A web of vulnerability and harms: caring for women who use spice in prison

This thesis offers a zemiological analysis of ‘Spice harms’ in women’s prisons. Spice is the colloquial name for synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, the most commonly found drugs in prisons in England and Wales. The study draws on 15 semi-structured interviews with participants with relevant experiences of Spice use in women’s prisons. It considers three groups affected by Spice harms in women’s prisons: (1) women who use Spice, (2) incarcerated women and (3) staff who work in prison. Vulnerabilities to Spice harms emerge due to Spice itself, but also the wider drug use contexts and risk environments in which Spice harms occur. I conceptualise Spice harms within a web of complex vulnerability factors which exacerbate material, constructed, discursive and affective harms. Vulnerabilities to harms are produced and mediated via policy strategies, interventions, and drug practices in the gendered prison space. Current strategies and interventions are trapped in a support-with-punishment mentality that perpetuates Spice harms and does not consider localised and gendered drug practices and needs. Women synthetic cannabinoid users face the stigma attached to the ‘most vulnerable subjects’ within women’s prisons, exposing them to modes of control and punishment and excluding them from welfarist provision of care. This research highlights the implications of gender blind problem representations in policy and interventions that do not consider localised drug use contexts and gendered harms factors. It provides evidence that current policy strategies in response to Spice inadequately address the web of vulnerabilities to Spice harms, adversely affecting women who use Spice and those who live and work in women’s prisons. Policy strategies in response to Spice in prison are not sufficiently gender-sensitive and trauma-informed, unintentionally compounding vulnerabilities to harms. Further research is needed to better understand and address the link between Spice and trauma in women’s prisons.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Greenwich

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• White, Niki

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Zampini, Giulia Federica

• HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare

Language dc:language

en