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Professor Philippa Tomczak's Outputs (38)

Suicide in prison: The potentials and pitfalls of film-research collaborations (2025)
Journal Article
Gill, B., & Philippa, T. (2025). Suicide in prison: The potentials and pitfalls of film-research collaborations. Incarceration, 6, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663251334711

Prisoner suicide rates are consistently higher than rates among communities outside prisons. Between 2012 and 2016, England and Wales' prison suicide rates more than doubled, hitting record numbers in 2016. Often those most invested in prison safety... Read More about Suicide in prison: The potentials and pitfalls of film-research collaborations.

Women Prisoners Regulating Prisons: Did Corston Achieve Networked, Participatory Regulation? (2025)
Journal Article
Buck, G., & Tomczak, P. (2025). Women Prisoners Regulating Prisons: Did Corston Achieve Networked, Participatory Regulation?. Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12604

Prison regulators across scales hold potential to illuminate harms of imprisonment and influence alternatives, yet criminologists rarely engage with these mechanisms. We analyse prisoners' participatory roles in the 'transformative' Corston Report (2... Read More about Women Prisoners Regulating Prisons: Did Corston Achieve Networked, Participatory Regulation?.

Improving prisoner death statistics: policy brief October 2024 (2024)
Report
Tomczak, P., & Mulgrew, R. (2024). Improving prisoner death statistics: policy brief October 2024. University of Nottingham

Prisoner mortality rates are up to 50% higher than rates in the community, forming a global human rights and health equity concern, and producing tremendous harms and costs. In 2023, a UN Special Rapporteur warned that ‘prisoners are … dying needless... Read More about Improving prisoner death statistics: policy brief October 2024.

Mobilizing Metaphors in Criminological Analysis: A Case Study of Emotions in the Penal Voluntary Sector (2024)
Journal Article
Quinn, K., Buck, G., & Tomczak, P. (2024). Mobilizing Metaphors in Criminological Analysis: A Case Study of Emotions in the Penal Voluntary Sector. British Journal of Criminology, 64(6), 1239-1258. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azae027

Metaphors pervade media and political constructions of crime and justice, provoking responses and shaping actions. Scholarship in adjacent disciplines illustrates that emotion-metaphors offer unique insight into emotional and interpretive processes,... Read More about Mobilizing Metaphors in Criminological Analysis: A Case Study of Emotions in the Penal Voluntary Sector.

Co-creating prisons knowledge inspired by collective autoethnography (2024)
Journal Article
Buck, G., Harriott, P., & Tomczak, P. (2024). Co-creating prisons knowledge inspired by collective autoethnography. Prison Service Journal, 272, 4-11

This is a story, a kind of map, about a study we co-produced on prison peer support work. The social science community call these mapping stories methodology papers. We have tried to write this one in an informal (less academic) style to appeal to a... Read More about Co-creating prisons knowledge inspired by collective autoethnography.

Improving prisoner death statistics: policy brief February 2024 (2024)
Report
Tomczak, P., & Mulgrew, R. (2024). Improving prisoner death statistics: policy brief February 2024. University of Nottingham

Prisoner mortality rates are up to 50% higher than rates in the community, forming a global human rights and health equity concern, and producing tremendous harms and costs. In 2023, a UN Special Rapporteur warned that ‘prisoners are … dying needless... Read More about Improving prisoner death statistics: policy brief February 2024.

(Re)constructing Prisoner Death Investigations: A Case Study of Suicide Investigations from England and Wales (2023)
Journal Article
Tomczak, P., Quinn, K., Traynor, C., & Wainwright, L. (2023). (Re)constructing Prisoner Death Investigations: A Case Study of Suicide Investigations from England and Wales. Law and Social Inquiry, 49(3), 1842-1876. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2023.75

Because states must rebut the presumption of responsibility, all prisoner deaths must be investigated. These investigations frequently illustrate the tip of an iceberg of rights abuses and systemic hazards but have largely escaped analysis in prison-... Read More about (Re)constructing Prisoner Death Investigations: A Case Study of Suicide Investigations from England and Wales.

The Cruel Optimism of International Prison Regulation: Prison Ontologies and Carceral Harms (2023)
Journal Article
Kemp, T., & Tomczak, P. (2024). The Cruel Optimism of International Prison Regulation: Prison Ontologies and Carceral Harms. Law and Social Inquiry, 49(3), 1683-1714. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2023.63

This article examines the development of international human rights standards and oversight mechanisms directed at addressing the negative effects of imprisonment. We identify this as the rules-based prison-regulation project, widely endorsed by inte... Read More about The Cruel Optimism of International Prison Regulation: Prison Ontologies and Carceral Harms.

Prisoners on prisons: Experiences of peer-delivered suicide prevention work (2023)
Journal Article
Buck, G., Tomczak, P., Harriott, P., Page, R., Bradley, K., Nash, M., & Wainwright, L. (2023). Prisoners on prisons: Experiences of peer-delivered suicide prevention work. Incarceration, 4, https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663231172023

Prison suicide is a global concern, with rates consistently exceeding those in non-incarcerated populations. Prisoners deliver (suicide prevention) initiatives in jurisdictions around the world. As part of a research project seeking to foreground pri... Read More about Prisoners on prisons: Experiences of peer-delivered suicide prevention work.

Making prisoner deaths visible: Towards a new epistemological approach (2023)
Journal Article
Tomczak, P., & Mulgrew, R. (2023). Making prisoner deaths visible: Towards a new epistemological approach. Incarceration, 4, https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663231160344

In custodial contexts, the duty of states to protect the most fundamental right-to life-is heightened. Nevertheless, prisoner deaths are a universal and frequent concern. The mortality rate among the 11.5 million prisoners globally is up to 50% highe... Read More about Making prisoner deaths visible: Towards a new epistemological approach.

Prisoners regulating prisons: Voice, action, participation and riot (2022)
Journal Article
Buck, G., & Tomczak, P. (2024). Prisoners regulating prisons: Voice, action, participation and riot. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 24(1), 144-163. https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958221101997

Prisoners are a critical source of prison regulation around the world, but regulation by (rather than of) prisoners remains little analysed. In this article, we utilise the 1990 riots at HMP Strangeways (England), as a case study of prisoners (re)sha... Read More about Prisoners regulating prisons: Voice, action, participation and riot.

Complaints: Mechanisms for prisoner participation? (2022)
Journal Article
Banwell-Moore, R., & Tomczak, P. (2022). Complaints: Mechanisms for prisoner participation?. European Journal of Criminology, 20(6), 1878-1898. https://doi.org/10.1177/14773708221094271

In prisons, participatory mechanisms can foster important outcomes including fairness, legitimacy and dignity. Complaints are one significant (symbolic) mechanism facilitating prisoner participation. Ombud institutions/ Ombudsmen handle complaints ex... Read More about Complaints: Mechanisms for prisoner participation?.

Bereaved Family ‘Involvement’ in (Prisoner) Death Investigations: Whose ‘Satisfaction’? (2022)
Journal Article
Tomczak, P., & Cook, E. A. (2023). Bereaved Family ‘Involvement’ in (Prisoner) Death Investigations: Whose ‘Satisfaction’?. Social and Legal Studies, 32(2), 294-317. https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221100480

A duty to investigate deaths in detention is enshrined within international legislation including Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). A core purpose of these investigations, following UK case law, is that bereaved families ‘h... Read More about Bereaved Family ‘Involvement’ in (Prisoner) Death Investigations: Whose ‘Satisfaction’?.

Highlighting “Risky Remands” Through Prisoner Death Investigations: People With Very Severe Mental Illness Transitioning From Police and Court Custody Into Prison on Remand (2022)
Journal Article
Tomczak, P. (2022). Highlighting “Risky Remands” Through Prisoner Death Investigations: People With Very Severe Mental Illness Transitioning From Police and Court Custody Into Prison on Remand. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, Article 862365. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.862365

Prison suicide/self-inflicted death is an international public health crisis, harming stakeholders including bereaved families, prisoners, prison staff and death investigators. England and Wales' record prison suicide numbers in 2016 cost at least £4... Read More about Highlighting “Risky Remands” Through Prisoner Death Investigations: People With Very Severe Mental Illness Transitioning From Police and Court Custody Into Prison on Remand.