Issues and innovations in prison health research: methods, issues and innovations. Matthew Maycock, Rosie Meek & James Woodall (Eds.) London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2020. 277pp. £109.99 (hbk); £109.99 (pbk); £87.50 (ebk) ISBN 9783030464004; 9783030464035; 9783030464011
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Author | Oisín Wall |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12478 |
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12478
BOOK REVIEWS
Issues and innovations in prison health research: methods, issues and
innovations
Matthew Maycock Rosie Meek James Woodall
London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2020. 277pp.£109.99 (hbk); £109.99 (pbk); £87.50 (ebk) ISBN 9783030464004;
9783030464035; 97830304640 11
Maycock, Meek and Woodall’s edited collection Issues and innovations in prison health research
is an invaluable handbook for anyone contemplating a participatory project with people who are
living, or have lived, in prison. It consists of 13 substantive chapters, eleven of which aregrounded
in specific worked examples and all of which speak to the different challenges and opportunities
of this kind of research. These insights range from prosaically practical,albeit vital, considerations
like stakeholder management and rescheduling due to prison security issues, to complex psycho-
logical and theoretical considerations, like the formation of types of masculinities in prison and
the efficacy for different methodologies of data analysis.
In the first of the substantive chapters (Chapter 2), Woodall sets the tone for the book by laying
out the fundamental principles of establishing a participation project in prisons. It is well evi-
denced and deals with basic practical issues as well as more complex ethical ones. After this, each
of the chapters are distinct and approach their topics in different ways; however, there are a few
rough themes that connect chapters throughout the book.
Chapters 3 and 10 both focus on projects that seek to give people in prison agency in their
own health education and that of their peers. In Chapter 3, Anita Mehay, Rosie Meek and Jane
Ogden examine how peer-based health literacy education can work inside prison and includes
an insightful interview-led exploration of the barriers to health literacy in prison. These range
from structural barriers, to social problems, to the failures of the prison system itself. In Chapter
10, Ruth Freeman takes a similar peer-led health education model and compares it with a more
traditional approach. In doing so she raises an interesting question about the nature of evidence
in our discussions of evidence-based practice. By comparing two health education campaigns the
chapter demonstrates the importance of using the evidence of prisoner’s lived experience, as well
as more traditionally scientific forms of evidence.
Chapters 4, 6, 7 and 8 each deal with different research methodologies for examining aspects of
prisoners’ lives. Nasrul Ismail’s Chapter 4 is a discussion of the use of a constructivist grounded
theory methodology as part of a study of austerity in the prison system. This discussion would be
useful to anyone considering using this methodological approach, and indeed it includes a num-
ber of innovative ideas. However, the chapter puts a lot of focus on the methodological detail,
without spending enough time establishing the practical benefits or applicability of the method.
The result is that the chapter feels quite heavy amid this accessible and practical book. In Chap-
ter 6, James Fraser describes an interesting study of the experience of accessing health care in
prison in Scotland. The experiences were related through a series of interviews with men who
© 2022 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Howard J. Crim. Justice. 2022;61:261–267. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hojo 261
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