Analysing Women's Imprisonment

What are women's prisons for? What are they like? Why are lone mothers, ethnic minority and very poor women disproportionately represented in women's prison population? Should babies be sent to prison with their mothers? Can knowledge of women's imprisonment be better informed by various theories, research studies, philosophies of punishment and cultural analyses which demonstrate the decisive impact on penal affairs of economic and political change? These are amongst the issues with which this book is concerned.Analysing Women's Imprisonment is written as an introductory text to the subject, aiming to guide students of penology carefully through the main historical and contemporary discourses on women's imprisonment. Each chapter has a clear summary ('concepts to know), essay questions and recommendations for further reading, and will help students prepare confidently for seminars, course examinations and project work.