Dirty Work and Beyond: Representations of Prison Officers in Films

The general public have little direct access to or experience of imprisonment and as a result often rely on media images to understand what happens behind the prison walls. In this chapter, I focus on representations of prison officers, drawing upon thematic analysis of over 200 prison films. The most pervasive narrative is that prison officers are engaged in ‘dirty work’, that is, work perceived as disgusting or degrading and those that undertake this work are physically, socially and morally tainted by it. Prison officers are particularly depicted as being oppressive, violent and corrupt. There is, nevertheless, an alternative tradition that has evolved, which offers a more nuanced narrative, reflecting research and lived experience. This alternative tradition considers prison officer culture and the process of enculturation; the skilled use of inter-personal relations; the effects of prison work on prison officers; questions of gender; and situates prison work in a broader social and political context. I conclude by discussing the implications of these narratives and how media representation can be used to engage in public discourse about the work of prison officers.