Surviving cell-sharing: Resistance, cooperation and collaboration
| Author | Aimee Muirhead,Michelle Butler,Gavin Davidson |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14624745211062869 |
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Surviving cell-sharing:
Resistance, cooperation
and collaboration
Aimee Muirhead , Michelle Butler ,
and Gavin Davidson
School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work,
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Abstract
For decades, researchers have sought to understand the impact of imprisonment; yet we
have a limited understanding of the lived experience of cell-sharing. To address this gap
in knowledge, this paper draws on 37 semi-structured interviews with imprisoned adult
men in Northern Ireland. While demonstrating that, for most, cell-sharing was a nega-
tive experience, imbued with discomfort, unease and distress, a new concep tual frame-
work is presented that seeks to understand the tactics people use to manage cell-
sharing, influences on their choice of tactics and the potential repercussions of these tac-
tics. Potential implications for policy and practice are also discussed.
Keywords
cellmates, prison cells, adaptation, overcrowding
Cell-sharing is a unique experience, as strangers are often forced to share a small space
against their will. Yet, cell-sharing is far from a unique event. Internationally, cell-sharing
takes many forms, and there are concerns that cell-sharing causes distress, discomfort and
impingements upon privacy, safety and dignity (Community Justice Coalition, 2018;
European Parliament, 2017). There are particular fears that cell-sharing can increase vio-
lence, distress and ill health, hindering efforts to reduce crime and promote rehabilitation
Corresponding author:
Michelle Butler, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast, 6 College
Park, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK.
Email: michelle.butler@qub.ac.uk
Article
Punishment & Society
2023, Vol. 25(2) 500–518
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14624745211062869
journals.sagepub.com/home/pun
and desistance (Grant and Memmott, 2007). However, little is known about the lived real-
ities of cell-sharing and how cellmates manage this aspect of their imprisonment
(Molleman and van Ginneken, 2015). This is a significant blind spot, given the cell is
the space where people spend most of their time in prison. This paper addresses this
gap by qualitatively exploring the lived realities of cell-sharing and the tactics used to
manage the shared cell space and cellmate relationships. In doing so, it makes a threefold
original contribution to knowledge. First, it illuminates how cell-sharing is experienced
by men and may affect their experience of imprisonment. Secondly, it outlines the differ-
ent tactics people use when faced with cell-sharing and conceptualises these tactics as
existing on a continuum of resistance, cooperation and collaboration. Thirdly, as no pre-
vious work has examined how people manage cellmate relationships, this conceptualisa-
tion offers a new framework to help understand where on this continuum people’s tactics
to manage cell-sharing and cellmate relationships may fall, as well as identifying how
people’s positioning on this continuum may change.
The pains of imprisonment
Imprisonment can cause considerable physical and psychological harm (Clemmer, 1958;
Irwin and Owen, 2005; Toch, 1977). Sykes (1958) conceptualised imprisonment as
causing five ‘pains’, involving the deprivation of liberty, goods and services, heterosex-
ual relationships, autonomy and security. Prison regimes in the 21st century cast a differ-
ent hue on these pains (Crewe, 2011). For instance, Crewe (2011) notes the additional
‘pain of self-government’, whereby individuals face not only a deprivation of autonomy
but increased scrutiny regarding the range of actions over which they are permitted to
exercise choice. More recently, Haggerty and Bucerius (2020) highlight new forms of
pains, such as gendered pains, pains beyond prison walls and more modern pains specific
to contemporary imprisonment, yet also caution against the overuse of the term ‘pain’.
Despite the wealth of literature investigating the pains of imprisonment, cell-sharing
has often been omitted from considerations of how imprisonment can be painful. This
paper does not argue that cell-sharing itself constitutes a new pain of imprisonment but
rather that the shared cell is a space where some pains (particularly the deprivation of
autonomy, liberty and safety) are most acutely experienced.
Shared cells are often used as a means for prisons to absorb population pressures when
faced with overcrowding. Overcrowding exacerbates the pains of imprisonment in
several ways, having been linked to tense prison social climates, higher levels of
assault, bullying and increased rates of suicide and self-harm (Haney, 2012; Huey and
McNulty, 2005; Lawrence and Andrews, 2004; Marshall et al., 2000). When two indivi-
duals share a cell, there is the potential for violence, bullying and physical or sexual
assault to occur (de Viggiani, 2007; Grant and Memmott, 2007; Keith, 2006).
Furthermore, overcrowding limits opportunities for constructive activity, such as educa-
tion, training and mental health support, due to the strain on already limited resources
(CJINI, 2012; Prison Reform Trust, 2018). Many organisations and researchers criticise
the use of shared cells due to their potential negative impact (Community Justice
Coalition, 2018; European Parliament, 2017; Grant, 2020; Grant and Memmott, 2007;
Muirhead et al. 501
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