Liminality revisited: Mapping the emotional adaptations of women in carceral space

Abstract

This article draws on interview data with women in two prisons in the UK to understand the emotionally nuanced and sensorially attuned relationship between confined individuals and carceral space. The article presents an ‘emotional map’ comprising: (i) living or ‘being’ spaces; (ii) free places; and (iii) ‘therapeutic spaces’ in prisons.This tri-spatial thematic analysis enables us to use Victor Turner’s concepts of ‘liminality’ and ‘communitas’ to uncover the complex, contradictory and sometimes transient emotions that permeate spaces in prison. This in turn allows us to explore the particular challenges that accompany transitional periods of adjustment to prison life, the environmental constraints that women in prison live with and navigate, and the careful ‘spatial selection’ strategies they implement in order to seek or avoid particular emotional states.

Producing gender-blind drug knowledge and representations in prison spaces

“…Although this study was limited to NPS, it is possible that the results could also apply to how the HMCIP represented illicit drug practices in women's prisons more generally in its reports. This would concur with wider gender representation biases of drug practices in policies (Wincup, 2016;Thomas and Bull, 2018) and it also resonates with studies on gender constructions, attitudes and expectations around drug use in everyday prison life (a typically male associated space) (McKim, 2014;Jewkes and Laws, 2020;Macgregor and Thom, 2020).…”

“…The specific focus on gender is embedded in the belief that there are gendered experiences, expressions and needs associated with drug practices (Ettorre, 2018;Gueta, Gamliel and Ronel, 2019;Jewkes and Laws, 2020). This assumption does not imply that women's drug use may be characterised as "unique" or "special" (Martin and Aston, 2014).…”

Locked up and down: Incarceration, care, and art in a pandemic

“…However, the gendered lack of care is apparent in the universalized response. Compounded by the systemic failure to attend to the particularities of women's needs in prison outlined by the landmark Corston Report (2007), research has consistently shown that female prisoners disproportionately experience psychological and physical problems and have experienced physical and sexual abuse (Jewkes & Laws, 2020). Women in prison account for almost a quarter of self-harm incidents, despite only making up 5% of the prison population in England and Wales (Jewkes & Laws, 2020, p. 3818) In many of the meetings we observed, common themes in the needs of Clean Break Members in the pandemic included poverty and food shortages; addiction-recovery; locating and accessing services online; problems of digital inequality; increased risk of domestic violence; struggles with isolation, mental health, and loneliness.…”

Top Bunk, Bottom Bunk: Cellsharing In Prisons

“…Recent publications on the prison cell (notably, Turner and Knight 2020) have tended to regard the cell as a place of relative solitude (although see Narag and Jones 2020;Fransson and Giofrè 2020). While a number of authors note the constant risk in prison that even private space can be invaded by staff (Crewe et al 2014;Jewkes and Laws 2020), often the cell is presented as a place of refuge. Jewkes and Laws (2020: 7), for example, note that 'after a period of emotional volatility […] most prisoners were able to make peace with cellular confinement, especially valuing it for the privacy it afforded'.…”

“…When cells are shared, not only is the individual denied this kind of backstage escape, but the same space that might offer relief can instead become a source of distress. The need to maintain a semi-public façade places limits on feelings of personal autonomy, deprives prisoners of control over immediate space (Morey and Crewe 2018), and exposes them almost perpetually to the forms of sensory intrusions -noise, smell and lack of hygiene -that are typically found in communal living spaces (Jewkes and Laws 2020;Warr 2021). Likewise, having to share space with cellmates who are highly distressed or unwell can expose prisoners to significant trauma.…”