Prelims
Women's Imprisonment in Eastern Europe: ‘Sitting out Time’
ISBN: 978-1-80117-283-7, eISBN: 978-1-80117-282-0
Publication date: 16 November 2023
Citation
Idrissi, A.J. (2023), "Prelims", Women's Imprisonment in Eastern Europe: ‘Sitting out Time’ (Emerald Studies in Criminology, Feminism and Social Change), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-xii. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-282-020231009
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024 Arta Jalili Idrissi
Half Title Page
Women's Imprisonment in Eastern Europe
Series Page
EMERALD STUDIES IN CRIMINOLOGY, FEMINISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Series Editors:
Sandra Walklate, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Australia.
Kate Fitz-Gibbon, School of Social Sciences at Monash University and Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Australia.
Jude McCulloch, Monash University and Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Australia.
JaneMaree Maher, Centre for Women’s Studies and Gender Research Sociology, Monash University, Australia.
Emerald Studies in Criminology, Feminism and Social Change offers a platform for innovative, engaged, and forward-looking feminist-informed work to explore the interconnections between social change and the capacity of criminology to grapple with the implications of such change.
Social change, whether as a result of the movement of peoples, the impact of new technologies, the potential consequences of climate change, or more commonly identified features of changing societies, such as ageing populations, intergenerational conflict, the changing nature of work, increasing awareness of the problem of gendered violence(s), and/or changing economic and political context, takes its toll across the globe in infinitely more nuanced and interconnected ways than previously imagined. Each of these connections carries implications for what is understood as crime, the criminal, the victim of crime, and the capacity of criminology as a discipline to make sense of these evolving interconnections. Feminist analysis, despite its contentious relationship with the discipline of criminology, has much to offer in strengthening the discipline to better understand the complexity of the world in the twenty-first century and to scan the horizon for emerging, possible or likely futures.
This series invites feminist-informed scholars, particularly those working comparatively across disciplinary boundaries to take up the challenges posed by social change for the discipline of criminology. The series offers authors a space to adopt and develop strong, critical personal views whether in the format of research monographs, single or co-authored books, or edited collections. We are keen to promote global views and debates on these issues and welcome proposals embracing such perspectives.
Forthcoming titles in this series:
Explanations, Self-change and Social Friction in Men’s Narratives of Sexual Violence Perpetration: How to Change the Past
Anja Emilie Kruse
Drilling Down on Patriarchy: Resource Extraction and Violence Against Women in Rural Places
Walter S. DeKeseredy, Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Jayne Mooney and Fintan Mooney
Carceral Feminicidio: The Disappearance of Indigenous Women into Prisons
Gillian Balfour
Title Page
Women's Imprisonment in Eastern Europe: ‘Sitting out Time’
BY
ARTA JALILI IDRISSI
Staffordshire University, UK
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China
Copyright Page
Emerald Publishing Limited
Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL.
First edition 2024
Copyright © 2024 Arta Jalili Idrissi.
Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-80117-283-7 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-80117-282-0 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-80117-284-4 (Epub)
Dedication Page
This book is for all the women who shared their collective and individual stories of pain, struggle, incredible strength, and survival.
Contents
List of Abbreviations | ix |
About the Author | xi |
Acknowledgements | xii |
Chapter 1: Introduction | 1 |
Chapter 2: The Clash of the Ideologies and (Un)intended Outcomes | 5 |
‘Ins and Outs’ of the Neoliberal Project | 6 |
In the Soviet Grip | 9 |
From Difference to Sameness | 13 |
Chapter 3: The Breakdown of Soviet Power and the FSU Country Transition to Market Economy | 17 |
The Transition Process Through the Lens of Penality and Gender Perspectives: The Case Study of Latvia | 21 |
Foreword to Empirical Chapters | 27 |
Chapter 4: Carceral Space: ‘The Architecture Embodies Some Kind of Spirit of the Age… by Living in These Premises They Still Feel as in the Soviet Union’ | 29 |
The Geographical Presence | 30 |
Entering Carceral Space | 32 |
Spatial Particularities of the Prison Site | 33 |
Constrained in Space and Time | 37 |
The Prison as a Factory | 39 |
The Creation of Place | 42 |
Gender-specific ‘Gentrification’ of Place | 45 |
Places of ‘Difference’ | 48 |
Chapter 5: Imprisonment in Transition: ‘The Whole Resocialisation Process Isn’t Professional – It Is Simply a Russian Salad’ | 53 |
Imprisonment in Transition | 54 |
The Prison Regime Under ‘New Rules’ | 57 |
Bureaucratic Gaze and ‘Responsibilisation’ in Action | 58 |
Synopticon and Checks and Balances in Place | 61 |
Thorough Guarding | 63 |
Rule Compliance, Incentives, and the Final Reward of Early Release | 66 |
Keeping Women Busy and Resocialisation via Gendered Activities | 70 |
Navigating Through the Prison Regime: ‘Creeping’ Materialism and the Neoliberal Agenda | 76 |
Chapter 6: The Collapse of Values: ‘Previously One Side [Law Enforcers] Somehow Fought for a Cause and the Other Side Fought For Their Understanding Now There Isn’t Any Side, Now They Are All Purchasable’ | 83 |
Transformation of Informal Rules and Social Structures | 84 |
The ‘Snitch Zone’ | 92 |
Day-to-Day Prisoner–Staff Relationships | 94 |
Blurring the Boundaries Between Discipline, Care, and Punishment | 96 |
The New Moral Economy of Vulnerability | 99 |
‘Here We Live as in the Soviet Times…’ | 102 |
Final Remarks | 109 |
References | 115 |
Index | 127 |
List of Abbreviations
CJS | Criminal Justice System |
CSB | Central Statistical Bureau |
ECtHR | European Court of Human Rights |
EU | European Union |
FSU | Former Soviet Union |
OSP | Official Statistics Portal |
TB | Tuberculosis |
About the Author
Arta Jalili Idrissi is Lecturer in Criminology at Staffordshire University. She is currently a principal investigator for a research project on women’s prison visiting facilities and she is also a member of the Discrimination Incident Reporting Forms Scrutiny Panel in three local prisons.
Acknowledgements
As this book is based on a PhD dissertation, I am forever indebted to my PhD supervisors, Dr Patricia Gray and Dr Chris Pac-Soo. In particular, I owe gratitude to my Director of Studies, Dr Patricia Gray, who has provided continuous support and encouragement. I would also like to thank other university friends, especially Dr Iain Channing, Dr Viktoria Akchurina, Dr Panagia Voyatzis-Hernandez, Dr Grace Gallacher, and Christine Kennedy. This book would not be possible without help of specialists and gatekeepers in Latvia, so my gratitude goes to Dr Ilona Kronberga, Ilona Spure, and Inna Zlatkovska. I am forever grateful to my research participants who shared their struggles and allowed me into their worlds. I would like to thank my publishers from Emerald including Katy Mathers, Lauren Kammerdiener, and Kiruthika Andappan as well as my current employer – Staffordshire University for supporting this venture. A special thanks to my partner, family, and long-time friends on whom I can always rely – without you all, there would be no me.
- Prelims
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: The Clash of the Ideologies and (Un)intended Outcomes
- Chapter 3: The Breakdown of Soviet Power and the FSU Country Transition to Market Economy
- Chapter 4: Carceral Space: ‘The Architecture Embodies Some Kind of Spirit of the Age… by Living in These Premises They Still Feel as in the Soviet Union’
- Chapter 5: Imprisonment in Transition: ‘The Whole Resocialisation Process Isn't Professional – It Is Simply a Russian Salad’
- Chapter 6: The Collapse of Values: ‘Previously One Side [Law Enforcers] Somehow Fought for a Cause and the Other Side Fought For Their Understanding Now There Isn't Any Side, Now They Are All Purchasable’
- Final Remarks
- References
- Index