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Sound, Order and Survival in Prison

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Winner of the British Society of Criminology Annual Book Prize 2024. The soundscape of prison life is that of constant clangs, bangs and jangles. What is the significance of this cacophonous din to...
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  • 15 July 2025
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Winner of the British Society of Criminology Annual Book Prize 2024.

The soundscape of prison life is that of constant clangs, bangs and jangles. What is the significance of this cacophonous din to those who live and work with it? This book tells the story of a year spent with a UK prison community, bringing its social world vividly to life for the first time through aural ethnography.

Kate Herrity’s sensory criminology challenges current thinking on how power is experienced by the imprisoned and the lasting effects of incarceration for all who spend time in these environments.

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Price: $41.95
Pages: 210
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Imprint: Bristol University Press
Publication Date: 15 July 2025
ISBN: 9781529229486
Format: Paperback
BISACs: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology, Penology and punishment, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Penology, Social and cultural anthropology, Gender studies: men and boys
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‘From the personal feelings and thoughts of the author to the relationships made with staff and prisoners, to the important discussions of order and power, this book quite simply does it all.

'Sound, Order and Survival' is a compelling, powerful, and distinct body of work that carries importance within and beyond the field of prison literature.

This is an important book. It asks novel questions and breaks new ground on how we think about prisons.

Herrity’s written a profound book that’s unlike anything I’ve read in the field.’ Symposium review, The British Journal of Criminology

'This book will be a key source as we move forward in seeking to fully understand sound as an aspect of carceral experiences and environments.' Crime, Media, Culture

Kate Herrity is the Mellon-Kings Research Fellow in Punishment at the University of Cambridge.

1. Just Landed

2. What Are You Hearing, Right Now?

3. Warp and Weft

4. “He’s Never Even Had a Magnum!”

5. Weft and Warp

6. A Night Inside

7. Talk to Me

8. Kackerlackas

9. A Kettle, a Penguin and a Word Arrow

10. Emotional Contagion

11. Arrhythmia

12. Polyrhythmia

13. Jingle Jangle

14. Disentangling Power and Order

15. Learning the “Everyday Tune”

16. Listening To Power

17. Singing Frogs, Looping the Slam

18. The Auld Triangle

19. The Hustle and Bustle

20. Phasing

21. Polyrhythmia Revisited

22. Bells, Whistles, Ships and Prisons

23. Shipping Out

24. References