Elaine Crawley

Emotion and performance: prison officers and the presentation of self in prisons

This article explores how prison officers manage and perform emotion on a day-to-day basis. Although the performance of emotion is invariably highlighted when things ‘go wrong’ in prison - perhaps particularly during prison disturbances - the emotional life of prisons at an everyday level has received much less attention. Moreover, although the sociology of the prison has acknowledged the impact of prison on the emotional lives of prisoners there has been much less interest in the emotional impact of the prison on its uniformed staff. This article focuses on how prison officers’ emotions are structured and performed on a daily basis. Prisons are emotional places, but like all organizations, they have their own ‘rules’ about the kinds of emotions it is appropriate for prison officers to express (and indeed feel) at work. In consequence, working in prisons demands a performative attitude on the part of staff, an (often significant) engagement in emotion-work and, relatedly, the employment of various emotion-work strategies.

Is there life after imprisonment? How elderly men talk about imprisonment and release

Based on findings from a two-year study in four UK prisons, this article discusses the prison experiences and release expectations of male prisoners aged 65 and above. In terms of the prison experience, we argue that elderly men in prison often have enormous difficulties simply coping with the prison regime. In addition, most have certain painful pre-occupations, including a fear of dying in prison, the loss of familial contact, the loss of a ‘protector’ role, the loss of a respectable (non-prisoner) identity and the loss of a coherent and satisfactory life narrative. In terms of release, we argue that elderly men in prison often experience significant release and resettlement fears. Many recognize that not only are they vulnerable to assault when released (this applies particularly to those convicted of sexual offences) they also have ‘nothing to go out to’ and too little time left to ‘start over’. Using prisoners’ own accounts, we examine how elderly men in prison think about their lives during and after imprisonment.

Institutional Thoughtlessness in Prisons and Its Impacts on the Day-to-Day Prison Lives of Elderly Men:

The number of elderly men in the prisons of England and Wales has grown significantly during the past decade and continues to rise. Based on intensive fieldwork in four English prisons, this article explores the prison experiences of menaged 65+ years. Some of these menhave grownold in prison, some have served previous prison sentences, and others (the majority) have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment in later life. The latter had no prior experience of imprisonment. This article is concerned primarily with what is termed institutional thoughtlessness—the ways in which prison regimes (routines, rules, time-tables, etcetera) simply roll on with little reference to the needs and sensibilities of the old. This article argues that some degree of institutional thoughtlessness is evident in most of the prisons of England and Wales. Drawing on interviews and sustained observations, the article discusses some of the impacts of this thoughtlessness on imprisoned, elderly men.