The Craft of Doing Qualitative Research in Prisons

Abstract

In this article we examine the characteristics, challenges and added value of qualitative prison research in a Belgian context. As the many dynamics and challenges of qualitative research are often underreported in academic publications, we pay particular attention to the research processes and the pains and gains of qualitative prison research. Firstly, drawing on experiences from several prison studies, we describe the different steps of gaining access to the field as a constant process of negotiation. Secondly, we discuss some of the dilemmas of prison research based on two ethnographic studies of prison staff. We end with discussion of the value added by a qualitative research approach to facilitate understanding of what is at stake in prisons and how this fits with a critical research position.

What about ethics? Developing qualitative research in confinement settings

“…Research in confinement settings, owing to the particular environment and access to information on crime, criminal behaviour and criminal justice, is conducive to the development of these ethical conflicts, which require constant vigilance on the part of the researchers. Another important factor that assumes particular relevance in confinement spaces is the principle of trust, which implies the development of practical and pragmatic agreements in relation to the other (Beyens, 2013; Beyens et al, 2015; Gomes and Granja, 2018; Jewkes, 2014; Liebling, 1999; Nielsen, 2010; Phillips and Earle, 2010). During research practice, this relationship brings to the forefront an issue that literature has discussed at length, which is the inefficiency of scientific neutrality and the tendency to remain anchored to ‘old theories’ that do not explain ‘new phenomena’ (Becker, 1967).…”

“…Daily life within these confinement settings is physically and symbolically controlled and penetrated by power relationships (see Crewe, 2009; Drake, 2012; Fassin, 2017), which raise severe challenges for those who develop research there. These challenges take on particularities when developing qualitative research (see Beyens et al, 2015), since the nature and duration of the research and dealing with the violence that the architecture of the space itself transmits place those who investigate under symbolic and emotional constraints (Crewe, 2014; Drake and Harvey, 2014; Liebling, 2014; Jewkes, 2012; Nielsen, 2010; Phillips and Earle, 2010). Even though ‘serving time’ is different from ‘spending time’ (Earle, 2014), developing qualitative research implies a certain immersion of the researcher in the confinement world.…”

“…Procedural ethics, even if seen only as a mere formality since ethical principles guide the work of those who investigate academically, may constitute an obstacle that must be overcome in order to proceed with the project (Roriz and Padez, 2017), redefining and sometimes even reconfiguring the research process. We end with a broader reflection, advocating committed (Becker, 1967) and critical (Beyens et al, 2015) scientific research.…”

Access denied: Research on sex in prison and the subjugation of ‘deviant knowledge’

“…This helps to explain the previously noted decline in research internationally which requires approval for ethnographic, exploratory, sociological studies of individual prisons. It also illuminates why for claims to knowledge to be accepted as methodologically ‘robust’ and ‘sophisticated scientifically’ (Beyens et al, 2015: 73), the assessors may require the supplementation of qualitative research with the generation of numerical data (Martel, 2004). In Foucauldian terms, the discursive practices of the application form operate to expedite the approval of favoured, familiar research approaches and to inhibit, if not ultimately exclude, the ‘other’.…”

“… 12. It is important to note that such a directive approach is neither universal nor inevitable; one thinks, for example, of Belgium where the absence of a governmental prisons research agenda, and the openness of gatekeepers to critical criminological research, contributes to the ‘rather easy and smooth process’ of securing access (Beyens et al, 2015: 68). …”