Recent Research Projects

A list of recent research projects conducted by the Prisons Research Centre are listed below:

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.

Prisons Research Centre

People

Research Projects

Current Research Projects

Publications

People

Research Projects

Publications

'A good life in prison?' Everyday ethics in prison holding young men

Comparative Penology

Exploring the quality of prison life in Tunisia

Evaluation of Shared Reading Groups in Psychologically Informed Planned Environments

Locating Trust in a Climate of Fear

The Role of the Governing Governor

Values, Practices and Outcomes in Public and Private Corrections