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No Promises, But I’m Willing to Listen and Tell What I Hear: Conducting Qualitative Research among Prison Inmates and Staff

Westminster College, Salt Lake City

By their nature and locations, prisons are places in which few criminologists study firsthand. It is far easier to gain access to study the residents of a remote Alaskan community than to study the lives of prison inmates and/or those persons whose task it is to keep them within the prison walls. This article explores some of the interrelated challenges (access, rapport, honesty, confidentiality, compromise, etc.) faced by researchers conducting qualitative research within correctional environments. Examples are drawn from the literature as well as recent studies by the author on the work environment of correctional officers and a prison substance abuse treatment program.

Key Words: qualitative research • prisons • inmates • staff • access • rapport • reciprocity • honesty • confidentiality

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