Gender, Prison and Reentry Experiences

Silvia Gomes is an assistant professor at the University of Warwick, UK.Dixie Rocker is a postdoctoral scholar at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, USA.

"Gomes and Rocker’s superb book offers a much-needed humanizing account of prison life. Their richly detailed qualitative study illuminates the inner lives and lived experiences of the people we send to prison. They show how gender, personal agency, and context shape these experiences and, ultimately, influence families and society. A Matter of Time should be read by scholars, policymakers, and, not least, those who run prisons."Dr Daniel P. Mears, Distinguished Research Professor, Florida State University“The authors examine the engendering of imprisonment, transitions from custody and the variables that either hinder or support desistance. The book examines how the performativity of gender under the carceral stare is interwoven into the complexities of traversing the label of ‘prisoner’, as they make the transition from custody back into society. This is a timely contribution to the literature, demonstrating the abject failure of the prison system and the penal solutions offered to women and men who come into conflict with the law.”Dr Azrini Wahidin, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Sydney"This book joins the critical call for a paradigm shift and strives towards a broader analytical approach to imprisonment. The reentry interface between society and prisons is the subject. Portuguese fieldwork is the showcase. Feminist criminology is the motto of transdisciplinary thinking."Dr Antonio Pedro Dores, Assistant Professor, ISCTE"Gomes and Rocker provide a keen analysis on how men and women in Portugal experience imprisonment and reentry in order to move past the scope of reform that reproduces harm. Instead, this work highlights how critical reentry studies and abolitionist reimaginations can be used beyond an American lens to advocate and decarcerate prisons around the world."Dr Calvin John Smiley, PhD, author of Purgatory Citizenship: Reentry, Race, and Abolition

• 1.Introduction 2.Prison, Reentry, and Gender: Conceptual and Theoretical Approaches 3.Prisons and Reentry in Portugal: The Gap Between Law and Practice 4.Researching Reentry in Prison: Methodology 5.Gendered Prison Experiences 6.The Perceived Impact of Incarceration Experiences on Individuals’ Reentry 7.Individuals’ Expectations After Release 8.Conclusion: Reentry and (Social) Justice