Paper short abstract:

In my paper I reflect the position of an ethnographer in a work community, which is under a severe change in near future. I went to prison to do fieldwork openly telling all the people in what I was going to do, and why.

Paper long abstract:

In my paper, I present an empirical insight of doing ethnographic fieldwork in a closed institution. I reflect the position of an ethnologist in a very sensitive work community, in a community, which is to be closed down in a near future. I went to prison to do fieldwork openly telling all the people in what I was going to do, and why.

While doing fieldwork in a prison, I experienced many surprising situations leading to reflections, such as how the prison workers´ emotions and thoughts of the ongoing situation in the prison were revealed to me, the outsider of the working community. Nevertheless I did tell everyone, what I was doing and why. I thought it was the only way to collect information of the situation in the work place. The workers felt betrayed, and they didn't trust anyone. To my opinion undisclosed research is highly problematical in the field of prison studies.

This paper is based on my doctoral dissertation study a prison work community. In my thesis I reflect the position of an ethnographer in a undisclosed work environment, and in a delicate work community. In addition, my research question is to find an answer to the question how a Finnish government decision from 2003 to increase the productivity of the public sector reflects prison officers' daily life.