“Age is Just a Number in Here”: A Qualitative Study of Adulthood in a Women’s Prison

Authors

Janani Umamaheswar

Abstract

"Desistance from crime is a significant marker of adulthood, while persistence in criminal behavior is inconsistent with a subjective sense of adulthood (Massoglia & Uggen, 2010). To understand the relationship between crime and adulthood in greater detail, however, it is important to understand how offenders interpret and conceptualize the notion of adulthood in the first place. Based on interviews and mail correspondence with 35 incarcerated women, I explore this question through an examination of how incarcerated women construct definitions of adulthood while in prison. The findings indicate that in a restrictive environment marked by a lack of independence, women in prison rely on intangible markers to define adulthood. Moreover, the inmates believe that these markers are best manifested by those women who have been incarcerated for long periods (5 years or more). I discuss these findings by drawing on older prisonization literature and life-course literature on adulthood."

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Recommended Citation

Umamaheswar, Janani (2015) "“Age is Just a Number in Here”: A Qualitative Study of Adulthood in a Women’s Prison," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 3: No. 2, Article 4.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol3/iss2/4