'An important contribution to interactional studies, Prison Discourse demonstrates thorough and enlightening ways of interpreting the social control in prisons. Andrea Mayr closely examines written texts and classroom discussions, noting the word choices, phrase selections, modalities, and interactive moves among inmates and officers.' - Patricia E. O'Connor, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

'I recommend this well-written and well-researched book wholeheartedly to anyone interested in detailed lingustic analysis in any setting but its chief accomplishment must lie in the way it has penetrated to the heart of power relations in prison, that strange, total institution so hidden from us... It is additionally so rich methodologically that I hope it will find a place on research methods courses... it possesses both rigour and imagination.' - Diana Medlicott, Speech, Language and the Law

'This [is an] interesting and innovative book... an excellent source of data and a good attempt to take a linguistic analysis into a place where there has been much sociological theorising.' - Michelle Aldridge, British Association for Applied Linguistics News