This book analyses the experiences of prisoners in England & Wales sentenced when relatively young to very long life sentences (with minimum terms of fifteen years or more). Based on a major study, including almost 150 interviews with men and women at various sentence stages and over 300 surveys, it explores the ways in which long-term prisoners respond to their convictions, adapt to the various challenges that they encounter and re-construct their lives within and beyond the prison. Focussing on such matters as personal identity, relationships with family and friends, and the management of time, the book argues that long-term imprisonment entails a profound confrontation with the self. It provides detailed insight into how such prisoners deal with the everyday burdens of their situation, feelings of injustice, anger and shame, and the need to find some sense of hope, control and meaning in their lives. In doing so, it exposes the nature and consequences of the life-changing terms of imprisonment that have become increasingly common in recent years.

Autorentext

Ben Crewe is Deputy Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK. He is interested in all aspects of prison life, including prison management, staff-prisoner relationships, public and private sector imprisonment, penal power and prisoner social life. Susie Hulley is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK. She is interested in how young people are affected by the criminal justice system, particularly their experiences of criminalisation and imprisonment. Her recent work focuses on the application of 'joint enterprise' by criminal justice practitioners (including lawyers and the police) and the impact of this legal doctrine on young people. Serena Wright is a researcher and Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Law and Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Her research on prisons and penology has focused on short-term sentences and post-release 'frustrated desistance' among women, and the experience of long-term incarceration among life-sentenced prisoners.. She is particularly interested in the intersection between trauma, addiction, and criminalisation, and between health, gender and criminal justice.

Inhalt

Chapter One ..............................................................................................................................................Introduction...............................................................................................................................The abolition of capital punishment and the growth of the long life sentence ...............................The 'tariff' system for life-sentenced prisoners ................................................................................The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Schedule 21).....................................................................................The up-tariffing of 'knife homicides' and the rise of 'joint enterprise' .............................................Defining 'long-term' imprisonment...................................................................................................Understanding long-term imprisonment ..........................................................................................The impact of long-term imprisonment ............................................................................................Long-term imprisonment from young adulthood ............................................................................. Chapter Two ..............................................................................................................................................Methods ....................................................................................................................................Research design .................................................................................................................................Access ................................................................................................................................................Ethics..................................................................................................................................................Interviews ..........................................................................................................................................Interview sample ..........................................................................................................................Surveys............................................................................................................................................... Development of the survey instrument .......................................................................................Conducting team research ................................................................................................................The research process .........................................................................................................................Interviewing women .....................................................................................................................Analysis ..............................................................................................................................................Interview analysis .........................................................................................................................Survey analysis..............................................................................................................................Methodological issues ....................................................................................................................... Chapter Three............................................................................................................................................Pen portraits .............................................................................................................................. Seb, 20s, early-stage ..........................................................................................................................Gail, late-stage ...................................................................................................................................Campbell, 30s, mid-stage ..................................................................................................................Deena, 20s, mid-stage .......................................................................................................................Richard, 50s, post-tariff .....................................................................................................................Mahmood, 30s, mid-stage................................................................................................................. Chapter Four..............................................................................................................................................The early years ......................................................................................................................................Being 'in shock': acute stress reactions to conviction, sentencing and initial incarceration ............ Post-conviction: the initial pains of long indeterminate sentences.................................................. Existential dislocation and biographical rupture...............................................................................The affective dimensions of long indeterminate sentences ............................................................. Anger.............................................................................................................................…