Dr Isla Masson

Lecturer in Criminology

Contact Details

• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 5777
• Email: imm17@le.ac.uk
• Office: Room 1.10, 1st Floor, Dept. of Criminology,152 Upper New Walk
• Office Hours: By appointment

Personal Details

Isla is a Lecturer in Criminology and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She gained her BA (Hons) in Criminology and MSc in Clinical Criminology here at the University of Leicester before completing her PhD exploring the longevity of the harm of first short prison sentences on mothers at King’s College London. Her doctoral work involved a series of interviews with women whilst in custody and post release, looking at how incarceration affects their identity as a woman and a mother, as well as issues with mental health, housing and childcare.

Current research projects involved the lived experiences of family members who have a relative on remand (funded by the Oakdale Trust) as well as understanding the needs, experiences and support for care leavers in prison and she previously co-led a project with Restorative Justice Council (funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust). She currently volunteers with the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Onley, co-founded the Women, Families, Crime and Justice Network, and has helped created a social enterprise at HMP Ryehill and previously worked with the organisation New Bridge, providing through the gate support for prisoners in a variety of London prisons.

Research Interests & PhD Supervision

• Female Offenders/Gender/Motherhood
• Prison/Incarceration/Penology/Offender Management
• Restorative Justice
• Rehabilitation

Teaching

• Introduction to Criminology (Undergraduate year 1 core module)
• Criminal Justice and Mental Disorder (Undergraduate year 3 option module)
• Mental Disorder and Crime (Postgraduate core module)
• MSc Dissertation (Postgraduate core module)

Administrative Responsibilities

• MSc Co-Course Convenor

Publications

Masson, I. (2019). Incarcerating Motherhood: The Enduring Harms of First Short Periods of Imprisonment on Mothers. Oxford: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Incarcerating-Motherhood-The-Enduring-Harms-of-First-Short-Periods-of/Masson/p/book/9781138740068

Masson, I. and Booth, N. (2018). Examining prisoners’ families: definitions, developments and difficulties. Howard League ECAN. https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ECAN-bulletin-November-2018.pdf

Booth, N, Masson, I. and Baldwin, L. (2018). ‘Promises, promises Can the female offender strategy deliver?’ Probation Journal. 65(4): 429-438. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550518808363

Osterman, L and Masson, I. (2018). ‘Restorative Justice With Female Offenders: The Neglected Role of Gender in Restorative Conferencing’, Feminist Criminology. 13(1):3-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085117738326

Masson, I. and Osterman, L (2017). ‘Working with female offenders in restorative justice frameworks: effective and ethical practice’, Probation Journal. 64(4): 354-371. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550517728784