The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for thinking about the work of prison officers. It is a well-known maxim that relationships are ‘at the heart’ of prison life (Home Office, 1984). In this paper, I develop and illustrate this proposition, arguing that the moral quality of prison life is enacted and embodied by the attitudes and conduct of prison officers. There are important distinctions to be made in their work: between ‘good’ and ‘right’ relationships; ‘tragic’ and ‘cynical’ perspectives; ‘reassurance’ and ‘relational’ safety; and ‘good’ and ‘bad’ confidence. These distinctions are largely unseen but are decisive in shaping the prison’s moral and social climate. The best prison officer work can be described using these kinds of distinctions.
BarbaletJM (1998) Emotion, Social Theory and Social Structure: a Macrosociological Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.
BottomsAETankebeJ (under review) Legitimacy and criminal justice: a dialogic approach.
3.
BraithwaiteV (1994) Beyond Rokeach’s equality-freedom model: Two-dimensional values in a one-dimensional world. Journal of Social Issues50(4): 67–94.
4.
BraithwaiteV (1998) The value balance of political evaluations. British Journal of Psychology89: 223–247.
5.
CreweB (2009) The Prisoner Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6.
CreweBLieblingAHulleySMcLeanC (under review) Prisoner quality of life in public and private sector prisons.
7.
DiIulioJ (1987) Governing Prisons: a Comparative Study of Correctional Management. New York: Free Press.
8.
DixonD (1997) Law in Policing: Legal Regulation and Police Practices. Clarendon Studies in Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9.
EmmettD (1966) Rules, Roles and Relations. London: Macmillan.
10.
FrankeDBierieDMacKenzieDL (2010) Legitimacy in corrections: a randomized experiment comparing a boot camp with a prison. Criminology and Public Policy9(1): 89–117.
11.
GarlandD (1990) Punishment and Modern Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
12.
GerthHHWright MillsC (1946) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
13.
GiddensA (1984) The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
14.
HerbertS (2006) Tangled up in blue: Conflicting paths to police legitimacy. Theoretical Criminology10(4): 481–504.
15.
Home Office (1984) Managing the Long-Term Prison System. The Report of the Control Review Committee, Cmd. 3175. London: HMSO.
16.
Home Office (1994) Report of an Enquiry into the Escape of Six Prisoners from the Special Security Unit at Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire on Friday 9th September 1994 by Sir John Woodcock. London: HMSO.
17.
Home Office (1995) Review of Prison Service Security in England and Wales and the Escape from Parkhurst Prison on Tuesday 3rd January 1995 – The Learmont Report. London: HMSO.
18.
HonnethA (1995) The Struggle for Recognition: the Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts. Cambridge: Polity Press.
19.
LanskeyCLieblingAHarveyJDrakeD (2009) Opportunities for Staff in Two Secure Settings to Reduce Re-Offending Rates of Young Offenders. Report submitted to the KPMG Foundation.
20.
LieblingA (2000) Prison officers, policing and the use of discretion. Theoretical Criminology4(3): 333–357.
21.
LieblingA (2005) The late modern prison and the question of values. Current Issues in Criminal Justice16(2): 202–219.
22.
LieblingA (2007) Why prison staff culture matters. In: ByrneJMHummerDTaxmanFS (eds) The Culture of Prison Violence. New York: Pearson, 105–122.
23.
LieblingA (2008) Incentives and Earned Privileges revisited: Fairness, discretion, and the quality of prison life. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention9: 25–41.
24.
LieblingA assisted by ArnoldH (2004) Prisons and Their Moral Performance: a Study of Values, Quality and Prison Life. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
25.
LieblingAPriceD (2001) The Prison Officer. Leyhill: Prison Service and Waterside Press.
26.
LieblingAElliottCPriceD (1999) Appreciative inquiry and relationships in prison. Punishment and Society1(1): 71–98.
27.
LieblingADurieLStilesATaitS (2005) Revisiting prison suicide: the role of fairness and distress. In: LieblingAMarunaS (eds) The Effects of Imprisonment. Cullompton: Willan, 209–231.
McNeillFRobinsonG (in press, 2011) Liquid legitimacy and community sanctions. In: CrawfordAHucklesbyA (eds) Legitimacy and Compliance in Criminal Justice. Cullompton: Willan.
30.
McNeillFBatchelorSBurnettRKnoxJ (2005) 21st Century Social Work: Reducing Re-offending: Key Practice Skills. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive: Social Work Inspection Agency. See website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/37432/0011296.pdf
31.
MuirWK (1977) Police: Streetcorner Politicians. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
32.
NorrisCNorrisN (1993) Defining good policing: the instrumental and moral in approaches to good practice and competence. Policing and Society3: 205–221.
33.
ReinerR (1992) Police research in the United Kingdom. In: MorrisNTonryM (eds) Modern Policing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
SenA (2009) The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
35.
SennettR (1980) Authority. New York: Alfred A. Knopf publishing.
36.
SmithA ([1759] 2006) The Theory of Moral Sentiments. New York: Dover Philosophical Classics Series.
37.
SparksRBottomsAE (2008) Legitimacy and imprisonment revisited: Some notes on the problem of order ten years after. In: ByrneJMHummerDTaxmanFS (eds) The Culture of Prison Violence. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 91–104.
38.
SparksRHayWBottomsAE (1996) Prisons and the Problem of Order. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
39.
SykesG (1958) The Society of Captives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
40.
TaitS (2008) Care and the prison officer: Beyond ‘turnkeys’ and ‘carebears’. Prison Service Journal180: 3–11.
41.
ThomasJCappsJCarrJEvansTLewin-GladneyWJacobsonDMaierCMoranSThompsonS (2003) Critiquing the critics of peacemaking criminology: Some rather ambivalent reflections on the theory of ‘being nice’. In: McEvoyKNewburnT (eds) Criminology, Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 101–30.
42.
Van den BrinkBOwenD (2007) Recognition and Power: Axel Honneth and the Tradition of Critical Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
43.
Van der VossenB (2008) On legitimacy and authority: a response to Krehoff. Res Publica14: 299–302.
44.
WachtelTMcColdP (2001) Restorative justice in everyday life. In: StrangHBraithwaiteJ (eds) Restorative Justice and Civil Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 114–129.
45.
WaddingtonPAJ (1999) Policing Citizens: Authority and Rights. London: UCL Press.
