Doing Prison Work in Australia and Norway
Instrumental and Relational Security in Countries of Penal Excess and Exceptionalism
Will be published approx. on 12. November 2026
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-350-57225-6 (ISBN)
Description
What does prison work actually do - and what kind of prison does it produce?
In Doing Prison Work in Australia and Norway, Anna Eriksson argues that prisons are not defined primarily by their architecture, regimes, or policies, but by the everyday practices of those who work within them. Drawing on extensive comparative research across Australia and Norway, the book shows how prison staff actively shape the meaning and experience of punishment through their interactions, decisions, and use of authority.
At the centre of the analysis is a new conceptual distinction between instrumental security and relational security. While instrumental approaches emphasise control, distance, and compliance, relational approaches are grounded in communication, proximity, and professional judgement. Eriksson demonstrates that these are not simply individual styles, but are embedded in wider penal cultures, organisational structures, and the underlying aims of imprisonment.
By rethinking prison work as the core mechanism through which punishment is enacted, the book offers a fresh perspective on longstanding debates about penal excess and Nordic exceptionalism. It shows how different systems produce fundamentally different forms of prison life - not only for prisoners, but for staff themselves.
Bringing together rich empirical insight with clear conceptual innovation, Doing Prison Work speaks directly to both scholars and practitioners. For academics, it advances a new framework for understanding prison culture and penal power. For practitioners and policymakers, it offers concrete insights into how staff practices shape safety, legitimacy, and the possibility of change within prisons.
Ultimately, this book makes a simple but powerful claim: to change the prison, we must understand - and rethink - the work that happens inside it.
In Doing Prison Work in Australia and Norway, Anna Eriksson argues that prisons are not defined primarily by their architecture, regimes, or policies, but by the everyday practices of those who work within them. Drawing on extensive comparative research across Australia and Norway, the book shows how prison staff actively shape the meaning and experience of punishment through their interactions, decisions, and use of authority.
At the centre of the analysis is a new conceptual distinction between instrumental security and relational security. While instrumental approaches emphasise control, distance, and compliance, relational approaches are grounded in communication, proximity, and professional judgement. Eriksson demonstrates that these are not simply individual styles, but are embedded in wider penal cultures, organisational structures, and the underlying aims of imprisonment.
By rethinking prison work as the core mechanism through which punishment is enacted, the book offers a fresh perspective on longstanding debates about penal excess and Nordic exceptionalism. It shows how different systems produce fundamentally different forms of prison life - not only for prisoners, but for staff themselves.
Bringing together rich empirical insight with clear conceptual innovation, Doing Prison Work speaks directly to both scholars and practitioners. For academics, it advances a new framework for understanding prison culture and penal power. For practitioners and policymakers, it offers concrete insights into how staff practices shape safety, legitimacy, and the possibility of change within prisons.
Ultimately, this book makes a simple but powerful claim: to change the prison, we must understand - and rethink - the work that happens inside it.
Reviews / Votes
This is a timely book of fundamental importance for scholars and practitioners alike. It places all the key challenges and possibilities of prisons and prison work firmly on the contemporary agenda. Above all, Eriksson shows convincingly that social problems require deep and sustained interactions among humans ("people-work") and that "paperwork" or deference to technology are poor proxies for such. This book will stand the test of time and help to recast the collective role of correctional workers and inmates in the pursuit of building better lives within and beyond prison. -- Mark Halsey, Flinders University, Australia In this book Anna Eriksson shares so much insight into prison work in Australia and Norway. No one is better placed to write this book, offering a rich comparative analysis that is as deep and sophisticated as it is empathetic. A masterpiece. -- Francis Pakes, University of Portsmouth, UK Doing Prison Work in Australia and Norway is a very significant contribution to our understanding of prisons and a major achievement. Focussing on staff cultures and orientations, it offers an account that is both granular and comparative, illuminating cross-national differences in the philosophy and practice of imprisonment. -- Ben Crewe, University of Cambridge, UK Aiming to explore and nuance the Nordic exceptionalism thesis, Anna Eriksson presents a respectful, insightful, and richly detailed empirical study of the prison's principal cultural carriers: its staff. The book is highly readable and a valuable addition to the small body of literature on prison personnel. -- Berit Johnsen, KRUS, Norway This is an important and timely book showing how different penal values are enacted in prison work in 'exceptional-relational' Norway and 'excessive-estranged' Australia. We learn more about how penal philosophies are lived, sustained, and sometimes strained. The author shows how penal states choose between perpetual risk or potential change. -- Alison Liebling, University of Cambridge, UKMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
409 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-57225-6 (9781350572256)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anna Eriksson is Associate Professor at Monash University, Australia.
Content
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Penal Excess and Exceptionalism through a New Lens: Staff, Prison Workplace Culture, and Approaches to Security
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Why work here? Educational, Vocational, and Motivational Pathways of Prison Staff in Norway and Australia
Chapter 5: Training for Prison Work: Prison officers and Non-custodial Staff in Norway and Australia
Chapter 6: Core Tasks and Aims of Prison Work in Norway and Australia
Chapter 7: What Characterises a Good Prison Officer?
Chapter 8: Paperwork in Prison Work: The Bureaucratic Obfuscation of Meaningful Human Interaction
Chapter 9: People Work or Dirty work? Professional Identity and Vocational Culture of Prison Staff in Australia and Norway
Chapter 10: When Do you Speak to Staff and Why? Prisoner Narratives of Staff Interactions in Australia
Chapter 11: When Do you Speak to Staff and Why? Prisoner Narratives of Staff Interactions in Norway
Chapter 12: People and Places of Exception: The Hidden Dangers and Potential of Prison Practice
Chapter 13: Conclusion: Vocational Cultures, Security Logics, and the Future of Prison Work
References
Index
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Penal Excess and Exceptionalism through a New Lens: Staff, Prison Workplace Culture, and Approaches to Security
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Why work here? Educational, Vocational, and Motivational Pathways of Prison Staff in Norway and Australia
Chapter 5: Training for Prison Work: Prison officers and Non-custodial Staff in Norway and Australia
Chapter 6: Core Tasks and Aims of Prison Work in Norway and Australia
Chapter 7: What Characterises a Good Prison Officer?
Chapter 8: Paperwork in Prison Work: The Bureaucratic Obfuscation of Meaningful Human Interaction
Chapter 9: People Work or Dirty work? Professional Identity and Vocational Culture of Prison Staff in Australia and Norway
Chapter 10: When Do you Speak to Staff and Why? Prisoner Narratives of Staff Interactions in Australia
Chapter 11: When Do you Speak to Staff and Why? Prisoner Narratives of Staff Interactions in Norway
Chapter 12: People and Places of Exception: The Hidden Dangers and Potential of Prison Practice
Chapter 13: Conclusion: Vocational Cultures, Security Logics, and the Future of Prison Work
References
Index