The Prison Firm: The ‘transportation’ of organised crime, the evolution of criminal markets and contemporary prisoner society

Abstract

Despite the burgeoning literature on organised crime within the community, little research has focused on the prison as a ‘space’ for organised crime. Based on ethnographic and qualitative research conducted within male English and Welsh prisons, this article critically examines how organised crime functions within these prisons. It is argued that the prison has become a fertile site for organised crime which is ‘transported’, rather than ‘transplanted’, into and out of prison in ways that extend the reach of criminal networks and alter the character of prisoner society.