ABSTRACT
Learning about living and working in carceral settings is a crucial step in the reform process. To even begin imagining change, researchers and practitioners must continuously strive to understand the lived experiences of these individuals and the implementation and perceptions of rules, guidelines, practices, and procedures within these controlled environments. The current literature regularly discusses key barriers to doing research in prison and jail through the lenses of access (Trulson, Marquart, & Mullings, 2004), human subjects' ethics, such as confidentiality (Roberts & Indermaur, 2008), and the harm felt by researchers when doing this work (Reiter, 2014). However, that same literature base rarely shines a light on the reflective and intentional processes that must occur to safeguard and center the individuals featured in the study. Without reflection on the impact of these practices on the people living and working in these highly punitive environments, sound research practices alone are not enough to prevent researchers from hurting the very folks they hope to help. Through standard research practices like study design, data collection, data analysis, and translation or dissemination, researchers may uphold problematic research traditions that further traumatize or marginalize individuals and communities. This chapter describes and discusses these common, and often latent, harms and the ways individual researchers or teams may work to lessen or avoid them. The sections of this chapter carefully and intentionally discuss how to: 1) consider researcher and research team positionality to understand individual and group lenses and the power dynamics that will ultimately affect research participants; 2) examine the importance of conducting research with subjects rather than on them; 3) work toward inclusivity across the research process; 4) reflect on the emotional labor of participants and how best to compensate them for their time and expertise; and 5) recognize trauma, or the potential for re-traumatization, throughout the research experience. The chapter ends with a discussion about how and why these approaches matter, who can and should consider these approaches, and what may be gained from approaches that center individuals living or working in penal institutions.
