Visiting time: a tale of two prisons

Prison visitation remains an under-researched and under-theorised aspect of prison life. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this article takes an in-depth look at the lived experience of the prison visit from the perspectives of prisoners and their visitors. First, this paper describes the inherently problematic nature of current visits practice reflecting on the restrictions placed on prisoners and families and the longer term implications for their lives post-release. Whilst acknowledging these fundamental flaws, the paper then, describes what can make some visiting experiences more ‘survivable’ than others by comparing visiting experiences at two ostensibly similar prisons

The legally sanctioned stigmatization of prisoners families

It is frequently documented that prisoners’ families are subject to a ‘courtesy stigma’(Goffman 1963); akin to a guilt by association for choosing to remain connected to an imprisoned loved one. However, to date there has been little examination in the literature of the extent to which this courtesy stigma is embodied in the national rules and local procedures of prisons in their visiting practices. This chapter addresses that lacuna. Drawing on Link and Phelan’s (2001) classic schema of the elements of stigma, this chapter will illuminate how the various elements of stigma manifest during visiting procedures. Prisoners’ families’ are labelled, misguidedly treated as a ‘separate’ group within society and negatively stereotyped leading to their suffering a loss of status as their ‘outside’ identities are erased by the prison. This legally sanctioned stigmatisation of prisoners’ families is bought most clearly into focus when comparisons are drawn between how official and social visitors are treated, and more importantly, trusted by the prison system. Despite both groups entering the prison as outsiders, there were important differences around how they were processed, the extent to which they were searched and the location and conditions under which their visits took place once both groups entered the sphere of the prison. These markers of status inspired differential treatment presented in each establishment and were always to the detriment of social visitors who were ultimately treated as untrustworthy and inferior bodies. Accordingly, I argue that this differential treatment should be viewed as a form of associative discrimination; in essence that prisoners’ families are spuriously treated less favourably than official visitors, not because of who they are but because of who they are related to; prisoners

Relationship of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin and Mineral Intake�

Food, Nutrition and Institution Administratio

Corruption in UK prisons: a critical evaluation of the evidence base

The experience of anti-corruption interventions the world over is that an incorrect diagnosis leads to an inadequate response. Prisons, in the UK and elsewhere, are ideal environments for corruption to thrive. Yet there is little available research or literature on the nature, extent and prevalence of corruption in prisons. Where there have been studies, references to corruption have usually been a minor part of works whose primary focus is elsewhere. On the specific subject of corruption, the focus has generally not been on corrupt staff, although a classic corruption analysis would show them as high risk. Other corruption risks also exist in the prisons environment, such as within procurement, and it is possible that these risks have been compounded by performance management KPIs and aspects of privatisation

“Daddy is a difficult word for me to hear”:Carceral geographies of parenting and the prison visiting room as a contested space of situated fathering

Advocating greater engagement between children’s and carceral geographies, this paper explores the spaces of parenting as they exist within a UK male prison, building upon criminological research on the effects of imprisonment on prisoners’ families and children. Focusing primarily on the visiting room, it extends discussion of the specificities of everyday material spaces and practices of parenting currently under scrutiny within children’s geographies and geographies of parenting, and brings these subdisciplines into dialogue with carceral geography. Concerned specifically with the intimate, embodied and sometimes banal practices of parenting in this constrained and highly surveilled context, it draws attention to previously overlooked spaces and identities of situated fathering

Mapping the H2 resistance effective against Globodera pallida pathotype Pa1 in tetraploid potato

This work was supported by the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government, the BBSRC, through the joint projects CRF/2009/SCRI/SOP 0929, BB/L008025/1 and BB/K018299/1. Additional funding was obtained through the James Hutton Institute SEEDCORN initiative, AHDB Potato, the Perry Foundation and The Felix Cobbold Trust. Amanpreet Kaur was supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission through a Commonwealth split-site Ph.D. grant.Key message: The nematode resistance gene H2 was mapped to the distal end of chromosome 5 in tetraploid potato. The H2 resistance gene, introduced into cultivated potatoes from the wild diploid species Solanum multidissectum, confers a high level of resistance to the Pa1 pathotype of the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida. A cross between tetraploid H2-containing breeding clone P55/7 and susceptible potato variety Picasso yielded an F1 population that segregated approximately 1:1 for the resistance phenotype, which is consistent with a single dominant gene in a simplex configuration. Using genome reduction methodologies RenSeq and GenSeq, the segregating F1 population enabled the genetic characterisation of the resistance through a bulked segregant analysis. A diagnostic RenSeq analysis of the parents confirmed that the resistance in P55/7 cannot be explained by previously characterised resistance genes. Only the variety Picasso contained functionally characterised disease resistance genes Rpi-R1, Rpi-R3a, Rpi-R3b variant, Gpa2 and Rx, which was independently confirmed through effector vacuum infiltration assays. RenSeq and GenSeq independently identified sequence polymorphisms linked to the H2 resistance on the top end of potato chromosome 5. Allele-specific KASP markers further defined the locus containing the H2 gene to a 4.7 Mb interval on the distal short arm of potato chromosome 5 and to positions that correspond to 1.4 MB and 6.1 MB in the potato reference genome.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Staphylococcus aureus DinG, a helicase that has evolved into a nuclease

DinG (damage inducible gene G) is a bacterial superfamily 2 helicase with 5′→3′ polarity. DinG is related to the XPD (xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group D) helicase family, and they have in common an FeS (iron–sulfur)-binding domain that is essential for the helicase activity. In the bacilli and clostridia, the DinG helicase has become fused with an N-terminal domain that is predicted to be an exonuclease. In the present paper we show that the DinG protein from Staphylococcus aureus lacks an FeS domain and is not a DNA helicase, although it retains DNA-dependent ATP hydrolysis activity. Instead, the enzyme is an active 3′→5′ exonuclease acting on single-stranded DNA and RNA substrates. The nuclease activity can be modulated by mutation of the ATP-binding cleft of the helicase domain, and is inhibited by ATP or ADP, suggesting a modified role for the inactive helicase domain in the control of the nuclease activity. By degrading rather than displacing RNA or DNA strands, the S. aureus DinG nuclease may accomplish the same function as the canonical DinG helicase

Less-tight versus tight control of hypertension in pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: The effects of less-tight versus tight control of hypertension on pregnancy complications are unclear. METHODS: We performed an open, international, multicenter trial involving women at 14 weeks 0 days to 33 weeks 6 days of gestation who had nonproteinuric preexisting or gestational hypertension, office diastolic blood pressure of 90 to 105 mm Hg (or 85 to 105 mm Hg if the woman was taking antihypertensive medications), and a live fetus. Women were randomly assigned to less-tight control (target diastolic blood pressure, 100 mm Hg) or tight control (target diastolic blood pressure, 85 mm Hg). The composite primary outcome was pregnancy loss or high-level neonatal care for more than 48 hours during the first 28 postnatal days. The secondary outcome was serious maternal complications occurring up to 6 weeks post partum or until hospital discharge, whichever was later. RESULTS: Included in the analysis were 987 women; 74.6% had preexisting hypertension. The primary-outcome rates were similar among 493 women assigned to less-tight control and 488 women assigned to tight control (31.4% and 30.7%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77 to 1.35), as were the rates of serious maternal complications (3.7% and 2.0%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio, 1.74; 95% CI, 0.79 to 3.84), despite a mean diastolic blood pressure that was higher in the less-tight-control group by 4.6 mm Hg (95% CI, 3.7 to 5.4). Severe hypertension (≥160/110 mm Hg) developed in 40.6% of the women in the less-tight-control group and 27.5% of the women in the tight-control group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant between-group differences in the risk of pregnancy loss, high-level neonatal care, or overall maternal complications, although less-tight control was associated with a significantly higher frequency of severe maternal hypertension. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; CHIPS Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN71416914; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01192412.)

Fear causes tears - Perineal injuries in home birth settings. A Swedish interview study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Perineal injury is a serious complication of vaginal delivery that has a severe impact on the quality of life of healthy women. The prevalence of perineal injuries among women who give birth in hospital has increased over the last decade, while it is lower among women who give birth at home. The aim of this study was to describe the practice of midwives in home birth settings with the focus on the occurrence of perineal injuries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty midwives who had assisted home births for between one and 29 years were interviewed using an interview guide. The midwives also had experience of working in a hospital delivery ward. All the interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Content analysis was used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall theme was "No rushing and tearing about", describing the midwives' focus on the natural process taking its time. The subcategories 1) preparing for the birth; 2) going along with the physiological process; 3) creating a sense of security; 4) the critical moment and 5) midwifery skills illuminate the management of labor as experienced by the midwives when assisting births at home.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Midwives who assist women who give birth at home take many things into account in order to minimize the risk of complications during birth. Protection of the woman's perineum is an act of awareness that is not limited to the actual moment of the pushing phase but starts earlier, along with the communication between the midwife and the woman.</p