Behind bars: Exploring the prison and post release experiences of minoritised mothers.

Academic literature concerning ‘prisons and prisoners’ generally appear to focus on solitary or at best two characteristics when exploring experiences i.e. either gender, race or class (Enos, 1998; Ginn, 2013; Mirza, 2003). It is often forgotten that individuals in fact occupy more than one social status which affects their life course. This thesis explored the prison and post release experiences of minoritised mothers in two separate studies. Study one consisted of semi structured interviews with eight women and study two was an autoethnography which was then woven into the narrative structures of study one. Using Hofstede (2011) and Crenshaw (1989) as foundational theoretical building blocks, as well as the findings from both the studies, the thesis re-conceptualised intersectionality in the form of a roundabout of oppression with numerous spokes flowing into it, but no exits. The minoritised are at the centre of the roundabout experiencing the increasing density and pressure of oppressive factors originating from each of the spurs that feed into their unique social location. The oppressive factors identified in this thesis were culture, race, ethnicity, religion, prisoner status, and motherhood. Consistent with the theoretical orientation, interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised to gather individual biographies of women. General themes of oppressive mechanisms such as intimate partner violence, cultural and religious expectations of motherhood and womanhood, and prisoner status were identified through the narratives of the respondents in both studies. The thesis then provided empirically based recommendations for public policy for prison and probation operations. In addition, while the thesis exposed systems of oppression for minoritised women, it also generated more questions that need to be researched. Also, as a consequence of this thesis being conducted in the UK, researching women in social contexts that may eliminate one of the spokes of oppression is an important direction for further research.