Dr Anna Kotova

Fresh proposals for panel of judges to reconsider cases of every IPP prisoner Lords have tabled fresh proposals in a bid to convince Labour to help almost 2,500 prisoners trapped on cruel indefinite jail terms

Fresh proposals for panel of judges to reconsider cases of every IPP prisoner

Lords have tabled fresh proposals in a bid to convince Labour to help almost 2,500 prisoners trapped on cruel indefinite jail terms

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...

This.

This Is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration
by @melanienewport.bsky.social. I have long wanted to better understand the jail as an institution and this really delivered.

I survived 2025 with its ups and downs and that’s probably fine! Heading into 2026, beginning with research leave and some exciting plans!

Good morning. Let's make a collective resolution: this will be the year in which we start to turn things round.

Not sure full riot police at the entrance is a good look for a criminology conference…

The use of swearing to relieve stress, anger, pain or frustration is known as ‘lalochezia’.

Different kinds of value, different kinds of higher education For Anna Vignoles the value in higher education comes from the diversity and range of what it does, and may not be measurable in a single metric

wonkhe.com/blogs/differ...

Me talking about the value of higher education – for fear we may lose what we have failed to adequately value.

Victimization in Prison. A Study of Victimization and Prison Climate Dimensions in Belgian Prisons Prisoner victimization introduces significant challenges to penal institutions worldwide. Researchers across the globe already provided extensive knowledge on risk factors from community crime theo...

50 free e-copies via www.tandfonline.com/eprint/56EAB...

Still accepting abstracts! :) let me know if you’d be keen to contribute.

Also: “crime has subsided, but its memory hasn’t” might be the sentence that finally kills me.

Even if murder drops—at historic rates, to pre-pandemic levels, in one of the fastest drops in US history—it really didn’t, bc …

MEMORIES.

(And why do ppl still cling to these memories? WHY, MEDIA?!)

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Really happy that the articles in a themed issue of Incarceration on the Moral and Ethical Worlds of Coercive Confinement, edited by me and Ryan Williams, are beginning to come out. Over the next few days, I'll post about them all, starting with our prologue:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

When Fire Is the Only Way Out - Inquest At a far-flung prison in Virginia, conditions are so inhumane that those imprisoned there are setting themselves ablaze in protest—and to assert their humanity.

At a remote prison in Virginia, a number of incarcerated people are resorting to an extreme form of protest: they're setting themselves on fire. Jennifer Black and Noel Hanrahan of @prisonradio.bsky.social on what's driving these men to assert their humanity this way.

Thanks sounds amazing - I’ll get in touch!

@arkluge.bsky.social

@daria-przblsk.bsky.social @jananiu.bsky.social @elsebelle.bsky.social

Families of people in prison: towards a sociological understanding of stigma Families of people in prison: towards a sociological understanding of stigma Editor: Anna Kotova Context: Stigma is a well-documented phenomenon within research on families of people in prison. ...

Criminology people with interest in experiences of families of people in prison!

I am keen to finally get this idea moving: an edited collection of chapters on stigma. Quite a lot to explore and lots of policy interest. Get in touch and pls share!

docs.google.com/document/u/1...

The Guardian view on the Gauke review: prison isn’t working | Editorial Editorial: A performative ‘tough on crime’ approach by politicians has been both ineffective and ruinously expensive

The Guardian view on the Gauke review: prison isn’t working | Editorial

Punishment has been conflated with revenge. It’s myopic and counter-productive: we need to look beyond vengefulness when holding people accountable for the harms they have done.

Why are women still being sent to prison as ‘a place of safety’? | Eva Wiseman Reports are revealing the true harm done by incarcerating women under the guise of protecting them, writes Eva Wiseman

Did you know that women were being taken to prison ‘as a place of safety’? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

I’m just an academic asking job reference requests to come with a simple text box and not two pages of instructions and a requirement for two uploaded documents…

I have to write dozens of these. Take pity.

Harmful, Expensive and Criminogenic: The Case for Abolishing Detention and Training Orders in England and Wales Abstract. Children who offend generally receive community sentences, to help them overcome difficulties whilst naturally addressing offending behaviour; ho

Hi everyone, to kick off my maiden post please read our newly published paper in the BJC which argues for the abolition of all short term custodial sentences for children, and presents an alternative, viable, cost effective model @drkathyhampson.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-...

We must seize the opportunity to fix our broken prisons No one would disagree that the prison system is in crisis. The upcoming sentencing review presents us with a chance for real change.

"Our prisons are so broken that we can't carry on. Politicians may disagree on how we fix the penal system, but everyone can agree that reform is needed."

Our Chief Executive, Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), wrote an opinion piece for @bigissue.com: www.bigissue.com/opinion/pris...

My former PhD supervisee is hilarious. 😂

A New Complaint System for Prisoners in Belgium This chapter introduces and reflects on the creation of a new complaint system in the prisons of Belgium. Since 1 October 2020, prisoners can file complaints with the newly created Complaint and Appea...

A New Complaint System for Prisoners in Belgium - > chapter in Just Prisons - free to read via this link: rdcu.be/d5qcr

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Word of the Day is one I keep posting at the end of the year, hoping its time will come.

‘Respair’, from the 16th century, is fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.

Here’s to a few drops of respair in 2025.

How can Louboutins be simultaneously so gorgeous and so torturous to wear…

Happy new year! May 2025 be happier, healthier and more productive than the last. May your dreams come true and the world be just a little bit kinder.

Thanks! It’s all good and resolving very quickly with treatment, luckily managed to get a private dermatology appointment to finally figure out what’s going on…

Thanks! Yes I saw a dermatologist who gave the correct treatment and I should be totally fine. :)