The Working Lives of Prison Managers ― Global Change, Local Culture and Individual Agency in the Late Modern Prison

This book offers the first ethnographic account of prison managers in England. It explores how globalised changes, in particular managerialism, have intersected with local occupational cultures, positioning managers as micro-agents in the relationship between the global and local that characterises late modernity.

The Working Lives of Prison Managers addresses key aspects of prison management, including how individuals become prison managers, their engagement with elements of traditional occupational culture, and the impact of the 'age of austerity'. It offers a particular focus on performance monitoring mechanisms such as indicators, audits and inspections, and how these intersect with local culture and individual identity. The book also examines important aspects of individual agency, including values, discretion, resistance and the use of power. It also reveals the 'hidden injuries' of contemporary prison managerialism, especially the distinctive effects experienced by women and members of minority ethnic groups.

Jamie Bennett has been a prison manager since 1996 and is currently Governor of HMP Grendon and Springhill, UK. He is also a Research Associate at the University of Oxford, UK, and has edited the Prison Service Journal since 2004. He has written widely on prisons and was awarded a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, UK.