The meaning of safety and experiences of boundary violations in women’s prisons

• In Event: The Social Ecology of Violence and Safety in Prisons

Abstract

The literature on women’s imprisonment has grown substantially in the last few decades. This has yielded important insights into how imprisonment is experienced in unique ways by women. However, little is still known about experiences of safety and safety threats in women’s prisons, in particular in relation to boundary violations in the interaction between staff and incarcerated women. In this paper, the meaning and experiences of safety are studied from the perspective of people living and working in women’s prisons. For this purpose, information was collected using observations and interviews with staff and incarcerated women in three prisons in the Netherlands. Findings reveal that experiences of safety and boundary violations should be understood in the context of dynamics around gender, power and culture. Moreover, staff experience safety – and threats to safety – very differently from incarcerated women. This also has implications for behaviour and interactions between staff and incarcerated women. Relevant individual and institutional similarities and differences are discussed. Overall, this contributes to a better understanding of the concept of safety in prisons in general, and experiences in women’s prisons in particular.

Authors

• Yara Abbing, Leiden University

• Esther van Ginneken, Leiden University