3 - ‘Even in prison, they have those extreme friendships, antipathies, and jealousies’

Summary

Through shared spaces and experiences, alliances, friendships and animosities developed between inmates from diverse backgrounds, as well as between prisoners and the staff charged with their care and control, Chapter 3 focuses on relationships that developed or were sustained in the predominantly female environment of the women’s convict prisons. Facilitated by the tendency for meticulous record-keeping in the vast penal system, this chapter relies heavily on records relating to perceived misbehaviour to demonstrate how alliances and rivalries were formed, expressed and navigated behind bars. This also includes an analysis of relationships that developed between staff and inmates across assumed boundaries of power. The out-of-turn conversations, laughter, name-calling and arguments indicate the interconnectedness of women’s lives behind bars. As this chapter shows, alliances and rivalries emerged despite the prison regime, but also perhaps because of it. It argues that the development of friendships and animosities was inevitable within the prison confines. This chapter also demonstrates that friendships forged or cemented in the institution were not necessarily forgotten on release.