"Blood on the Walls: The Influence of Place Management on Jail and Prison Victimization" (Victor J. St. John): Review 1

Vote: Publish pending minor changes

I very much enjoyed reading this paper – it was very well-referenced and raised some interesting points about place management. The theoretical approach of routine activity approach was well explained, and there was a lot of rich data which brought the piece to life. The piece was well thought through and gave some pertinent considerations throughout, especially regarding limitations.

The piece is written from a US perspective, so for the purposes of internationalization, I might encourage some further explanation of some key elements (i.e. the payment of healthcare in prisons; the jail/prison differentiation; and the types of prisons being discussed in Newark and Cleveland).

The main element that was missing for me, however, was the methodological considerations with regard to (a) ethical processes and procedures and (b) the role and position of the researcher in the study. With regard to the former, what ethical processes were followed, and what was put in place to support participants who had obviously been through some serious trauma during incarceration? With regard to the latter, what role did the author play in the study, and what impact may that have had on the data generated and interpretations made? I would also say that a small footnote on the impact of covid-19 on the study (if any) and the potential implications covid-19 might have had on the issues in question might be pertinent.

Overall, this was an interesting piece of work, and there were numerous issues that I look forward to seeing discussed in more detail in further papers from the author, such as the impact of sex/gender on such interpretations and experiences, for example.