Under Watchful Eyes: Gendered Surveillance and Control in Correctional Officers’ Disciplinary Narratives of Incarcerated Women

Disciplinary practices in women’s prisons are thought to extend beyond institutional rule enforcement to regulate gender performance, yet how officers frame and document these practices remains understudied. Accordingly, this study examines the language officers use to characterize women’s behavior in disciplinary report narratives. Thematic analysis of all disciplinary reports issued to women in a northeastern state prison system during 2019 ( N = 2,628) reveals three interrelated themes: (1) the surveillance and suppression of women’s interpersonal relationships; (2) the strict regulation of women’s appearance and self-presentation; and (3) the labeling of women as insolent and defiant. These gendered characterizations appear prominently across disciplinary narratives, reinforcing hegemonic norms of middle-class femininity and creating a double bind for women in prison: Conforming to gendered expectations reinforces their disempowerment, while resisting triggers disciplinary action. Disciplinary practices thus function as mechanisms of patriarchal control, reproducing gender-based oppression through the systematic subordination of incarcerated women.