'When you are emotionally connected to someone who uses spice it is very worrying' Women's secondary vulnerabilities associated with drugs in prison

White, Niki Jana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1277-9157 (2025) 'When you are emotionally connected to someone who uses spice it is very worrying' Women's secondary vulnerabilities associated with drugs in prison. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy. (In Press)

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Abstract

Background: The drug spice is a key driver for increased harms across prison spaces in England and Wales. This paper presents an analysis of secondary vulnerabilities to spice harms affecting women in prison who do not identify as spice users themselves. Methods: Five semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated women were conducted, transcribed, and thematically analysed. Results: The key contribution of this research lies in the conceptualisation and systematic evaluation of secondary vulnerabilities to spice harms through a gender-sensitive and trauma-informed analysis, joining insights from the gendered pains of imprisonment literature and vulnerability studies. Secondary vulnerabilities to spice harms were traced in the general prison environment, the cell, relationships with peers, and around support networks. Secondary vulnerabilities and expressions of harms pertained to embodied, localised, emotional and relational experiences. Conclusion: This study, while small in sample size, highlights the co-production of secondary vulnerabilities locating them in individual experiences and institutional strategies around spice.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Women’s prisons; Prisoner health and wellbeing; Trauma-informed drug policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology. H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology. > HV7231 Criminal justice administration H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology. > HV7231 Criminal justice administration > HV7551 Police. Detectives. Constabulary. > HV8031 Police duty. Methods of protection.
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Kamila Niekoraniec
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2025 10:18
Last Modified:	02 Apr 2025 09:30
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/14888

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