Our growing Criminology list takes a critical stance and features boundary-pushing work with innovative, research-led publications.
A particular focus of the list are books that engage with our global social challenges, both on a local and international level. We aim to publish books in a wide range of formats that will have real impact and shape public discourse.
Criminology
COVID-19 constitutes one of the most significant global health crises in a century. Since the novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, over 5 million people have died worldwide (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2021). Many who contracted the virus are now suffering from the debilitating effects of ‘long Covid’. A mental health crisis brought about by, among other factors, bereavement, enforced social isolation and financial anxiety, poses an acute challenge to health services (Campion et al, 2020). Children and young people, from preschoolers to university students, have lost over a year of traditional education. Many businesses, and their employees, face an uncertain future. And billion-euro fiscal bailouts will take decades to balance. Widespread vaccination may have reduced infection and subsequent rates of hospitalization and death in developed countries but, at the time of writing, infection and mortality rates in the Indian subcontinent and the global south are catastrophic.
The onslaught of the pandemic in Western Europe in spring 2020 led to a groundswell of community solidarity: across the United Kingdom people emerged from their houses every Thursday evening to applaud frontline health workers; 700,000 people volunteered their services; and a 99-year-old war veteran, Captain Tom Moore, was knighted after raising millions of pounds for healthcare charities by walking laps of his garden. Similar rounds of applause for frontline workers were held in the Republic of Ireland, and members of An Garda Síochána (the national police service) took part in a dance challenge in a bid to lighten spirits.
The Scottish Prisoner Advocacy and Research Collective (SPARC) state that in the context of COVID-19, ‘care of people in prison is being reconceptualised purely in terms of protection from coronavirus and health is being reconceptualised only as bare physical survival’ (SPARC Scotland, 2020). As the wider community slowly emerges from lockdown, many prisons remain in some stage of restricted regime. Outbreaks within prisons continue to force lockdowns across wings or entire estates, and the challenges that go with them remain prevalent. In this final chapter, we review the issues and impacts identified within Chapters Two to Four and explore the ways in which prisons may move beyond the pandemic – what can be learned from this experience. We note that while many restrictions had negative effects, some created positive change that should be maintained into the future. Additionally, we reflect on the challenges for staff and prison management as regimes change.
Public health modelling proved broadly correct: restricting human interaction through lockdown saved many lives in prison. The death rate is all the more remarkable when one considers the poor physical health of many prisoners. However, achieving this success came at significant social and psychological costs. Compromises were required, and while strict lockdowns could be justified when the threat posed was so extreme, other benefits accrued. We recognize that even as the risk from COVID-19 abates (at least in the developed world), there may be calls to retain some of the measures introduced during lockdown, which led to other desirable outcomes:
This chapter reviews the experience of prison lockdown on minority ethnic prisoners. As noted in research conducted by Belong (2021) entitled Collaborating with People from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Backgrounds in Prison: COVID-19 and Beyond, there are several terms currently used to describe minority ethnic groups, each with their own political and cultural connotations. A range of previous research – often including that relating to the criminal justice system – has used the acronym BAME to encompass several minority ethnic groups. There has also been a growing use of the term ‘people of colour’, both in academia and the wider community. However, both terms have been criticized and, in the current context of this book, neither felt appropriate. Rather, this chapter will consider the experiences of prisoners from a range of Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, with the exception of White minorities and traditionally nomadic communities (for example, the Irish Travelling community who are discussed in Chapter Four). Ultimately, we have chosen to use the term ‘Black, Asian and minority ethnic’ reflecting the decision made by Belong (2021) following their consultation process with members of these communities. At times, based on the research being discussed, we may also use the term ‘minority ethnic groups (excluding White minorities)’. In the latest census of England and Wales, approximately 14 per cent of the population were from minority ethnic groups, excluding White minorities.
This chapter focusses on the experience of foreign national prisoners during COVID-19 prison lockdowns. In this context, a foreign national prisoner refers to anyone who does not have an absolute legal right to remain in the country. Those with citizenship (or dual citizenship) are not foreign nationals, and as such, the number of foreign-born persons may be higher than those of foreign nationality (The Parole Board, 2020). We recognize that the experience of foreign national prisoners may differ significantly if they have been a resident in their country of imprisonment for a period of time. We also recognize that foreign national prisoners are far from a homogenous group. As has been mentioned in previous chapters, there may be substantial overlaps between some foreign national prisoners and other groups discussed in this book. For example, the HM Inspectorate Annual Report 2019–2020 noted that 10 per cent of foreign national prisoners were members of the Gypsy, Roma or Irish Travelling community (HMIP, 2020a). As such, issues discussed here may be equally applicable to the other minority groups featured in this book. Similarly, issues facing foreign national prisoners may also be reviewed in other chapters. In 2019, it was estimated that foreign nationals comprised 9 per cent of the population in the United Kingdom (Rienzo and Vargas-Silva, 2020). This does not include non-UK-born residents who hold British citizenship. There are three primary reasons for differences between nationality numbers and country of birth figures.
Research on the experiences of Gypsy, Romany and Traveller prisoners reported that their numbers ‘[continue] to be underestimated within the custodial estate’ and that ‘the distinct needs of this group are often not recognised and go unsupported’ (HMIP, 2014: 11). This chapter reviews the experience of prison lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic on the Irish Travelling and Roma communities. As traditionally nomadic and significantly marginalized communities, we propose that they may have faced unique challenges in relation to isolation, contacting their families, health inequalities and barriers in accessing culturally appropriate supports.
The Irish Travelling community, often referred to as Travellers or Mincéirí, are a minority ethnic group, distinct from the Irish majority population due to differing cultural and traditional attributes, including strong family structures, unique language (Shelta), staunch religiosity and a history of nomadism (Hayes, 2006; Mulcahy, 2012; Bracken, 2014; 2016; Department of Justice and Equality, 2017; Gavin, 2019). Though indigenous to Ireland, Irish Travellers now reside in a number of countries, including the United States and Canada. However, the largest population of Irish Travellers outside of Ireland is in the United Kingdom (Mac Gabhann, 2011). In the Republic of Ireland, the latest census reported that the Irish Travelling community comprised 0.7 per cent of the total population – approximately 31,000 individuals (Central Statistics Office, 2017a). In the United Kingdom, approximately 63,000 people identified themselves as Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller in the latest census.
If prison regimes had continued as normal during the COVID-19 lockdown, social distancing would have been impossible. Therefore, sweeping restrictions were imposed confining prisoners to their cells, cancelling communal activity and prohibiting visits from family and friends.
This insightful book identifies the risks posed by prison lockdowns to minority ethnic prisoners, foreign national prisoners and prisoners from Traveller and Roma communities across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It documents the unequal impacts on their mental and physical health, feelings of isolation and fear, access to services and contact with visitors.
The legacy of the lockdown will be profound. This book exposes the long-term significance and impact on minority ethnic prisoners.
This short chapter will summarise the major themes presented in this book and some issues that arose for contributors as they pertain to representation and power. The chapter will be split into two sections that will discuss the arising concerns under headings: ‘If sex workers were in control’ and ‘If sex workers were really treated as victims’. The book ends with a brief summary of major contributions and aims for future research.
Sex workers are diverse as we see here, and a single label or moniker masks (deliberately or otherwise) who really trades sex. Those who stand to gain from the mischaracterisation of sex workers and their industries benefit from ensuring that workers have little political power and no means to gain control over the industries that they work within. Keeping industry workers from enjoying the benefits of labour rights in the UK means that for many, their work will always be mediated by third parties, some of whom, but not all, are dangerous extortionists. We must acknowledge that there is work in exploitation and exploitation in work across all industries. Supporting sex industry workers in continuing to unionise and to self-regulate, as well as in setting policy and standards is critical for the future. This is crime prevention by environmental design, where sex workers can eliminate the conditions, roles and practices that cause them harm. The sex industry as a service industry will shift from being wholly a client and third party-driven industry to one with a more cooperative flavour, where workers’ rights are part of the ethos.
The Continuum of SIWSQ Involvement provides a framework for situating contributors’ working lives into distinct yet overlapping labour markets; however, contributors must engage in these diverse fields in ways expected of them while concealing the information about them detrimental to respective environments. The focus of this chapter is sharing the intricacies of moving between jobs for contributors and comprehending them through identity (re)formation as it relates to role transition and ‘rituals of movement’ (Ashforth et al, 2000). We will be touching on impression management and stigma avoidance as important elements involved in successful role transitions (these techniques will be discussed in more depth in Chapter 5). The chapter ends with commentary from contributors about managing duality and role transition while working from home.
Several contributors identified with both jobs as expressions of who they are, and some resisted the idea that they ought to identify with work at all, and even challenged the line of questioning. Juno explains her feelings about both jobs: ‘I enjoy my job as a [public sector professional] don’t get me wrong but you have to be very square very boring you know, Angel Gabriel all the time … Escorting, you know what I can be a little bit crazy and a little bit unconventional and wear some crazy clothes and it’s fine and I like that … I do like both of my jobs it’s just unfortunate people won’t accept that I can do both and be like a safe person as a [public sector professional] and as an escort.’
There are several overlapping themes that relate to identity, avoiding stigma, and managing information and audiences. Role transitioning via commuting and managing technologies are all done by contributors as part of maintaining duality. In this chapter, Goffman’s works heavily inform role transitioning, the management of concealed stigma and the Dual-life Relational Paradigm.
Goffman (1959) explains that our social activity involves performance, which is action in front of an audience that has meaning for both the actor and audience. There are settings and changing locations with props that we use in our performances. Our appearance is based on outfitting to coincide with gender, age and so on and we all have a manner, which is how the actor engages with the role and fulfils expectations. Our front is the impression the social actor ‘gives off’, their performance of social scripts that dictate how they should behave, referencing the fact that we have a choice in how we present ourselves to others. Goffman posits a front stage, where behaviours and actions are of the socially accepted variety for a respective audience, and a backstage, where the agent can shed the front stage persona. Stigmatised individuals are surrounded by two types of sympathetic others: people who are also ‘discreditable’ and in their tribe, ‘the own’, that is other sex workers, clients and industry associates; and ‘the wise’ who are individuals who are aware of the stigma and help conceal it. The latter may experience courtesy stigma due to their association and proximity to stigmatised people (Goffman, 1963).
Media stories that outed sex workers and these contributors are available online in perpetuity and, since their real names were also published, loved ones and aging parents will likely suffer long-term effects. Outing sex workers poses a risk to their livelihoods and future employability. It is ironic that even those who advocate against violence do not come to the aid of sex workers, whom they deem to be victims, when they experience harms such as public shaming. Sex workers are not treated entirely as victims, otherwise stigmatising them would be viewed as distasteful.
A well-known theorist on stigma and identity, Goffman, posits that our social identities have two parts: a virtual social identity that is based on assumptions and demands we make of a person without realising it; and an actual social identity that comprises attributes that can be proven to be true through interaction (Goffman, 1963). Discrepancies between virtual and actual identities cause people to ‘reclassify’ individuals based on attributes that are undesirable or acceptable. In this way, ‘normal’ people assign an ‘ideology of difference’ and inferiority to stigmatised people and treat them as if they are not quite human. Goffman distinguishes ‘discrediting’ and ‘discreditable’ stigma. When a person is known to have an attribute that is undesirable they are discredited, and when the attribute is not known, a person is discreditable but not yet discredited and can decide whether or not to disclose the discrediting information, backstage, to ‘the own’ and ‘the wise’. Discreditable individuals, like contributors here, have a concealable stigma, sex work.
