Time and the Prison Experience

Throughout the literature on time there has been an omission of the qualitative dimension of time in relation to the experience of time in different locales. This paper will explore the nature and role of time-use in prison. Based on intensive fieldwork in 8 male and female prison establishments, this article will explore the experiences of women and men aged 50 years and above serving a custodial sentence and their relationship with time. The data draws from 90 semi-structured interviews. The aim of this paper is firstly to landscape time use in prison. Secondly, to show how time in prison is negotiated by the prisoners and finally, examine how outside time becomes more real as the transition from a closed to an open prison becomes more imminent.Older Offenders, Identity, Time, Prisons

“The Irish Conflict” and the Experiences of Female ex Combatants In the Irish Republican Army: Power, Resistance and Subjectivity

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-05-2016-0052Purpose: The fundamental purpose of this article is to critically explore the importance of the experiences of female former combatants during the Irish Conflict, colloquially know as ‘The Troubles’ and outline key moments of resistance for female political prisoners during their time at Armagh jail. The paper will situate the analysis within a Foucauldian framework drawing on theoretical tools for understanding power, resistance and subjectivity to contextualise and capture rich narratives and experiences. What makes a Foucauldian analysis of former female combatants of the Conflict so inspiring, is how the animation and location of problems of knowledge as ‘pieces’ of the larger contest between The State, institutions of power and its penal subjects (ex female combatants as prisoners). The paper has demonstrated that the body exists through and in culture, the product of signs and meanings, of discourse and practices. Design/methodology/approach: This is primarily qualitative methodology underpinned by Foucauldian theory. There were 28 women and 20 men interviewed in the course of this research came from across Ireland, some came from cities and others came from rural areas. Some had spent time in prisons in the UK and others served time in the Republic of Ireland or in the North of Ireland. Many prisoners experienced being on the run and all experienced levels of brutality at the hands of the State. Ethical approval was granted from the Queens University Research Committee. Findings: This paper only examines the experiences of female ex-combatants and their narratives of imprisonment. What this article clearly shows through the narratives of the women is the gendered nature of imprisonment and the role of power, resilience and resistance whilst in prison in Northern Ireland. The voices in this paper disturb and interrupt the silence surrounding the experiences of women political prisoners, who are a hidden population, whilst in prison. Research limitations/implications: In terms of research impact, this qualitative research is on the first of its kind to explore both the experiential and discursive narratives of female ex-combatants of the Irish Conflict. The impact and reach of the research illustrates how confinement revealed rich theoretical insights, drawing from Foucauldian theory, to examine the dialectical interplay between power and the subjective mobilisation of resistance practices of ex-combatants in prison in Northern Ireland. The wider point of prison policy and practice not meeting basic human rights or enhancing the quality of life of such prisoners reveals some of the dystopian features of current prison policy and lack of gender sensitivity to female combatants. Practical implications: It is by prioritising the voices of the women combatants in this article that it not only enables their re-positioning at the centre of the struggle, but also moves away methodologically from the more typical sole emphasis on structural conditions and political processes. Instead, prioritising the voices of the women combatants places the production of subjectivities and agencies at the centre, and explores their dialectical relationship to objective conditions and practical constraints. Originality/value: This article is one of the first to explore the importance of the experiences of female former combatants during the Northern Irish conflict with specific reference to their experience of imprisonment. The aim of this significant article is to situate our critical analysis grounded in Foucauldian theory drawing on theoretical tools of power, resistance and subjectivity in order to make sense of women's experiences of conflict and imprisonment in Ireland. It is suggested that power and resistance need to be re-appropriated in order to examine such unique gendered experiences that have been hidden in mainstream criminological accounts of the Irish Conflict

Menstruation as a Weapon of War – The Politics of the Bleeding Body for Women on Political Protest at Armagh Prison Northern Ireland.

This article draws on the voices of women political prisoners who were detained at Armagh Prison during the period of the Troubles or the Conflict in Northern Ireland. It focuses on women who undertook an extraordinary form of protest against the prison authorities during the 1980s, known as the No Wash Protest. As the prisoners were prevented from leaving their cells by prison officer either to wash or to use the toilet, the women, living in the midst of their own dirt and body waste, added menstrual blood as a form of protest