Institute of Criminology

Dr. Sarah Tait - Biography

Contact Details

Dr. Sarah Tait
Email:
slt31@cam.ac.uk

Visiting Scholar

Currently living and working in Canada but still visits the institute on occasion


Sarah held an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute from 2008 to 2009. She is now based in Waterloo, Ontario. She completed her PhD in April 2008 at the Institute of Criminology, entitled ‘prison officer care for prisoners in one men’s and one women’s prison’. This research explored the meaning of care in prison from prisoner and officer perspectives, combining phenomenological, ethnographic, and statistical approaches. Before starting her PhD in 2004, Sarah worked on a large evaluation of suicide prevention procedures in high risk prisons in England and Wales, directed by Alison Liebling. She received her Master’s degree in criminology from the University of Toronto in 2002, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Women’s Studies and Psychology from McGill University in Montreal in 2000.
Sarah’s research interests include prison officer cultures, gender and prison officer work, the experience of distress in prison, and more broadly, how care is practiced and experienced in coercive environments. She is also interested in qualitative research methods and the writing process. Sarah has taught at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent, and has contributed to lectures and supervisions on the MSt programme at the Institute of Criminology.

Publications

  • Tait, S. (2008) ‘Care and the prison officer: beyond ‘turn-keys’ and ‘care bears’.’ The Prison Service Journal, November.
  • Tait, S. (2007) ‘Prison officers and gender’ in J. Bennett, B. Crewe, and A. Wahidin (eds) Understanding Prison Staff. The Prison Service Journal and Willan.
  • Liebling, A.,Arnold, H.L., and Tait, S. (2007) ‘Prison staff culture’in Y. Jewkes (ed) The Handbook of Prisons. Devon: Willan Publishing.
  • Liebling, A. and Tait, S. (2007) ‘Improving staff-prisoner relationships’ in G. Dear (ed) Preventing suicide and Other Self-harm in Prison. New York: Palgrave.
  • Liebling, A. and Tait, S. (2006) ‘ Family support,’ Action News Winter/Spring: Action for Prisoners’ Families.
  • An Evaluation of the Safer Locals Programme, Home Office Report, London: Home Office.
  • Liebling, A., Durie, L.,van den Beukal, A. and Tait, S. (2005) ‘ Revisiting prison suicide: the role of fairness and distress’in A. Liebling and S. Maruna (eds) The Effects of Imprisonment. Devon: Willan Publishing.

In progress

  • Gadd, V., McLean, C., Liebling, A., Sheffer, G., and Tait, S. ‘Measuring prison staff quality of life: a research tool’.
  • Ross, M., Liebling, A., and Tait, S. ‘Inmate healthcare measurement, satisfaction and access in prisons: the relationship between prison climate and health service in correctional environments’. (Submitted)