‘Sedative Coping’, Contextual Maturity and Institutionalization Among Prisoners Serving Life Sentences in England and Wales

Based on a longitudinal study of life-sentenced prisoners in England and Wales, this article seeks to make sense of what it characterizes as ‘sedative coping’. In doing so, it brings together analytic conclusions from the existing research literature that appear highly inconsistent, but which indicate the centrality of emotion in the experience of serving a long prison sentence. Specifically, it highlights the forms of emotion management and suppression involved in coping with the trauma of such circumstances, and the post-release impact of sustained forms of emotional self-preservation. This focus helps us better understand the connection between ‘mature coping’ in custody and the post-release difficulties that life-sentenced prisoners often describe.