Inhabiting the Australian prison: masculinities, violence and identity work

This chapter considers the continuum of normative masculinity practices that are valued, embodied and performed ”inside” and ”outside” of the prison. Drawing upon public records generated by official inquiries, it explores the ways in which hierarchies of difference and dominance shape relations within prisons and mirror broader society. Constructs of identity and difference thus intersect in ways that transcend the actions of individuals – these including the use of, and talk about, violence. Within a societal context marked by hierarchical power relations and the normalised positioning of certain others as different and lesser, it is argued that there is nothing fundamentally different about prison culture; (so-called) prison masculinity(ies) reflect ordinary, everyday masculinity(ies).