Doing Prison Work in Australia and Norway Instrumental and Relational Security in Countries of Penal Excess and Exceptionalism

What does prison work actually do - and what kind of prison does it produce?
In Doing Prison Work in Australia and Norway, Anna Eriksson argues that prisons are not defined primarily by their architecture, regimes, or policies, but by the everyday practices of those who work within them. Drawing on extensive comparative research across Australia and Norway, the book shows how prison staff actively shape the meaning and experience of punishment through their interactions, decisions, and use of authority.
At the centre of the analysis is a new conceptual distinction between instrumental security and relational security. While instrumental approaches emphasise control, distance, and compliance, relational approaches are grounded in communication, proximity, and professional judgement. Eriksson demonstrates that these are not simply individual styles, but are embedded in wider penal cultures, organisational structures, and the underlying aims of imprisonment.
By rethinking prison work as the core mechanism through which punishment is enacted, the book offers a fresh perspective on longstanding debates about penal excess and Nordic exceptionalism. It shows how different systems produce fundamentally different forms of prison life - not only for prisoners, but for staff themselves.
Bringing together rich empirical insight with clear conceptual innovation, Doing Prison Work speaks directly to both scholars and practitioners. For academics, it advances a new framework for understanding prison culture and penal power. For practitioners and policymakers, it offers concrete insights into how staff practices shape safety, legitimacy, and the possibility of change within prisons.
Ultimately, this book makes a simple but powerful claim: to change the prison, we must understand - and rethink - the work that happens inside it.