Entering Without Breaking: Challenges and Strategies of the Qualitative Criminologist Investigating Carceral Spaces

Abstract

Although qualitative methodology courses in criminology make it possible to gain theoretical and practical training in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data gathered using qualitative tools, these more rarely help address more targeted questions and concerns. Without making any claim to offer definitive solutions beyond the status of "tip," this article attempts to tackle "things they don't really teach you how to handle in your qualitative methodology class," concerning research in a carceral environment. By characterising carceral space as an opaque, all-encompassing environment pervaded by spatiotemporal constraints, it describes strategies that can be implemented in the face of organisational, relational or emotional obstacles, based on my experience conducting prison research. Ultimately, it encourages qualitative criminologists to show flexibility and open themselves to the unexpected, so that the scope of their research is not restricted by technical constraints."Could you speak about your research experience in prison, and tell me how you've gone about gaining access to the institutions you've visited?" I have heard this question more than once at scientific conferences, methodology seminars, or simply passing someone in the hall at the École de criminologie in Montreal. I have also found the question in messages sent by students from Canada and elsewhere, who contact me for tips on how to develop their fieldwork. Although the experience of conducting research in carceral spaces is subjective and strongly affected by issues of identity, I have always enjoyed answering the various questions sent to me and sharing the emotions and feelings connected with preparing fieldwork: excitement, fear, fascination, and various worries. These feelings never go away as the researcher slips their field notebook and voice recorder into their bag, whether they are a novice or have long experience. Most of the time, those "young" researchers are hoping to get concrete practical tips, the kind that are little discussed in methodology courses: How do you get authorisation to conduct research within a carceral institution? Is it necessary to obtain a certificate of ethics? How do you prepare a research proposal and fill out the forms that accompany the request? How do you recruit participants? Although these strategic questions are important to resolve in the project-development phase, the experiential and emotional component of fieldwork is just as important and should not be neglected, as many contributions have emphasized, particularly those from the British academic world. This growing trend stresses the auto-ethnographic dimensions of qualitative research, recognising the important role that emotions play in criminology, not just in the context of conducting fieldwork, but also in producing data (Liebling, 1999;Jewkes, 2011;. Following the call by Liebling to engage with our emotions as prison researchers, numerous academics have written and theorized about it adding depth and complexity to qualitative meth...