Queer Interventions on Self-Harm in Prison

Project Information

Prison Self-harm

Grant agreement ID: 101032854

DOI

10.3030/101032854

Project closed

EC signature date 3 May 2021

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 2 April 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies

Total cost

€ 273 026,00

EU contribution

€ 273 026,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Prison Self-harm (Queer Interventions on Self-Harm in Prison)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

“Queer Interventions on Self-Harm in Prison” explores the persistent issues of self-harm, suicide, and self-destruction in prison through a queer theory lens. Unlike dominant medical and psychological approaches—which often individualize and pathologize these experiences—this project advocates for trauma-informed, harm-reduction, and non-pathologizing frameworks grounded in queer theory and critical criminology.

A queer perspective allows for a more holistic understanding of self-harm by rejecting binary distinctions between trauma and pleasure, and by centering the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and marginalization. It positions the body not only as a site of punishment but also as one of resistance, meaning, and potential emancipation. Self-harm and suicide continue to be critical issues across prisons and detention facilities, with far-reaching social and ethical implications. The way these behaviours are understood and managed reflects broader questions about care, punishment, and human dignity. This project speaks to the urgent need for more compassionate, socially grounded, and trauma-informed approaches to mental distress in carceral settings. It also highlights the importance of recognising how intersecting experiences of gender, race, and sexuality shape vulnerability and resistance.

During the final period, the project generated both empirical and theoretical insights. Through 18 qualitative interviews and quantitative analysis of the 2023 HMIP Prisoner Survey (n=5,781), the research highlighted the structural and emotional dimensions of self-harm and how institutional responses often intensified distress. The research underscores how experiences of self-harm are shaped by wider structural forces, including gender, race, and systemic punishment. It challenges narrow, pathologizing interpretations and instead offers a more holistic understanding that recognises agency, survival strategies, and the emotional complexity of pain and resistance. The project findings have been shared with a range of stakeholders, including policymakers, practitioners, and grassroots organisations. A policy brief was disseminated to audiences such as the European Prison Observatory and the UK National Forum on Gender and Sexual Diversity Research in Criminal Justice. Following this, UK parole officers invited the fellow to contribute to a professional development workshop exploring more compassionate and trauma-informed responses to self-destructive behaviours in prison settings.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The Prison Self-harm project has now concluded following the completion of its 24-month outgoing phase and its return phase. Existing suicide prevention programmes in prisons often rely on rigid, clinical protocols that can feel punitive and overlook the intersecting impacts of gender, sexuality, race, and marginalisation. In response, this project adopted a queer theory lens to explore discourses and practices around self-harm, self-destruction, and suicide in prison settings.

During the outgoing phase, the researcher was based at UC Berkeley, where they engaged in advanced training in Queer Theory, Methodology, and Criminology, and participated in seminars and archival research. In the return phase, the research focused on fieldwork in the UK and collaborative work with grassroots organisations supporting incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and queer individuals.

This approach moved beyond individualised and psychologising frameworks, instead centring structural, emotional, and embodied dimensions of self-harm. Through 18 qualitative interviews and quantitative analysis of the 2023 HMIP Prisoner Survey (n=5,781), the project illuminated how institutional responses often deepened harm, and how peer support emerged as a key source of care and solidarity.

The findings challenge dominant pathologising narratives and propose a spectrum-based model of self-destruction, grounded in trauma-informed, harm-reduction principles. A policy brief summarising the results was shared with stakeholders including the European Prison Observatory, UK parole officers, and mental health professionals, and contributed to the development of training materials.

Dissemination activities carried out during the final period of the project included:
– Presentations at the British Society of Criminology (Glasgow), the European Society of Criminology (Bucharest), and the American Society of Criminology (San Francisco)
– A public podcast episode featuring lived experience
– Five participatory workshops with community organisations in California and the UK
– A hybrid dissemination event in March 2025, attended by formerly incarcerated individuals, students, practitioners, and researchers
– Mentoring and prison engagement visits during the project period
– A follow-up workshop (forthcoming) with UK parole officers, focused on non-pathologising approaches to working with self-destructive behaviours in prison

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Previous research had largely overlooked social and structural inequalities within incarceration and self-harm, focusing instead on viewing prisoners through an individualistic lens. To counter this narrative, the Prison Self-harm Project closely studied the environment through a queer and decolonial theory lens, focusing on the context of carcerality and marginalization, with non-linear understandings of trauma, pain, and self-inflicted pain.

Building on radical care approaches that considered trauma and marginalization in work with individuals who were self-harming or self-destructive, the Prison Self-harm Project:

• Conducted qualitative interviews with 19 formerly incarcerated individuals of diverse gender, age, and ethnic backgrounds, many of whom described long-term patterns of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and substance use prior to and during imprisonment.
• Performed a quantitative analysis of the 2023 HMIP Prisoner Survey (n=5781), which highlighted patterns of ambivalence, mistrust, and deteriorating mental health—particularly among those who had entered prison already feeling suicidal.

Key Findings

• Institutional responses to suicide and self-harm often intensified harm, with constant watch, sedation, and surveillance described as punitive rather than supportive.
• Self-harm was described as excitement-inducing and/or comforting, and was seen as helping participants avoid suicide.
• Suicidal ideation was not isolated or episodic, but an ongoing mental state that many participants experienced as part of daily life—even after release.
• Peer relationships emerged as the only credible form of care, with participants repeatedly describing the Listener scheme and informal solidarity as more effective than formal interventions.
• Gendered and racialised assumptions shaped access to care.

Recommendations

The research report offers recommendations across three levels:

Theoretical: Support spectrum-based, non-pathologising, and intersectional approaches to understanding self-destruction, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm.
Policy and Practice: Recognise the structural limits of prison care and support peer-led, relational responses without extracting unpaid emotional labour.
Clinical: Provide clinicians with a conceptual tool to better engage with the functions of self-harm, which may be experienced as positive or adaptive by the individual.

queer-interventions-on-self-harm-in-prison-final-report-page-0001.jpg