The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography

The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography provides an expansive overview of the challenges presented by qualitative, and particularly ethnographic, enquiry. The chapters reflect upon the means by which ethnographers aim to gain understanding, make sense of what they learn and the way they represent their finished work. The Handbook offers urgent insights relevant to current trends in the growth of imprisonment worldwide. In an era of mass incarceration, human-centric ethnography provides an important counter to quantitative analysis and the audit culture on which prisons are frequently judged. 

The Handbook is divided into four parts. Part I ('About Prison Ethnography') assesses methodological, theoretical and pragmatic issues related to the use of ethnographic and qualitative enquiry in prisons. Part II ('Through Prison Ethnography') considers the significance of ethnographic insights in terms of wider social or political concerns. Part III ('Of Prison Ethnography') analyses different aspects of the roles ethnographers take and how they negotiate their research settings. Part IV ('For Prison Ethnography') includes contributions that convincingly extend the value of prison ethnography beyond the prison itself. 

Bringing together contributions by some of the world's leading scholars in criminology and prison studies, this authoritative volume maps out new directions for future research. It will be an indispensable resource for practitioners, students, academics and researchers who use qualitative social research methods to further their understanding of prisons. 

Helen Arnold, University Campus Suffolk, UK Lilian Ayete-Nyampong, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Ghana Mahuya Bandyopadhyay, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India Jamie Bennett is Governor of HMP Grendon/Springhill and holds a PhD in Criminology. Kristel Beyens, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium Miranda Boone, University of Groningen, Netherlands, and Utrecht University, Netherlands Lucy Carr, University of Sheffield, UK Gilles Chantraine, CNRS CLERSÉ, France Ben Crewe, University of Cambridge, UK William Davies, Leeds Beckett University, UK Deborah H. Drake, The Open University, UK Rod Earle, The Open University, UK Elisabeth Fransson, Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy Joel Harvey, Kings College London, UK Alice Ievins, University of Cambridge, UK Andrew M. Jefferson, DIGNITY: Danish Institute Against Torture Yvonne Jewkes, University of Leicester, UK Berit Johnsen, Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy Alison Liebling, University of Cambridge, UK Tomas Max Martin, Danish Institute for Human Rights Benita Moolmana, Human and Social Development Unit in Cape Town, South Africa Martyn Hammersley The Open University, UK Coretta Phillips, London School of Economics, UK Laura Piacentini, University of Strathclyde, UK Lorna A. Rhodes, University of Washington, USA Abigail Rowe, The Open University, UK Nicolas Sallée, Université de Montréal, Canada David Scott, Liverpool John Moores University, UK Jennifer Sloan, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Christina Straub, Leeds University, UK Thomas Ugelvik, University of Oslo, Norway James B. Waldram, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Lindsay Whetter, University of Exeter, UK Serena Wright, University of Cambridge, UK