Punishment regimes in a women's prison often operate in close relation with visible and invisible forms of social control. Daily lives of women inmates in any prison must be understood in conjunction with control, since control is the most defining moment in a prison. Prisons are part of a larger societal network, and replicate the societal ideologies of defining control over women. Carlen (1983) in her classic Women's Imprisonment: A Study in Social Control, focuses on the ‘prison moment’ and Howe (1994) rightly argues that Carlen places the analysis of female imprisonment firmly and irrevocably in the broader context of the social control of women.

In her introduction, Carlen writes that her book is not primarily about Cornton Vale or about women prisoners. She contends that it is a book about wider meanings of the moments of prison – meanings which cannot be retained within one particular institution. Though Carlen focuses on Cornton Vale, her intellectual speculations may be applied to wider contexts as well. This study is an attempt to make sense of these wider moments of control in the Chanchalguda prison.

The term ‘control’ is probably one of the most widely used catchwords in criminological and penological literature. In this context, it is used to refer to a gender-specific control that is exercised over women prisoners. The term ‘control’ does not simply refer to an authority from above. It could mean multiple interactions which confine women prisoners to the conventional and patriarchal structures. This can happen through both visible (overt rules and regulations) and invisible (interaction with prison authorities) mechanisms. The visible forms are easier to comprehend. Informal controls are more difficult to analyse.