Driven by her own experiences of familial imprisonment, Marie’s research has focused on the lived experience of family contact in prisons and human rights from a socio-legal and criminological perspective. A key focus of Marie’s research has been critiquing the institutional practices and policy frameworks that inform the rules around family contact drawing on original empirical data and from theoretical perspectives from criminological literature. She maintains a particular focus on the experiences of adult relationships during imprisonment from a socio-legal perspective (such as the romantic partners of prisoners and parents of prisoners). Marie also has a developing interest in communication cultures and understandings of equality in the prison environment.

Research interests

• Family contact and imprisonment 
• Crime and the family
• The lived experience of Human Rights
• Prison ethnography

Jess completed an institutional ethnography of social work practice with children and young people, studying with Professor Dorothy Smith at the University of Toronto, exploring how institutional structures organise and coordinate social work practice often at odds with social work standards and values. Her previous research used a participatory approach to evaluate the Mellow Dads programme with men in prison.

Jess’ research interests continue to be focused on the role of organisations in the coordination of social workers activities and the subversion of professional values and ethics.