Prisoner

Ben Crewe is Deputy Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. He has published on various aspects of prison life, including staff--prisoner relationships, the drugs economy within prison, the 'inmate code' and public--private sector comparisons. His most recent book, The Prisoner Society: Power, Adaptation and Social Life in an English Prison, was published in 2009. Jamie Bennett has worked for 15 years as a prison manager and has held senior positions including Governor of HMP Morton Hall. He is also Editor of Prison Service Journal and has written widely on criminal justice matters including prison management, the media representation of prisons, and the relationship between crime and inequality. He has published two previous books: Understanding Prison Staff (with Ben Crewe and Azrini Wahidin 2008) and Dictionary of Prisons and Punishment (with Yvonne Jewkes 2008).

• Foreword. Introduction 1. Prisoner Backgrounds and Biographies 2. Custody, Care and Staff-Prisoner Relationships 3. Prison Culture and the Prisoner Society 4. Identity and Adaptation in Prison 5. Prisoners and Their Families 6. Vulnerability, Struggling and Coping in Prison 7. Children and Young People in Custody 8. Ageing Prisoners 9. Women Prisoners 10. Cultural Diversity, Ethnicity and Race Relations in Prison 11. Rehabilitation, Generativity and Mutual Aid. Afterword

'The book throws light on the varied everyday experiences of people in prison, while confirming the huge challenges of minimizing the damage and dislocation of the carceral experience.''It is the right kind of introduction for those who know little about prison life, but probably even more useful for practitioners and academics more involved in prisons; it is all too easy for the latter to start thinking of themselves as semi-experts on imprisoned people, seeing patterns and commonalities where there may be none, all the while becoming more distanced from the worlds described here. The sources for the various interviews are not made clear, but they are well chosen to provide multi-layered insights.'-Hindpal Singh Bhui, Inspection Team Leader, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, in Probation Journal, vol 59 no 3