Doing Team Ethnography in a Transnational Prison

CrimRxiv

Abstract

This article has three main purposes: (1) To describe an in-prison methodology for measuring the moral quality of life, developed organically out of experience and necessity. It is conducted over an intense but exceptionally brief period of time. (2) To reveal and reflect on our intellectual methodology: how do we describe, think, interpret and theorise about prison life in our work together, especially in a transnational team? (3) Finally, to consider the benefits and challenges of collaboration and intense immersion across national boundaries, in a study of Norgerhaven prison in the Netherlands. We found that our own implicit prison moralities varied significantly, as we worked together to describe a prison that surprised us, and our participants, hugely.

Authors 8

1. Alison Liebling

   University of Cambridge

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Criminology , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK

2. Bethany E. Schmidt

   University of Cambridge

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Criminology , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK

3. Kristel Beyens

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   Research Group Crime & Society, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium

4. Miranda Boone Aachen Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

5. Berit Johnsen
   Affiliation as printed

   Norwegian Correctional Service (Kriminalomsorgen), Lillestrøm, Norway

6. Mieke Kox

   Utrecht University

   Affiliation as printed

   Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

7. Tore Rokkan
   Affiliation as printed

   Norwegian Correctional Service (Kriminalomsorgen), Lillestrøm, Norway

8. An‐Sofie Vanhouche

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   Research Group Crime & Society, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium