional officers

“…What is clear from the data is how, despite past and present efforts to document and rectify the problematic living conditions of HMP (Poirier, Brown & Carlson, 2008; Weinrath & Ricciardelli, 2023), COs believe that there is still much work to be done to create a safer environment for both staff and incarcerated people. Participants describe a complex hierarchy among incarcerated people that is laced with challenges beyond the control of COs to remedy, given that prisoners share control of the institution's social rules and make‐up (Michalski, 2017; Pyrooz & Decker, 2019; Ricciardelli & Spencer, 2018; Rickard, 2016; Worley, 2011). However, the hierarchy could be more effectively managed through architectural transformation or policy adjustments.…”

“…Further, we draw attention to an understudied area of inquiry and focus on the workplace realities and conditions imposed by incompatible incarcerated people. Prisons around the world are described, historically, as being laced with opposing authorities (e.g., ‘heavies’, gangs, crime and gender hierarchies) and persons vulnerable to victimisation (e.g., sex offenders, informants; Michalski, 2017; Pyrooz & Decker, 2019; Ricciardelli & Spencer, 2018; Rickard, 2016; Worley, 2011). However, the study of how the presence of incompatibility informs CO occupational experiences represents a lacuna in the prison literature.…”

“Welcome! Oh, wait…” Transgender Military Service in a Time of Uncertainty

“…In this way, the current study follows in the footsteps of many earlier works that utilized specific cases to open the proverbial door to broader areas of study. Utilizing six in‐depth interviews and media coverage of incarceration, sexual crimes, and deviance, for example, Rickard () outlined the ways criminological and sociological analyses could be expanded to better understand and theorize sexual violence through the incorporation of studies of and narration about sex offenders. Similarly, Mathers () utilized the narratives of 11 transgender people who identify as nonreligious to raise questions about what sociologies of religion and secularism might look like with – or learn from – the incorporation of transgender populations into analyses of what it means to be religious, nonreligious, or somewhere between these two categorizations.…”