Women in prison: Ethnographic reflections on gender and the carceral state. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Epler, Rhett; Dewey, Susan
• Is Part Of: Reviews in anthropology. Volume 45:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 71
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Criminal justice system -- feminist ethnography -- prison -- United States; Anthropology -- Book reviews -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1080/00938157.2016.1179521
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0093-8157

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The criminal justice system is increasingly becoming the subject of national dialogue throughout the United States due to the sheer number of people it impacts: according to the Department of Justice, nearly 7 million, or 1 in 35, U.S. residents are under some form of correctional control. The four books reviewed in this essay derive their findings from ethnographic methods that offer deep insights into the carceral state's everyday operations in individual women's lives, while raising profound theoretical and practical questions about gender and governance. We engage with these texts from unique situated standpoints as insider-outsiders with intimate knowledge of the U.S. criminal justice system gleaned from our respective lived experiences, services provision work, and research with currently and formerly incarcerated Wyoming women.