Trauma and life imprisonment: How do men and women serving life sentences deal with and process experiences of trauma?

This research will explore gendered differences in the experiences of trauma amongst men and women serving life sentences. Building on the work of Crewe, Hulley and Wright (2020) who identified three traumatic ruptures of a life
sentence, the project will consider how trauma relating to 1) events in childhood, 2) the offence or 3) imprisonment itself impacts men and women serving life sentences. Utilising semi-structured interviews triangulated with survey data, the
work will capture the personal, lived experience of trauma amongst this population. Adopting narrative inquiry interview techniques will allow for in-depth comparison of the narratives communicated by participants, identifying how histories of
trauma come to shape the in-prison experience.