Sex workers in prison
The reality for women in prison means there could be over-laps or gaps with their support needs. The majority of women in prison have committed non-violent crimes and many women may have been involved with sex work. Feminist academics have criticised gender-responsive criminal justice policies because they do not adequately respond to women’s complex experiences prior to imprisonment (Carlton and Baldry, 2013). It may be that the emphasis of policy and practice for women in prison will be towards criminal justice rather than health orientated goals. The most recent, available information about the support of sex workers in prison is from a project that aimed to raise awareness of issues relating to sex work. This study had the objectives of developing partnerships between prisons with sex work support projects and develop a directory of specialist support services (SWIP,2009). The problem with issues relating to sex workers in prison concerns fragmented knowledge which is not always publicly available.
This forum is for connecting researchers and academics who are working on sex work, sex working and sexual exploitation. This hub is only accessible to researchers who are actively researching sex work or sex work organisations who are involved in research. While this forum may be producing useful information for practitioners within prisons, it is not publicly available.
This conference is available for postgraduate students and will be held at Leeds University in 2016. It is known that research has been conducted by post graduates and in January 2016 a paper is being produced by Gemma Ahearne (2016) called, ‘paying the price: sex workers in prison and the reality of stigma’ ( forthcoming in the Prison Service Journal). Details about this research can be found in a blog called plasticdollheads.
Within the United Kingdom UKNSWP is the largest organisation to represent sex work projects. This organisation has expertise with supporting good practice and policy discussions about services for sex workers. This organisation has a library which holds a large collection relating to the many aspects of sex work.
The Sex Work In Prison evaluation report (2009) and was supported by the Griffin Society. This report made four recommendations in order to improve the support for sex workers in prison. These were:
- the development of partnership work;
- cascade training within prisons;
- sex workers involved with developing training for staff
- a wider awareness or audience.
Until now there has been no site that specializes in providing research information and support relating to women in prison. The aim of research for women in prison is to raise an awareness beyond the specific audiences of academics, policy-makers or specialist practitioners.
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Originally published at www.r4womeninprison.com on November 22, 2015.
