ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the problems of studying women's imprisonment separately from men's. It analyses the circular and repetitive nature of prison studies in general and suggests ways of both destroying the iconography of the prison and de-institutionalizing the prison research business. Research access to British prisons is only obtained after a research project's objectives and methods have received Home Office approval. All Home Office funded prison research has to be approved prior to publication. Several researchers into British prisons have been threatened with libel suits or with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. Even when Home Office funded prison research findings are approved, the vetting process can take an inordinately long time, thus delaying publication and thereby blunting the impact of findings which can conveniently be officially labelled 'outdated' when they are eventually published.
