Criminalized women are becoming more prominent in the prison show genre, outlining the need to examine the possible troublesome portrayals of this often invisible population. This thesis uses intersectionality to conduct a qualitative content analysis to explore themes of race, class, gender, and sexuality in relation to woman characters within the popular series Orange is the New Black (OITNB). It is found that OITNB is a departure from most mass media depictions of criminalized women in the sense that it reflects many of the racial demographic realities of woman penal institutions, while often representing minorities in complex, rather than reductionist manners. OITNB addresses issues associated with class structure and inequalities to shed light upon the reality of socioeconomic injustices of the incarcerated to its viewers. OITNB also raises questions on hegemonic gendered presentations through displaying atypical gender identities and roles, especially with respect to beautification, motherhood and friendships. Finally, OITNB offers an original approach in representing the sexuality of the women by depicting various sexual identities. Through analyzing these characters and themes, this thesis concludes that, although problematic portrayals of incarcerated women are present in the show, OITNB displays a departure from past displays of the incarcerated in Anglophone media, showing that film and television are able to portray this population in a humanized, yet entertaining manner.

abstract: People who participate in correctional treatment programming are viewed as making positive steps towards their reentry into society. However, this is often assessed through a simple “yes” or “no” response to whether they are currently participating without much emphasis on how, why, or to what degree that participation is meaningful for reentry preparedness. The present study aims to a) identify to what extent there is variation in the degree to which women participate in programming and are prepared for reentry, b) identify the characteristics that distinguish highly-involved programmers from less involved programmers, c) identify the characteristics that distinguish women who are highly-prepared for reentry from women who are less prepared, and d) assess whether levels of involvement in programming relates to levels of reentry preparedness. The sample comes from interviewer-proctored surveys of 200 incarcerated women in Arizona. Two indices were created: one for the primary independent variable of program involvement and one for the dependent variable of reentry preparedness. Logistic and multivariate regressions were run to determine the indices’ relatedness to each other and the characteristic variables. The two indices did not have a statistically significant relationship with each other. However, variation across them is found. This indicates that programmers may not be a homogenous group and that they may engage with programming to varying degrees based on a multitude of indicators. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2020

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, South Africa, 2003. / The purpose of the study was to uncover and understand the experiences of inmates in prisons. The study involved 10 inmates who had served at least two years of their sentence. In this study, the researcher used purposive sampling in selecting the research participants. Data was collected using an essay, where participants were asked to respond to three open ended questions. All interviews were conducted in Zulu in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Qualitative data analysis was used to analyze the thematic content of the essays. The following conclusions were drawn from the study: • Being in prison is not fulfilling. • Prisoners experience helplessness, hopelessness, loss of dignity, boredom. There is also a lack of respect which dominates prison life. Lack of facilities also formed part of their experiences. Paying attention to these issues is important as they can contaminate any rehabilitation process and hinder inmates from rebuilding their lives

Using the dataset, "Ethno-Methodological Study of the Subculture of Prison Inmate Sexuality in the United States, 2004-2005," this study investigated the relationship between masculinities and prison rape. These data was collected in 23 men's correctional institutions in 10 states. Between April 2004 and September 2005, 409 males were interviewed (Fleisher & Krienert, 2006). Findings showed that masculinity plays a complex and crucial role in the phenomenon of prison rape. Recommendations were made for inmate-oriented education and training which should include a discussion of masculinity as a possible preventative measure.

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Life is a series of moments. Architecture is experienced by a series of moments. Prison is experienced by a series of measured moments. / Master of Architecture

The primary aim of this research is to examine the extent which prison management has been influenced by New Public Management (NPM). Much has been written about the growing influence of NPM on public services like health, transport and education. In the prison field, however, the literature is relatively limited. Accordingly, with particular reference to the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), this research attempts to fill this gap in knowledge by exploring the influence of NPM on the SPS and its relation to the use of contractual management of prisons. Key concerns of this research are the development of prison policy during the last two decades, the use of “business-like” mechanisms to manage prisons and the accountability measures which the SPS has undergone as a result of NPM. The main sources of data are interviews with key actors in the recent development of the SPS and documentary analysis. Interviewees were asked during the semi-structured interviews to reflect on the key concerns referred to above. Material from the interviews was then integrated with academic literature, policy papers, annual reports, contracts and other published documents. This research concludes that NPM has affected the SPS on the dimensions of both prison policy discourse and of operations. For the former, the analysis of contemporary prison discourse demonstrates that the focus of prison policy in Scotland has extended over time from traditional concepts, for instance control, deterrence and rehabilitation, to embrace managerial ones such as effectiveness, efficiency and value for money. On the operational dimension, this research reveals that the extensive use of a “business-like” approach in the management of prisons, in particular the delegation of decision-making power from the Headquarters to prison governors; the use of contractual management to manage both private and public prisons; the use of contracting out for prisoner transportation and prisoner programme and the SPS’s focus on ‘customer service’. In summary, the influence of NPM is more far-reaching than the privatisation of public prisons as such. This is because NPM changed the way public prisons are managed by bringing in managerial mechanisms borrowed from the private sector.

Past work related to the private prison system has focused on direct comparisons between private and public facilities, including their respective quality, cost-effectiveness, and influence on recidivism. Using 2005 United States data compiled from a prison facility census, county census, and information on number of arrests by county, I examine the effect that the presence of private prisons has on the number of adult male arrests per county. Across four regression models, I initially find a significant effect of private prisons on arrests, but find that effect becomes insignificant once county and prison controls are accounted for. This suggests that the presence of a private prison in a particular county does not necessarily lead to a significant increase or decrease of arrests in that area.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Gerad Middendorf / The stigma of prison extends beyond the male prisoner to those who care about him, often his wife. Almost all prisoners will be released back into their communities (Hughes, 2003) and having a solid support network improves successful re-entry experiences and lowers recidivism rates for men who are released from prison (Duwe & Clark, 2013). The stigmatization that prison wives feel because they are married to an inmate, can affect how attached they feel to their community, how comfortable they feel in their workplace, and how accepted they feel by their family and friends. Financial exploitation, challenging prison policies, and visitation procedures oftentimes can make an already difficult situation even more difficult. While the number of men in prison in the United States is slowly declining, the United States remains the world leader in the number of people incarcerated (Travis, et. al., 2014). As this level of incarceration continues to affect such a large number of people (specifically women for this research) in our society, there is reason to consider a more intentional approach to focusing on recognizing the feelings and experiences of prison wives. This research includes narrative interviews of 35 women who identified as prison wives. The goal of the research was to specifically gather details on their experiences of being a prison wife and how they feel that society judged them based on the stereotype they perceived society to have. My research shows that the interviewees feel stigmatized; however, the awareness of, feelings about, and the reaction toward the stigmatization manifests differently among the two groups of prison wives that I identified: Riders and Stoppers. I have gathered details about how their experiences were often made more challenging as they tried to maintain their relationships in the midst of financial exploitation and challenging prison policies and procedures. I conclude my thesis on the relevancy of their experiences as they relate to the prison-industrial complex in our society and how this affects their interactions within the communities in which a prisoner’s wife, family members, and formerly incarcerated individuals live and work.