Undergraduate Module Descriptor

SOC2098: Sociology of Imprisonment

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to provide you with an introductory knowledge of prison sociology. It aims to teach you what the prison experience entails, but also to think more broadly and question accepted academic perceptions of imprisonment and punishment more generally. It will thus help develop your critical thinking skills and encourage you to engage in socio-political discussions.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate an understanding of prison sociology. 2. Assess the utility of prison sociology in thinking about the purpose of prison and its effectiveness as a method of punishment for a criminal offence. 3. Demonstrate good understanding of different sources of data and critically assess their reliability and utility in debating whether imprisonment is an effective method of punishing offenders 4. Attempt to critically engage with academic discourses about the boundaries of punishment.
Discipline-Specific Skills	5. Demonstrate an understanding of the explanatory frameworks and their applications to criminology. 6. Engage with a range of sociological sources (academic, biographical, documentary). 7. Clearly present research and policy in your arguments.
Personal and Key Skills	8. Present an argument orally and in writing in a clear and organized manner; 9. Analyze and attempt to critically assess sources of qualitative and quantitative data; 10. Work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specific task.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

What is 'prison sociology'? - An introduction to the module.

Prison Discourses – how and to what extent has the nature of imprisonment changed since the 1950s?

The Prison Experience – discuss what the ‘pains of imprisonment’ are, and whether their nature has changed in the last five decades.

Society of Prisoners – consider what social life within a prison is like, and what it tells us about the effectiveness of prison as a method of punishing offenders.

Beyond Prison Walls – consider how imprisonment reaches beyond prison walls, affecting ex-prisoners' lives after their have served their sentence, and affecting their families and communities.

The politics and policies of imprisonment.

Experiences of particular types of prisoners

Oversight, monitoring and accountability

Theoretical and conceptual perspectives on imprisonment

Contemporary debates in imprisonment

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activity	11	11 x 1-hour lectures
Scheduled learning and teaching activity	11	11 x 1 hour tutorials
Guided independent study	40	Reading assignments and preparing for the tutorials
Guided independent study	20	Preparing for essay assignment
Guided independent study	15	Additional reading/research
Guided independent study	53	Preparation for and completion of all exams

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:

Sykes, G. (2007), The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison.

Crewe, B. (2009), The Prisoner Society.

Ewald, A., and Uggen, C. (2012), 'The Collateral Effects of Imprisonment on Prisoners, Their Families, and Communities', in The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections (ed. J. Petersilia and K. R. Reitz).