Taking Prison Corruption Seriously

• In Event: The Politics of Organized Crime and Its Visibility (or Lack Thereof)

Abstract

This paper critically examines the status of policy and research investment in the topic of prison corruption. It is suggested that it remains a largely neglected area of research for both criminologists and corruption studies scholars. While there is a small but growing literature on prison officers, there is little said within it about this topic. This is extraordinary given what is widely known about the role officers play in trafficking of contraband. As a policy area, it suffers from a lack of systematic analysis and serious reflection. Given the enormous public expenditure in prisons and conditions of confinement, and growing concern about the operation of organized crime groups from within prison, the failure to look deeper into prison corruption should be difficult to fathom. In identifying some key contemporary dimensions of prison corruption, the reasons behind this neglect are examined.

Authors

• Andrew John Goldsmith, Flinders University

• Mark Halsey, Flinders University