ABSTRACT
The role of the prison officer is arguably the most important in a prison. The precise nature of that role and, more importantly, how it is performed on a daily basis have been neglected in most studies of the prison, until recently. There has been a gap in the literature, in research and the Prison Service’s own recognition of what it is that makes the prison officer’s job so highly skilled. This book originally set out to fill that gap, and to stimulate further research and reflection on the work of prison officers. It also aimed to introduce an appreciative perspective into what has been a blunt tradition in which prison officers have been stereotyped and labelled negatively. The book arose from interest shown in the findings of several key pieces of research undertaken for the Prison Service and others by the Cambridge Institute of Criminology over several years, which we were asked to bring together and reflect upon, in a single accessible volume. Central to these research projects was the use of ‘appreciative inquiry’, which critically and, we hope, respectfully engaged prison officers, other staff and prisoners in discussing the nature of the prison officer’s role. Since the first edition of the book was published in 2001, there have been several important new studies – on the emotional lives of prison officers (Crawley 2004), on the effects of prison work (Arnold 2005) and the qualities of highperforming prison officers (Arnold 2008), on culture (Liebling 2008a; Arnold et al. 2007), on care (Tait 2008a, 2008b), on public-private sector comparisons (McLean and Liebling 2008) and on the use of power (Liebling 2008b; Crewe 2009) – which have together provided
greater understanding of the complexities and demands of prison work. Further studies are underway (see, for example, the collection by Liebling (ed.), in progress). We can confidently argue that prison officers are finally receiving the research attention they deserve.
