European Society of Criminology Conference, Warsaw-Poland-September 2026: An Inside Job: Imprisonment as an Incubator of Criminal Capital in Mid-Level Drug Markets

Sat, September 12, 9:00 to 10:15am, Faculty of Applied Languages - 55 Dobra Street., Floor: 2, Room 2.158
Abstract
This paper examines imprisonment in England and Wales as a social environment in which criminal capital associated with illegal drug markets may be maintained, developed and, in some cases, extended. Focusing on County Lines distribution, the analysis considers how custodial settings can facilitate forms of learning, association and reputational positioning that shape post-release trajectories of continued market involvement. Rather than assuming imprisonment disrupts criminal organisation, the paper explores how prison social relations can contribute to the persistence of illicit enterprise.

The study draws on twenty semi-structured interviews with police, probation and prison practitioners, documentary analysis of HMPPS and inspectorate material (2015–2025), and ethnographic insight derived from the lived experience of a mid-level (kilo +) drug distributor (“Lou”). A theory-informed thematic analysis is used to examine how prison social organisation interacts with wider drug market dynamics. Accounts from both practitioners and participants indicate that imprisonment may intensify processes of differential association, reinforce reputational hierarchies and enable access to networks extending beyond local markets. Prison, in this sense, operates as a compressed social field in which forms of criminal capital are recalibrated rather than necessarily diminished.

Drawing on Matthews’ concept of the productive relations of punishment, alongside Bourdieusian understandings of capital, the paper argues that prison drug markets should not be treated as peripheral distortions of the penal system but as phenomena shaped by wider structural conditions, including social exclusion, institutional constraint and the organisation of neo-liberal contemporary illicit economies. The findings raise questions about the capacity of custodial responses to disrupt exploitation and highlight the importance of decarceration and health-oriented interventions.