Captive in Cycles of Invisibility? Prisoners’ Work for the Private Sector

Abstract

This article critiques a case of modern prison-labour by exploring prisoners' attitudes towards the prison-work they undertake while incarcerated. The study is based at a privatised male prison in the UK, assigned the pseudonym 'Bridgeville'. Bridgeville contracts with privatesector firms in providing market-focused prison-work -so-called real work -for inmates in some of its workshops. In exploring prisoners' perceptions of this privatised prison-work, it is found that it mainly comprises mundane, low-skilled activities typical of informalised, poorquality jobs that are socially, legally and economically devalued and categorised as forms of 'invisible work'. At Bridgeville, such privatised prison-work largely fails in engaging or upskilling inmates, leaving them pessimistic about its value as preparation for employment post-release. Its rehabilitative credentials are therefore questioned. The article contributes to the debate around invisible work more generally by problematising this example of excluded work and the cycle of disadvantage that underpins it.

The seven deadly sins and ethnography

“…However, contact with the field can prove to be an oppressive and inhospitable element for the researcher. As a result, the ethnographer may be considered a spy (Korczynski, 2011), have his nationality, sexuality, intelligence and health contested and ridiculed, suffer situations in which their race and gender are minimized, decontextualized or satirized (Fernando et al, 2020;Oliveira, 2018;Cunliffe, 2018;Pandeli et al, 2019;Alcadipani et al, 2015).…”

“…While lust gives us a hint on how to respond to the fieldwork challenges, wrath reveals itself as yielding to the researchers' own instinctive temptations of anger and fury. Pandeli et al (2019), for example, explain how access to interviews was facilitated by being a woman in an all-male prison, to study prison-work. However, that also engendered sexist comments and security issues for the researcher.…”

“…Here such addiction is compared to wrath, by this natural urge of the human to act when observing injustices. Such a problem besides interfering in the research results can also have consequences for the researcher access to the field (Korczynski, 2011;Pandeli et al, 2019).…”

Risky Business? The Value of Employing Offenders and Ex-Offenders: An Interview With James Timpson, Chief Executive of Timpson

“…Government policy has responded to this evidence by proposing a “rehabilitation revolution” that emphasizes education, training, skills development, and an overall focus on work during incarceration (Ministry of Justice, 2011). While in practice this has not always proved to be successful (Pandeli et al, 2018), it is argued that prison work that closely resembles real employment outside the prison walls has greater rehabilitative potential (Guilbaud, 2010; Silva & Saraiva, 2016; Visher & Travis, 2003; Wakefield & Uggen, 2010). If prison work can help prisoners to imagine a passage between prison and the economic world (Guilbaud, 2010), it has the potential to act as a mechanism for recovery and rehabilitation (Silva & Saraiva, 2016).…”

“…According to Johnson (2013), ex-offenders must be in an environment where they are given the opportunity to feel competent with decisions, which then leads to greater self-efficacy. Self-efficacy and belief in one’s own abilities are vital for offenders to reintegrate back into society (Maruna, 2001; Pandeli et al, 2018). Timpson’s approach to empowerment is a clear example of how offenders and ex-offenders can build their self-efficacy and reintegrate into society through work.…”