Research
My dissertation research focuses on the legacy of state punishment in West Virginia, developing a theoretical frame for understanding mass incarceration’s trajectory in the Appalachian region. This project advances three overlapping ideas. First, I show that early decisions to establish and expand carceral infrastructure–prisons, jails, courts, and police–set a pathway in motion that enabled the rise of mass incarceration over a century later. This was a path dependent process, whereby positive feedback effects locked in policies whose utility for the state was short-lived. Second, I show that punitive state organizations from police to prisons have displayed significant ambivalence over time. In a case of instrumental use of the state, actors embedded in and surrounding these institutions have leveraged the carceral state for diametrically opposed purposes at different moments and in different places. Finally, in the contemporary context of the “rural jail boom,” I develop an approach that understands rural punishment as a part of a longer historical legacy of relevant legal and policy decisions.
In another line of work, I look at the intersections between the law, state punishment, and healthcare organizations. I examine how healthcare providers in carceral contexts understand the legal implications of their work, and how these competing logics shape daily care on the ground. Select Publications Siegrist, Ella J., and Lisa Broidy. 2025. “How Jailed Mothers Envision Future Motherhood in the Context of State Intrusion: Fawn, Flight, or Fight.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 0(0):1-17.
Broidy, Lisa and Ella J. Siegrist. 2023. “Prioritizing Protection: Jailed Women’s Narrative Strategies for Sustaining a ‘Good’ Mother Identity.” Feminist Criminology 0(0):1-28.
Moinester, Margot, Ariela Schachter, and Ella J. Siegrist. 2022. “Disparities in Loss from COVID-19: Comparing Across and Among First- and Second-Generation Latinx and Asian Adults.” Socius 8:1-3.
Siegrist, Ella J., Jenna L. Dole, Kristine Denman, Ashleigh Maus, Joel Robinson, Callie Dorsey, and Graham White. 2020. Implementing Bail Reform in New Mexico: A Qualitative Analysis. Institute for Social Research, University of New Mexico. Public-Facing Work Ella Siegrist. “Immigration enforcement is supplying a longstanding economic market for prisoners.” The Conversation, August 2026.
Featured on the podcast Attitude with Arnie Arneson. September 3, 2026.
