Prison Nurseries. Subtleties of the Work of Guards in Singular Spaces

In France, prison nurseries accommodate women prisoners with their babies in heterogeneous structures. Based on ethnographic research carried out in two nurseries, the article highlights the influence of spatial arrangements on the dynamics of life and work. From there, it focuses on the female prison guards assigned to these structures, whose activity is central but largely unknown. The analysis focuses on the subtleties and complexities of their daily work, which is the source of the development of a specific meaning of work and professional identity. They develop specific practical and relational know-how, while being subjected to contradictory injunctions from a system that struggles to recognize them.