Rachel Ellis is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. Trained as a sociologist, her research focuses on women's experiences of punishment in the United States. Using qualitative methods – especially ethnography and interviews – Dr. Ellis investigates incarceration and inequality related to race/class/gender, sexuality, and religion. Her book, In This Place Called Prison: Women's Religious Life in the Shadow of Punishment, examines the contours of freedom and constraint offered by religion within an institution designed to punish (University of California Press, 2023). Her current projects include an interview study of women's reentry and a Russell Sage-funded project about women’s lived experiences on probation. She earned her PhD in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.