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Prisons Research Centre

 
Crewe, B., Goldsmith, A. and Halsey, M. (Eds) (2022). Power and Pain in the Modern Prison: The Society of Captives Revisited. Oxford: Clarendon.
Schliehe, A. (2021). Young Women's Carceral Geographies: Abandonment, Trouble and Mobility. Emerald.
Herrity, K., Schmidt, B.E. and Warr, J. (Eds) (2021). Sensory Penalities: Exploring the Senses in Spaces of Punishment and Social Control. Emerald.
Crewe, B., Goldsmith, A. and Halsey, M. (Eds) (2020). Power and Pain in the Modern Prison: The Society of Captives Revisited. Oxford: Clarendon. Power and Pain 100x157
Crewe, B., Hulley, S. and Wright, S. (2020). Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood: Adaptation, Identity and Time. Palgrave. Life-Imprisonment 100x141
Liebling, A., Maruna, S. and McAra, L. (Eds) (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (6th edition). Oxford University Press. Oxford Handbook 100x144
Jewkes, Y., Crewe, B. and Bennett, J. (Eds) (2016). Handbook on Prisons (2nd edition). Routledge. Handbook on Prisons 100x141
Crewe, B. and Bennet, J. (Eds) (2015). The Prisoner. Routledge. The Prisoner
Tankebe, J. and Liebling, A. (Eds) (2013). Legitimacy and Criminal Justice: An International Exploration. Oxford University Press. Legitimacy and Criminal Justice

Liebling, A., Price, D. and Shefer G. (2010). The Prison Officer (2nd edition). Cullompton: Willan.

Professor Liebling served as a witness for the House of Commons Justice Committee inquiry into the role of the Role of the Prison Officer (2008-09), and several other members of the PRC
provided written submissions. 

The testimony, and the written submissions, are also documented in the official report: Role of the Prison Officer; Twelfth Report of Session 2008-09 .

The Prison Officer

Crewe, B. (2009). The Prisoner Society: Power, Adaptation and Resistance in an English Prison. Oxford: Clarendon.

The Prisoner Society
Bennett, J., Crewe, B. and Wahidin, A. (Eds) (2008). Understanding Prison Staff. Cullompton: Willan. Understanding Prison Staff
Liebling, A. with Arnold, H. (2004). Prisons and their Moral Performance: A Study of Values, Quality and Prison Life. Oxford: Clarendon. Prisons and their Moral Performance

Prisons Research at Cambridge University

 

The Prisons Research Centre (PRC) was founded in 2000, under the Directorship of Professor Alison Liebling. The Centre has received funding from a wide range of sources, including the Prison Service/NOMS, the Nuffield Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the ESRC, KPMG, the Home Office and UKDS (now Kalyx).


The Cambridge Institute of Criminology Prisons Research Centre aims to provide a stimulating research environment in which a coherent strategy of high quality research can be pursued, and integration between funded and non-funded, and applied and theoretical projects can be facilitated. We investigate how prisons operate, socially, morally and operationally, how they are experienced, and the relationship between these moral and social qualities, and their effects.


Members of the PRC team carry out, individually and collectively, methodologically rigorous and theoretically relevant field-based studies addressing problems of human and social values, punishment practices, and the organisation and effects of aspects of prison life. We strive to forge links with other prisons researchers, scholars in the broader fields of criminology and sociology, and with practitioners. Our vision is to develop a rigorous and person-centred model of social inquiry.


You can read more about the latest projects in our Annual Reports.