Supervising Young People’s Sexuality: the non-Prescribed Work of Prison Guards in Juvenile Prisons

Investigating the conditions for sexuality for young people in prison allows us to examine the control that adults exercise more or less directly over the sexuality of young people. Based on an original empirical investigation, we look at the role of prison officers in the daily management of sexuality, which allows us to describe the modalities of prison control over the sexuality and intimacy of young prisoners. More generally, this article proposes considering the prison as a space for the maintenance of gendered order, including by taking into account the spatial configuration of prisons and the social relations between professionals.