ABSTRACT
Because I am a woman in prison I am ... not catered for properly, a faceless fact, in the minority [but I am also J allowed to wear my own clothes, treated better than male prisoners (in certain respects) (Virginia, Eleanor and Betty, HMPIYOI Drake Hall, May 1995)
Prisons confine a collection of individuals who have been convicted of an assortment of crimes and who are incarcerated for differing lengths of time. Prisoners vary in terms of their race and ethnicity, their age, their mental and physical health, their intellectual capability and education, their nationality, their class and, of course, their sex. Yet general policy statements rarely distinguish among inmates. Rather, any given establishment must somehow manage its diverse populations within the general remit set down by the Prison Service's statement of purpose:
Although the 1993 redesignation of the Prison Service as an Agency has allowed individual prison governors some leeway in their managerial practices, ultimate authority rests with the Director-General and the Home Secretary, who are bound by the gender-and race-neutral language of the Prison Act 1952 and the Prison Rules 1964 (HM Prison Service 1993c; Loucks 1993; Richardson 1994).1 Aside from the counsel of specific 'Circular Instructions', designating treatment of particular inmate groups,2 all adult prisoners must be treated alike under the law. Consequently, the official discourse on imprisonment is posed in universalizing terms. All inmates must be governed equally according to the goals of 'justice', 'security', 'custody', 'care' and 'control'.
