Overview

This unique book provides a rare insight into the debilitating impact of regimes that fail to respond to the complex and gender specific needs of women behind bars. Exploring the marginalization, mental health and experiences of women in prison, it specifically focuses on the legacy of women's imprisonment in Northern Ireland.

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9780230576681

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Reviews

'The deplorable state of life in women's prisons too often rests in the shadows of discussions focused entirely on men's incarceration. In this extraordinary piece of investigative research, Phil Scraton and Linda Moore elevate that status to red-alert levels, revealing the overlooked conditions of imprisoned women as part of an urgent, top-to-bottom criminological and human rights crisis.' - Patricia J. Williams, Columnist, The Nation Magazine and Professor of Law, Columbia University School of Law, USA 'A startlingly dark and profoundly disturbing analysis of women's experiences of violence, neglect and resistance in prison in the North of Ireland. Uniquely situated within the legacy of paramilitary imprisonment and transition from political conflict, it speaks to concerns regarding the structural determining contexts of institutional violence and injustice in women's prisons globally.' - Bree Carlton, Monash University, Australia 'Linda Moore and Phil Scraton's book awakens our sensibilities and unlocks our minds to appreciate the massive harms prisons impose on a growing population of women. This important book draws upon the researchers' political engaged ethnography of life inside a women's prison as well as deeply detailed transnational and historical analysis of penal regimes for women. The authors bear witness to forms of 'institutionalized' abuse, intimidation, and neglect that create intolerable conditions for incarcerated women and make the strong case for an urgent and fundamental rethinking of use of punishment in modern societies.' - Kristin Bumiller, Amherst College, Massachusetts, USA 'The Incarceration of Women: Punishing Bodies, Breaking Spirits is an historical, biographical and empirical account of the devastating institutional experiences which have besieged the lives of incarcerated women in Northern Ireland over decades. The powerful combination of methodological rigor, deliberate contextualisation, unambiguous narratives and an even-handed analysis has produced one of the most thorough and candid ethnographical works on women in prison of our time. Not only do Scraton and Moore reveal and stand against the harmful, oppressive conditions and disturbing realities of women's imprisonment, they also stand up for a more humane, more ethical 'criminology' in the process.' - Lillian Artz, Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Author Information

Linda Moore is Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy at the University of Ulster, UK. Phil Scraton is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiative at Queen's University, Belfast, UK. His recent books include Power, Conflict and Criminalisation, Hillsborough: The Truth and The Violence of Incarceration.

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