Spatialising ‘carceral mobilities’: extracting census data for analysis of prisoner inflow, transfer and release
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Responding to the dearth of fully-comprehensive or summary data on prisoner or ‘carceral mobilities’, this paper provides the first comprehensive case study analysis of the flow into, between and out from prisons. By uniquely extracting data from the 2011 UK Census to identify and visualise trends in movement, highlight centrality of institutions and observe the self-containedness of regions of operation, findings reveal specific volumes and geographies of prisoner flow as well as discrepancies with the expected practices of prison category transfers and disparities between the distances travelled by prisoners in establishments with different functions. Such analysis is a critical tool in appraising (in)efficiencies with the governance of prisons at the regional and national level. In conclusion, Census Data is revealed as a viable source of data for analysis in situations where institutional data is not forthcoming/available, which provides significant potential for the advancement of the range and scope of studies in carceral mobilities and criminological research more broadly.
Authors: Gezhi Xiu, Jennifer Turner, Thilo Gross
Institutions: Peking University, Imperial College London, Universität Trier, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,090
OpenAlex ID: W4401498284