A typology of prisoner compliance with the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme: Theorising the neoliberal self and staff–prisoner relationships

This article is based on interview data ( N = 16) collected in a medium security men’s English prison (HMP Wandsworth). It begins with an introduction of the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme and outlines the amendments to Incentives and Earned Privileges that have transformed prisoners’ requirements for progression during their sentence. As the article demonstrates, the policy alteration increases the need for prisoners to be visibly compliant by staff in order to advance through the scheme; it is no longer sufficient to be invisibly compliant. To this end, I present a typology of visibility that illustrates prisoner compliance and outcomes to the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme. The article situates the revisions made to Incentives and Earned Privileges against the backdrop of neoliberal informed penal politics. The article concludes by summarising the key theoretical and practical implications of the study.