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Prison violence, sound and survival

Professor Kate Gooch and Kate Herrity join Laurie Taylor for a conversation about their research into the way power structures operate and literally what they sound like in prisons

The winner of the British Society of Criminology Book Award in 2025 was Kate Herrity. Her study looks at the way our different senses contribute to the experience of prison life and is called Sound, Order and Survival in Prison: The Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown. Her research looks at the way for many prisoners, listening becomes a vital survival practice.

Kate Gooch is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Bath. In her new book, 'Prison Violence - The Search for Recognition and Respect', she analyses the nature, causes and culture of prison victimisation in an English young offender institution for men aged 18-21 years old. Her research examines how hierarchies develop, how fear circulates, and how both staff and young men negotiate constantly shifting landscapes of threat, reputation and authority.

Laurie Taylor presents.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

Release date:

28 minutes

On radio

Tomorrow 15:30

Guests and Further reading

-Ìý, Professor in Criminology from the University of Bath -Ìý

Ìý

- Kate Herrity – sociologist and author of ‘Sound, Order and Survival in Prison – the Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown’ (winner of the British Society of Criminology Annual Book Prize 2024) – first published by Bristol University Press, 2025

Ìý

Prison Violence: The Search for Recognition and Respect (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)Ìý by Kate Gooch (Springer International Publishing AG, 2025)

Broadcasts

  • Tomorrow 15:30
  • Next Sunday 06:05

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Âé¶¹Éç Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with The Open University

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