A Prison Within a Prison

How do transgender males in British female prisons navigate identity, and how does creative expression help?

A Prison Within a Prison: An Evocative Autoethnographic Approach to Being a Transgender Man in a Women’s Prison in England explores the experience of transgender males in British female prisons, addressing a research gap often overshadowed by a focus on transgender females. Set against political, cultural, and media pressures, it examines identity, pronouns, goals, and creative expression as tools for self-exploration within a system that frequently fails to acknowledge transgender male identities. The book also questions the role of prisons, engaging with global debates on abolition. It invites discussions on intersectionality and hopes to inspire further research on transgender issues in criminal justice.

Ideal for students of Criminology, Psychology, Law, Queer Studies, Creative Writing, College-in-Prison programs, Prison Officer training, and those engaged with the Incarceration Nations Network.

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Warning
• Learning objectives
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The doors shut: From courtroom to custody
  • Early days in custody
  • Bullying and safety
  • Prison officers and staff
  • Further discussions
• 3 Prison and prejudice: Unlearning the self
  • In the third week of prison, the officer said to me
  • The induction
  • Back to reality
• 4 Invisible inside: Identity interrupted
  • In between prison greys and risk
  • Transgender Triple Threat Theory: An expansion of Double Deviance Theory
  • What is identity inside these walls?
• 5 Routines, regimes, resilience, and reinvention
  • Routine rules resist trans bodies
  • Relationships and repeating ritual regimes
  • Resilience and reinvention
• 6 Reimagining rehabilitation: Prison, poetry, and performance
  • Power play: Performance as a practice of progression
  • Creativity: A catalyst for change
• 7 Enabling environments: Education as empowerment
  • Higher education: Pages, pat-downs, and purpose
  • The inside-out prison: Exchange programme with Durham University
  • Think like a scientist
• 8 Grief in prison
  • Governed grief and the role of gatekeepers
  • Funerals and finding forgiveness
• 9 Release and restricted residence
  • Release
  • Female approved premises
  • The pains of the past affect the present
  • Support workers and probation orders
  • Transgender triple threat theory and resettlement barriers
  • Approved activities actually aided me
• 10 Bail hostels to bedsits: Back in the community
  • Creativity creates change: A chance to challenge myself
  • Probation panic and finding purpose
  • Standfast production: From high risk to higher purpose
• 11 Academia as an anchor: Awakening accountability and achieving autonomy
  • From HMP to a master’s degree: Transition, triumph and taking up space
• Suggested projects, assignments or discussion questions
• Bibliography
• Built
• Index

Dalton Harrison, a dyslexic trans man, ex-prisoner, poet, and Master's student, inspires art, theatre, and dance.