Punishment and Prisons

Assessment: essay (3000 words) [70%], employability report (1000 words) [30%] [both assessments must be attempted]
This module will develop students? understanding of prisons as culturally complex and emotionally-charged institutions, whose practices, routines and purposes are highly vulnerable to shifts in the political and judicial landscape; it will develop students? understanding of the relationship between prisons, politics, the courts and the media; develop students? understanding of how the prison itself is accomplished through day-to-day practices, occupational cultures, customs, rituals, rules and routines, and the impacts of these for prison staff and for prisoners. It will encourage a critical, reflexive approach to questions concerning the purpose of imprisonment and the role of the modern prison; it will encourage students to understand prisons, prison policies and prison practices in their historical, cultural, geographical and political contexts; develop student?s knowledge of the nature, availability, and provision of non-custodial sanctions; develop students understanding of the political economy of non-custodial sanctions and develop students critical engagement with the ethical landscape of custodial and non-custodial sanctions.