About

The Centre's Aims, Objectives and Mission

The challenges for those working in prisons, and the range of concerns relating to imprisonment itself, have never been greater. Indeed, the relentless rise in the prison population, and the diversity of that population, poses many philosophical, practical, social, economic and political dilemmas, both for those who run prisons and for those who examine the use of imprisonment more generally. In this context, the mission of Salford University's Centre for Prison Studies (SUCPS) is to encourage the exchange of ideas about imprisonment between practitioners, policy makers and academics, and to ensure that policy making is underpinned by empirical evidence, not only about the character of contemporary imprisonment and the needs of prisoners, but also about the dynamics of day-to-day prison life, the needs of prison staff, and the effects - both intended and unintended - of the prison sentence itself.

The main goal of the Centre is to constitute a specialised organisation which will accumulate unique expertise and research capability in the field of prison studies. We recognise the importance of policy relevant research and analysis. We are particularly keen to ensure that the research we produce is accessible to a wide range of audiences and that it is timely and policy-relevant. Working together, members of SUCPS will strive to generate empirically based, policy-related research which has the capacity to ensure valuable practical benefits to those who either work within our prisons or who are there under sentence. The dissemination of research findings through user-orientated reports, briefing papers as well as academic publications will be central in this regard.