This unique book explores criminalized identities and the idea of 'viscous culture' to provide new understandings of crime, punishment and justice.  It shows that viscous culture encourages some of us to become outlaws, monsters or shapeshifters who challenge systems of domination and forces of control. Crime, Prisons and Viscous Culture interweaves analyses of popular culture with extensive empirical research to explore both the glamorous and grotesque nature of crime, control and containment. Through encounters with numerous popular and mythological archetypes the book explores the boundaries of the criminological discipline. Criminology itself is presented as  fragmented, distorted and fascinating, and the important transdisciplinary potential of criminology is highlighted. In doing so, this book will be of great interest to scholars of criminology, cultural studies, popular culture and sociological theory.