Helen Johnston
Biographic Data
| ID | 4264150 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen Johnston |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen |
| FAMILY NAME | Johnston |
| SIGNATURE | JOHNSTON H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Hull |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7862-5858 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1886 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Holloway Prison: Representations and Realities in the History of a Women’s Prison, 1902 to 1955
This article explores the media and cultural representations of HMP Holloway, London, England between 1902 and 1955 and contrasts this with the realities of the day-to-day female population and experience in the institution. Drawing on extensive historical analysis, the research examines how representations of the prison, and the women held within it, both titillated the public and reinforced existing or prevailing popular stereotypes about women…
The long-term imprisonment of women: Penal servitude and release of female offenders serving long sentences, 1853–1900
This article explores the experiences and impact of long-term imprisonment on the lives of women sentenced to lengthy periods of incarceration (serving at least one sentence of 10 years or more) in the mid- to late-19th century in England and Wales. While most female offenders who were thought to warrant imprisonment in the Victorian period resulted then and today, in short prison sentences, this article focuses upon a smaller group of 41 women, …
Penal Servitude: Convicts and Long-Term Imprisonment, 1853–1948
Penal Servitude is the first comprehensive study of the convict prison system that housed all those who were sentenced to penal servitude between 1853 and 1948, detailing the administration and evolution of the system, its creation, the building of the prison estate, and the experiences of prisoners and staff within it.
Basic Income in Ireland: The Development of Two Pilots
This paper provides an overview of Irish dalliances with basic income over the last 40 years in the context of social security reform. A government Green Paper on Basic Income was published in 2002, but the proposals were never progressed. Now, the current 2020 Programme for Government contains a commitment to pilot basic income within the lifetime of the Government. It has transpired that two basic income schemes are being developed – a universa…
It was like an animal in pain’: Institutional thoughtlessness and experiences of bereavement in prison
Using the concept of institutional thoughtlessness, this article examines a range of issues embedded within daily prison life which have a detrimental effect upon the lives of those bereaved during a prison sentence. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research undertaken with bereaved prisoners, staff members and volunteers at a male prison in the North of England, the article explores how individual and institutional goals compete, compounding bere…
Imprisoned mothers in Victorian England, 1853–1900: Motherhood, identity and the convict prison
This article explores the experiences of imprisoned mothers in the Victorian convict prison system. It argues that motherhood, of central importance to the ideals of Victorian femininity, was disrupted and fractured by women’s long-term imprisonment. Using ‘whole life’ history methodology, the article draws on research into 288 women imprisoned and then released from the prison system, of whom half were mothers. It illuminates how the long-term p…
Consulting with Citizens in the Design of Wellbeing Measures and Policies: Lessons from a Systems Science Application
Gendered Prison Work: Female Prison Officers in the Local Prison System, 1877–1939
This article examines the working lives of female prison officers between 1877 and 1939. It documents a relatively under‐researched, but important, period in the history of women's imprisonment in England. In doing so it aims to uncover the working lives of female officers, the role and daily duties of officers, the development of training schools for female staff and to understand the ambiguous role of officers in the ‘reform’ of prisoners durin…
Counterblast: The Perennial Problem of Short Prison Sentences
In the last three or four years there has been increasing attention on the use of short prison sentences and their effectiveness in the UK. This attention has focused on the continued evidence of high rates of recidivism for those who have served short prison sentences and the inability of these sentences to reform or rehabilitate offenders. Current evidence suggests that over half of all custodial sentences are for up to six months, with the maj…
Introduction to the Special Issue on ‘Historical Perspectives on Punishment and Prisons: Representations and Realities’
Cavemen in an Era of Speed‐of‐Light Technology’: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Communication within Prisons
Many prisoners believe that the restricted access they have to computer‐mediated communication (CMC) technologies and, in particular, the almost total absence of computers and Internet access in prisons is a form of censure that renders them second‐class citizens in the Information Age. This article examines contemporary rationales and historical precedents for denying prisoners the means to communicate (both with each other and with those outsid…
Punishment and Control in Historical Perspective
Moral Guardians? Prison Officers, Prison Practice and Ambiguity in the Nineteenth Century
The theoretical work on the birth of the prison in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries focuses on the transformation of punishment, the movement away from torturous, public punishments, to the increasing use of imprisonment to deal with the majority of offences by the mid to late nineteenth century. Frequently, this work is concerned with the regimes, policies and practices of the prison environment, and the experiences of those co…
Reclaiming the Criminal’: The Role and Training of Prison Officers in England, 1877 to 1914
This article examines the role and training of prison officers in England, between 1877 and 1914. It is concerned with the changing penal philosophies and practices of this period and how these were implemented in local prisons, and the duties of the prison officer. More broadly, this article argues that the role of the prison officer and their training (from 1896) reflect wider ambiguities in prison policy and practice during this period
The People of Eastern Equatorial Africa
Consulting with Citizens in the Design of Wellbeing Measures and Policies: Lessons from a Systems Science Application
Basic Income in Ireland: The Development of Two Pilots
This paper provides an overview of Irish dalliances with basic income over the last 40 years in the context of social security reform. A government Green Paper on Basic Income was published in 2002, but the proposals were never progressed. Now, the current 2020 Programme for Government contains a commitment to pilot basic income within the lifetime of the Government. It has transpired that two basic income schemes are being developed – a universa…
It was like an animal in pain’: Institutional thoughtlessness and experiences of bereavement in prison
Using the concept of institutional thoughtlessness, this article examines a range of issues embedded within daily prison life which have a detrimental effect upon the lives of those bereaved during a prison sentence. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research undertaken with bereaved prisoners, staff members and volunteers at a male prison in the North of England, the article explores how individual and institutional goals compete, compounding bere…
Imprisoned mothers in Victorian England, 1853–1900: Motherhood, identity and the convict prison
This article explores the experiences of imprisoned mothers in the Victorian convict prison system. It argues that motherhood, of central importance to the ideals of Victorian femininity, was disrupted and fractured by women’s long-term imprisonment. Using ‘whole life’ history methodology, the article draws on research into 288 women imprisoned and then released from the prison system, of whom half were mothers. It illuminates how the long-term p…
The People of Eastern Equatorial Africa
Punishment and Control in Historical Perspective
Moral Guardians? Prison Officers, Prison Practice and Ambiguity in the Nineteenth Century
The theoretical work on the birth of the prison in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries focuses on the transformation of punishment, the movement away from torturous, public punishments, to the increasing use of imprisonment to deal with the majority of offences by the mid to late nineteenth century. Frequently, this work is concerned with the regimes, policies and practices of the prison environment, and the experiences of those co…
Reclaiming the Criminal’: The Role and Training of Prison Officers in England, 1877 to 1914
This article examines the role and training of prison officers in England, between 1877 and 1914. It is concerned with the changing penal philosophies and practices of this period and how these were implemented in local prisons, and the duties of the prison officer. More broadly, this article argues that the role of the prison officer and their training (from 1896) reflect wider ambiguities in prison policy and practice during this period
Cavemen in an Era of Speed‐of‐Light Technology’: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Communication within Prisons
Many prisoners believe that the restricted access they have to computer‐mediated communication (CMC) technologies and, in particular, the almost total absence of computers and Internet access in prisons is a form of censure that renders them second‐class citizens in the Information Age. This article examines contemporary rationales and historical precedents for denying prisoners the means to communicate (both with each other and with those outsid…
Introduction to the Special Issue on ‘Historical Perspectives on Punishment and Prisons: Representations and Realities’
Gendered Prison Work: Female Prison Officers in the Local Prison System, 1877–1939
This article examines the working lives of female prison officers between 1877 and 1939. It documents a relatively under‐researched, but important, period in the history of women's imprisonment in England. In doing so it aims to uncover the working lives of female officers, the role and daily duties of officers, the development of training schools for female staff and to understand the ambiguous role of officers in the ‘reform’ of prisoners durin…
Counterblast: The Perennial Problem of Short Prison Sentences
In the last three or four years there has been increasing attention on the use of short prison sentences and their effectiveness in the UK. This attention has focused on the continued evidence of high rates of recidivism for those who have served short prison sentences and the inability of these sentences to reform or rehabilitate offenders. Current evidence suggests that over half of all custodial sentences are for up to six months, with the maj…
Consulting with Citizens in the Design of Wellbeing Measures and Policies: Lessons from a Systems Science Application
Imprisoned mothers in Victorian England, 1853–1900: Motherhood, identity and the convict prison
This article explores the experiences of imprisoned mothers in the Victorian convict prison system. It argues that motherhood, of central importance to the ideals of Victorian femininity, was disrupted and fractured by women’s long-term imprisonment. Using ‘whole life’ history methodology, the article draws on research into 288 women imprisoned and then released from the prison system, of whom half were mothers. It illuminates how the long-term p…
It was like an animal in pain’: Institutional thoughtlessness and experiences of bereavement in prison
Using the concept of institutional thoughtlessness, this article examines a range of issues embedded within daily prison life which have a detrimental effect upon the lives of those bereaved during a prison sentence. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research undertaken with bereaved prisoners, staff members and volunteers at a male prison in the North of England, the article explores how individual and institutional goals compete, compounding bere…
Penal Servitude: Convicts and Long-Term Imprisonment, 1853–1948
Penal Servitude is the first comprehensive study of the convict prison system that housed all those who were sentenced to penal servitude between 1853 and 1948, detailing the administration and evolution of the system, its creation, the building of the prison estate, and the experiences of prisoners and staff within it.
Basic Income in Ireland: The Development of Two Pilots
This paper provides an overview of Irish dalliances with basic income over the last 40 years in the context of social security reform. A government Green Paper on Basic Income was published in 2002, but the proposals were never progressed. Now, the current 2020 Programme for Government contains a commitment to pilot basic income within the lifetime of the Government. It has transpired that two basic income schemes are being developed – a universa…
The long-term imprisonment of women: Penal servitude and release of female offenders serving long sentences, 1853–1900
This article explores the experiences and impact of long-term imprisonment on the lives of women sentenced to lengthy periods of incarceration (serving at least one sentence of 10 years or more) in the mid- to late-19th century in England and Wales. While most female offenders who were thought to warrant imprisonment in the Victorian period resulted then and today, in short prison sentences, this article focuses upon a smaller group of 41 women, …
Holloway Prison: Representations and Realities in the History of a Women’s Prison, 1902 to 1955
This article explores the media and cultural representations of HMP Holloway, London, England between 1902 and 1955 and contrasts this with the realities of the day-to-day female population and experience in the institution. Drawing on extensive historical analysis, the research examines how representations of the prison, and the women held within it, both titillated the public and reinforced existing or prevailing popular stereotypes about women…
Criminology (12 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Prison (9 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes (5 works) · Imprisonment (4 works)