Caroline M. Barron
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199257775
- eISBN:
- 9780191717758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199257775.003.07
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The most important officers in medieval London were the mayor and the two sheriffs who were elected every year. This chapter examines how these offices emerged and how their control was wrested by ...
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The most important officers in medieval London were the mayor and the two sheriffs who were elected every year. This chapter examines how these offices emerged and how their control was wrested by the Londoners from the Crown. The duties of these important officials, their households, and the judicial courts over which they presided are also examined. The particular responsibility of the sheriffs for London's prisons (Newgate and Ludgate) is discussed and an attempt made to assess the impartiality and effectiveness of these elected officers.Less
The most important officers in medieval London were the mayor and the two sheriffs who were elected every year. This chapter examines how these offices emerged and how their control was wrested by the Londoners from the Crown. The duties of these important officials, their households, and the judicial courts over which they presided are also examined. The particular responsibility of the sheriffs for London's prisons (Newgate and Ludgate) is discussed and an attempt made to assess the impartiality and effectiveness of these elected officers.
Ronney Mourad and Dianne Guenin-Lelle
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199841127
- eISBN:
- 9780199919536
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199841127.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book presents the first-ever English translation of the Prison Narratives written by the seventeenth-century French mystic and Quietist, Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717). Guyon’s narrative describes her ...
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This book presents the first-ever English translation of the Prison Narratives written by the seventeenth-century French mystic and Quietist, Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717). Guyon’s narrative describes her confinement between 1695 and 1703 in various prisons, including the dreaded Bastille. It also maps, in moving and unforgettable detail, the political and religious hegemony that sought to destroy her reputation and erase her from history. Guyon kept the text private. It therefore remained undiscovered for almost three centuries until an archival version was found and published in 1992 under the title Récits de Captivité (Prison Narratives). In order to make the text accessible to contemporary readers, the translation includes annotations identifying unfamiliar people, places, events and technical terms. The introduction provides a brief biography of Guyon and an analysis of the Quietist Affair, the religious and political conflict responsible for her persecution. Since this text constitutes the final, private, part of Guyon’s autobiography (the public portion of which was published in 1720 and remains in print today), the introduction discusses the composition of her autobiography as a whole and situates it in her larger body of work. It also includes an analysis of various historical, literary, and theological aspects of Guyon’s prison writings.Less
This book presents the first-ever English translation of the Prison Narratives written by the seventeenth-century French mystic and Quietist, Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717). Guyon’s narrative describes her confinement between 1695 and 1703 in various prisons, including the dreaded Bastille. It also maps, in moving and unforgettable detail, the political and religious hegemony that sought to destroy her reputation and erase her from history. Guyon kept the text private. It therefore remained undiscovered for almost three centuries until an archival version was found and published in 1992 under the title Récits de Captivité (Prison Narratives). In order to make the text accessible to contemporary readers, the translation includes annotations identifying unfamiliar people, places, events and technical terms. The introduction provides a brief biography of Guyon and an analysis of the Quietist Affair, the religious and political conflict responsible for her persecution. Since this text constitutes the final, private, part of Guyon’s autobiography (the public portion of which was published in 1720 and remains in print today), the introduction discusses the composition of her autobiography as a whole and situates it in her larger body of work. It also includes an analysis of various historical, literary, and theological aspects of Guyon’s prison writings.
Joseph V. Femia
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198275435
- eISBN:
- 9780191684128
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198275435.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, ...
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The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, explores its basic philosophical assumptions, and sets out its implications for Gramsci's explanation of social stability and his vision of the revolutionary process. A number of prevalent and often contradictory myths are demolished, and, moreover, certain neglected aspects of his thought are stressed, including the predominant role he attributed to economic factors, the importance he gave to ‘contradictory consciousness’, and the close connection between his political thinking and his fundamental philosophical premises. The book concludes by critically examining Gramsci's novel solutions to three long-standing problems for Marxist theory: the reasons why the Western working class has not carried out its revolutionary mission; determining the appropriate strategy for a Marxist party working within an advanced capitalist framework; and what are the reasons behind the failure of existing socialist states in their task of liberation?Less
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, explores its basic philosophical assumptions, and sets out its implications for Gramsci's explanation of social stability and his vision of the revolutionary process. A number of prevalent and often contradictory myths are demolished, and, moreover, certain neglected aspects of his thought are stressed, including the predominant role he attributed to economic factors, the importance he gave to ‘contradictory consciousness’, and the close connection between his political thinking and his fundamental philosophical premises. The book concludes by critically examining Gramsci's novel solutions to three long-standing problems for Marxist theory: the reasons why the Western working class has not carried out its revolutionary mission; determining the appropriate strategy for a Marxist party working within an advanced capitalist framework; and what are the reasons behind the failure of existing socialist states in their task of liberation?
Desmond King
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198292494
- eISBN:
- 9780191599682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829249X.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
King analyses segregation in federal prisons—institutions that he argues reproduced segregationist pressures ever since the 1930 establishment of the Bureau of Prisons through the 1960s, even in ...
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King analyses segregation in federal prisons—institutions that he argues reproduced segregationist pressures ever since the 1930 establishment of the Bureau of Prisons through the 1960s, even in those penitentiaries located in parts of the country outside the South. After discussing the origins of federal penitentiaries, King presents a statistical profile and racial composition of inmates in federal prisons before the legal ‘separate but equal’ doctrine. He then considers how the segregated system operated in federal prisons and how attempts at integration were carried out.Less
King analyses segregation in federal prisons—institutions that he argues reproduced segregationist pressures ever since the 1930 establishment of the Bureau of Prisons through the 1960s, even in those penitentiaries located in parts of the country outside the South. After discussing the origins of federal penitentiaries, King presents a statistical profile and racial composition of inmates in federal prisons before the legal ‘separate but equal’ doctrine. He then considers how the segregated system operated in federal prisons and how attempts at integration were carried out.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Much of the increase in crime that hit the US in the 1980s and 1990s was blamed on habitual offenders. For many years, prison wardens and parole boards had decided when most inmates would be ...
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Much of the increase in crime that hit the US in the 1980s and 1990s was blamed on habitual offenders. For many years, prison wardens and parole boards had decided when most inmates would be released. Legislators came to believe that this system was too lenient and enacted tougher penalties. When even these extended terms behind bars did not seem to work, activists came up with a new formulation, “three strikes and you’re out,” meaning that a third serious crime would bring a life term. Commentator John Carlson started a campaign for such a scheme in Washington State in the 1980s; it was enacted in 1993, the height of modern‐day crime totals. The concept quickly spread in California after the infamous kidnapping and killing of 12‐year‐old Polly Klaas that same year. President Bill Clinton embraced the idea for federal crimes, and at least two dozen states adopted some form of it. Experts disputed how much three strikes or any other tough sentencing laws affected the crime declines of the 1990s. Still, prison building continued at a high rate during the 1990s, with the combined population in prisons and jails approaching 2 million. Critics argued that three strikes and ‘mandatory minimum’ prison term laws were incarcerating far too many low‐level offenders who would end up back on the streets committing more crimes after years of imprisonment with little vocational or educational training. As the costs of running prisons mounted, some policymakers were seriously rethinking the punitive practices of the late 20th century, but no dramatic turnaround was in sight.Less
Much of the increase in crime that hit the US in the 1980s and 1990s was blamed on habitual offenders. For many years, prison wardens and parole boards had decided when most inmates would be released. Legislators came to believe that this system was too lenient and enacted tougher penalties. When even these extended terms behind bars did not seem to work, activists came up with a new formulation, “three strikes and you’re out,” meaning that a third serious crime would bring a life term. Commentator John Carlson started a campaign for such a scheme in Washington State in the 1980s; it was enacted in 1993, the height of modern‐day crime totals. The concept quickly spread in California after the infamous kidnapping and killing of 12‐year‐old Polly Klaas that same year. President Bill Clinton embraced the idea for federal crimes, and at least two dozen states adopted some form of it. Experts disputed how much three strikes or any other tough sentencing laws affected the crime declines of the 1990s. Still, prison building continued at a high rate during the 1990s, with the combined population in prisons and jails approaching 2 million. Critics argued that three strikes and ‘mandatory minimum’ prison term laws were incarcerating far too many low‐level offenders who would end up back on the streets committing more crimes after years of imprisonment with little vocational or educational training. As the costs of running prisons mounted, some policymakers were seriously rethinking the punitive practices of the late 20th century, but no dramatic turnaround was in sight.
Steven A. Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151120
- eISBN:
- 9781400838615
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151120.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This book offers a fundamental reinterpretation of the role of the Gulag—the Soviet Union's vast system of forced-labor camps, internal exile, and prisons—in Soviet society. Soviet authorities ...
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This book offers a fundamental reinterpretation of the role of the Gulag—the Soviet Union's vast system of forced-labor camps, internal exile, and prisons—in Soviet society. Soviet authorities undoubtedly had the means to exterminate all the prisoners who passed through the Gulag, but unlike the Nazis they did not conceive of their concentration camps as instruments of genocide. This book argues that the Gulag must be understood primarily as a penal institution where prisoners were given one final chance to reintegrate into Soviet society. Millions whom authorities deemed “re-educated” through brutal forced labor were allowed to leave. Millions more who “failed” never got out alive. Drawing on newly opened archives in Russia and Kazakhstan as well as memoirs by actual prisoners, the book shows how the Gulag was integral to the Soviet goal of building a utopian socialist society. It takes readers into the Gulag itself, focusing on one outpost of the Gulag system in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, a location that featured the full panoply of Soviet detention institutions. The book traces the Gulag experience from its beginnings after the 1917 Russian Revolution to its decline following the 1953 death of Stalin. It reveals how the Gulag defined the border between those who would re-enter Soviet society and those who would be excluded through death.Less
This book offers a fundamental reinterpretation of the role of the Gulag—the Soviet Union's vast system of forced-labor camps, internal exile, and prisons—in Soviet society. Soviet authorities undoubtedly had the means to exterminate all the prisoners who passed through the Gulag, but unlike the Nazis they did not conceive of their concentration camps as instruments of genocide. This book argues that the Gulag must be understood primarily as a penal institution where prisoners were given one final chance to reintegrate into Soviet society. Millions whom authorities deemed “re-educated” through brutal forced labor were allowed to leave. Millions more who “failed” never got out alive. Drawing on newly opened archives in Russia and Kazakhstan as well as memoirs by actual prisoners, the book shows how the Gulag was integral to the Soviet goal of building a utopian socialist society. It takes readers into the Gulag itself, focusing on one outpost of the Gulag system in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, a location that featured the full panoply of Soviet detention institutions. The book traces the Gulag experience from its beginnings after the 1917 Russian Revolution to its decline following the 1953 death of Stalin. It reveals how the Gulag defined the border between those who would re-enter Soviet society and those who would be excluded through death.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The crime rate in the US has exploded since 1960. Despite decreases in recent years, reported violence in 2001 exceeded the levels of the late 1970s. Government at all levels has tried to address the ...
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The crime rate in the US has exploded since 1960. Despite decreases in recent years, reported violence in 2001 exceeded the levels of the late 1970s. Government at all levels has tried to address the crime problem, with mixed success. Police forces that formerly focused on patrol cars’ responding to citizen calls embraced the proactive approach of community policing; courts set up specialized branches, hearing cases relating to narcotics, guns, and domestic violence; criminal sentences sharply increased, filling prisons and jails with more than 2 million people. Yet, crime rates continue to rise and fall, seemingly without regard to government programs. Strikingly, little evidence has been collected about which anticrime activities are truly effective and which are not. Instead, members of Congress and state legislators, who set the tone for the fight against crime, tend to base their actions on what sounds good in political advertisements rather than what has proved to work through scientific experiment. Still, there are a number of promising ideas in law enforcement, juvenile crime, corrections, and other areas that could help prevent crime if they could obtain adequate financial support.Less
The crime rate in the US has exploded since 1960. Despite decreases in recent years, reported violence in 2001 exceeded the levels of the late 1970s. Government at all levels has tried to address the crime problem, with mixed success. Police forces that formerly focused on patrol cars’ responding to citizen calls embraced the proactive approach of community policing; courts set up specialized branches, hearing cases relating to narcotics, guns, and domestic violence; criminal sentences sharply increased, filling prisons and jails with more than 2 million people. Yet, crime rates continue to rise and fall, seemingly without regard to government programs. Strikingly, little evidence has been collected about which anticrime activities are truly effective and which are not. Instead, members of Congress and state legislators, who set the tone for the fight against crime, tend to base their actions on what sounds good in political advertisements rather than what has proved to work through scientific experiment. Still, there are a number of promising ideas in law enforcement, juvenile crime, corrections, and other areas that could help prevent crime if they could obtain adequate financial support.
Mike Hough, Rob Allen, and Enver Solomon (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847421104
- eISBN:
- 9781447303657
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847421104.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Crime and Justice
This book is a response to controversial proposals for prisons and sentencing set out in by Lord Patrick Carter's ‘Review of Prisons’, published in 2007. The Carter review proposed the construction ...
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This book is a response to controversial proposals for prisons and sentencing set out in by Lord Patrick Carter's ‘Review of Prisons’, published in 2007. The Carter review proposed the construction of vast ‘Titan’ prisons to deal with the immediate problem of prison overcrowding, the establishment of a Sentencing Commission as a mechanism for keeping judicial demand for prison places in line with supply, along with further use of the private sector, including private-sector management methods. The book comprises nine chapters by academic experts, who expose these proposals to critical scrutiny. Chapters take the Carter Report to task for construing the problems too narrowly, in terms of efficiency and economy, and for failing to understand the wider issues of justice that need addressing. They argue that the crisis of prison overcrowding is first and foremost a political problem – arising from penal populism – for which political solutions need to be found.Less
This book is a response to controversial proposals for prisons and sentencing set out in by Lord Patrick Carter's ‘Review of Prisons’, published in 2007. The Carter review proposed the construction of vast ‘Titan’ prisons to deal with the immediate problem of prison overcrowding, the establishment of a Sentencing Commission as a mechanism for keeping judicial demand for prison places in line with supply, along with further use of the private sector, including private-sector management methods. The book comprises nine chapters by academic experts, who expose these proposals to critical scrutiny. Chapters take the Carter Report to task for construing the problems too narrowly, in terms of efficiency and economy, and for failing to understand the wider issues of justice that need addressing. They argue that the crisis of prison overcrowding is first and foremost a political problem – arising from penal populism – for which political solutions need to be found.
Susanne Karstedt
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266922
- eISBN:
- 9780191938184
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266922.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law
Prisons across the globe are manifestations of inequality. In any society, its most marginalised groups are overrepresented in prisons and all institutions of criminal justice. Notwithstanding this ...
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Prisons across the globe are manifestations of inequality. In any society, its most marginalised groups are overrepresented in prisons and all institutions of criminal justice. Notwithstanding this universal condition of contemporary criminal justice, the link between social inequality and inequality of punishment has been found to be tenuous and elusive. This contribution addresses the question how socio-economic inequality shapes the manifestations of punishment for a global sample of countries. As socio-economic inequality and criminal punishment are both multi-faceted concepts, several indicators are used for each. The findings confirm the highly contextual nature of the link between inequality and criminal punishment; they suggest a variegated impact of political economies, and a multiplicity of mechanisms that link inequality and criminal punishment across the globe.Less
Prisons across the globe are manifestations of inequality. In any society, its most marginalised groups are overrepresented in prisons and all institutions of criminal justice. Notwithstanding this universal condition of contemporary criminal justice, the link between social inequality and inequality of punishment has been found to be tenuous and elusive. This contribution addresses the question how socio-economic inequality shapes the manifestations of punishment for a global sample of countries. As socio-economic inequality and criminal punishment are both multi-faceted concepts, several indicators are used for each. The findings confirm the highly contextual nature of the link between inequality and criminal punishment; they suggest a variegated impact of political economies, and a multiplicity of mechanisms that link inequality and criminal punishment across the globe.
Marie Gottschalk
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266922
- eISBN:
- 9780191938184
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266922.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law
This chapter examines the limitations of viewing the US carceral state primarily through a racial disparities lens centred on differences in incarceration rates between whites and blacks. It surveys ...
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This chapter examines the limitations of viewing the US carceral state primarily through a racial disparities lens centred on differences in incarceration rates between whites and blacks. It surveys important shifts since the 1970s in who is being incarcerated in the United States, including racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic shifts, most notably between urban and rural areas. It deploys three common frameworks used to help explain the rise of mass incarceration and the hyper-incarceration of African Americans—the culture of control, the culture of poverty, and the war on drugs—to analyse the deepening penetration of the carceral state outside of major urban areas and to examine the opioid crisis.Less
This chapter examines the limitations of viewing the US carceral state primarily through a racial disparities lens centred on differences in incarceration rates between whites and blacks. It surveys important shifts since the 1970s in who is being incarcerated in the United States, including racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic shifts, most notably between urban and rural areas. It deploys three common frameworks used to help explain the rise of mass incarceration and the hyper-incarceration of African Americans—the culture of control, the culture of poverty, and the war on drugs—to analyse the deepening penetration of the carceral state outside of major urban areas and to examine the opioid crisis.
Dario Melossi
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266922
- eISBN:
- 9780191938184
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266922.003.0012
- Subject:
- Law
This Chapter advances two claims which are related and sustain each other. The first is that in the contemporary “post-Fordist” world, the coupling of imprisonment and production persists in a ...
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This Chapter advances two claims which are related and sustain each other. The first is that in the contemporary “post-Fordist” world, the coupling of imprisonment and production persists in a relationship, if not between “the prison” and “the factory” – as Dario Melossi and Massimo Pavarini wrote 40 years ago – rather between “the prison” and “subordination”, because what all the multiple forms of “labor” and “non-labor” have in common – and have in common with the origins of protoindustrial capitalism – is subordination. The second is that the traditional reading of the “Rusche and Kirchheimer hypothesis” on the relationship between economic cycles and imprisonment depends on the specific conjuncture and class composition of the capitalist social formation to which it is applied. One thing is economic development in the period of Fordist mass industry and another in the globalized and fragmented labor market of neo-liberalism. Often imprisonment promotes phases of capitalist development rather than crises and recessions. Furthermore, subordination and inequality are strictly linked and feed on each other. Inequality promotes subordination, by putting the squeeze on those who are at the bottom of the social hierarchy; but subordination at the same time promotes inequality, by making sure that those who occupy those bottom positions, stay there. One strong link in the chain of subordination to inequality is penality, because penality reinforces inequality by reaffirming subordination. Data about long-run empirical relationships between imprisonment rates and inequality measures for the US and Italy are discussed.Less
This Chapter advances two claims which are related and sustain each other. The first is that in the contemporary “post-Fordist” world, the coupling of imprisonment and production persists in a relationship, if not between “the prison” and “the factory” – as Dario Melossi and Massimo Pavarini wrote 40 years ago – rather between “the prison” and “subordination”, because what all the multiple forms of “labor” and “non-labor” have in common – and have in common with the origins of protoindustrial capitalism – is subordination. The second is that the traditional reading of the “Rusche and Kirchheimer hypothesis” on the relationship between economic cycles and imprisonment depends on the specific conjuncture and class composition of the capitalist social formation to which it is applied. One thing is economic development in the period of Fordist mass industry and another in the globalized and fragmented labor market of neo-liberalism. Often imprisonment promotes phases of capitalist development rather than crises and recessions. Furthermore, subordination and inequality are strictly linked and feed on each other. Inequality promotes subordination, by putting the squeeze on those who are at the bottom of the social hierarchy; but subordination at the same time promotes inequality, by making sure that those who occupy those bottom positions, stay there. One strong link in the chain of subordination to inequality is penality, because penality reinforces inequality by reaffirming subordination. Data about long-run empirical relationships between imprisonment rates and inequality measures for the US and Italy are discussed.
Christopher Hood, Colin Scott, Oliver James, George Jones, and Tony Travers
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280996
- eISBN:
- 9780191599491
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280998.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Examines regulation of prison standards by arms‐length oversight bodies, which generally had much stronger capacities for monitoring than enforcement. Prisons in England and Wales are subject to one ...
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Examines regulation of prison standards by arms‐length oversight bodies, which generally had much stronger capacities for monitoring than enforcement. Prisons in England and Wales are subject to one of the densest patterns of oversight of any public sector activity. There has been a tendency to add new layers of regulation at various times without taking anything away, creating considerable overlap and duplication. Regulators who lacked formal powers were nevertheless observed to develop less formal mechanisms for seeking modification of behaviour.Less
Examines regulation of prison standards by arms‐length oversight bodies, which generally had much stronger capacities for monitoring than enforcement. Prisons in England and Wales are subject to one of the densest patterns of oversight of any public sector activity. There has been a tendency to add new layers of regulation at various times without taking anything away, creating considerable overlap and duplication. Regulators who lacked formal powers were nevertheless observed to develop less formal mechanisms for seeking modification of behaviour.
Joan Petersilia
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195160864
- eISBN:
- 9780199943395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195160864.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter documents the decline of inmate participation in prison work, treatment, and education programs. It considers these trends in light of the growing amount of research documenting what ...
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This chapter documents the decline of inmate participation in prison work, treatment, and education programs. It considers these trends in light of the growing amount of research documenting what works, and the changing nature of inmates' characteristics. The data show that U.S. prisons today offer fewer services than they did when inmate problems were less severe, although history shows that not much has been invested in prison rehabilitation. Today, just one-third of all prisoners released will have received vocational or educational training while in prison. And despite the fact that three-quarters of all inmates have alcohol or drug abuse problems, just one-fourth of all inmates will participate in a substance abuse program prior to release. The treatment programs consist mostly of inmate self-help groups rather than the intensive therapeutic communities found to be most effective.Less
This chapter documents the decline of inmate participation in prison work, treatment, and education programs. It considers these trends in light of the growing amount of research documenting what works, and the changing nature of inmates' characteristics. The data show that U.S. prisons today offer fewer services than they did when inmate problems were less severe, although history shows that not much has been invested in prison rehabilitation. Today, just one-third of all prisoners released will have received vocational or educational training while in prison. And despite the fact that three-quarters of all inmates have alcohol or drug abuse problems, just one-fourth of all inmates will participate in a substance abuse program prior to release. The treatment programs consist mostly of inmate self-help groups rather than the intensive therapeutic communities found to be most effective.
Celeste “Jazz” Carrington
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520252493
- eISBN:
- 9780520944565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520252493.003.0020
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
In her untitled poem, Celeste Carrington talks about death and dying while in prison.
In her untitled poem, Celeste Carrington talks about death and dying while in prison.
Kinnari Jivani
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520252493
- eISBN:
- 9780520944565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520252493.003.0038
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
In her poem entitled “My Art,” Kinnari Jivani talks about how her art helps her cope with life in prison.
In her poem entitled “My Art,” Kinnari Jivani talks about how her art helps her cope with life in prison.
Robert A. Ferguson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300230833
- eISBN:
- 9780300235296
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300230833.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
In the past few years, the need for prison reform in America has reached the level of a consensus. We agree that many prison terms are too long, especially for nonviolent drug offenders; that ...
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In the past few years, the need for prison reform in America has reached the level of a consensus. We agree that many prison terms are too long, especially for nonviolent drug offenders; that long-term isolation is a bad idea; and that basic psychiatric and medical care in prisons is woefully inadequate. Some people believe that contracting out prison services to for-profit companies is a recipe for mistreatment. This book argues that these reforms barely scratch the surface of what is wrong with American prisons: an atmosphere of malice and humiliation that subjects prisoners and guards alike to constant degradation. Bolstered by insights from hundreds of letters written by prisoners, the book makes the case for an entirely new concept of prisons and their purpose: an “inner architectonics of reform” that will provide better education for all involved in prisons, more imaginative and careful use of technology, more sophisticated surveillance systems, and better accountability.Less
In the past few years, the need for prison reform in America has reached the level of a consensus. We agree that many prison terms are too long, especially for nonviolent drug offenders; that long-term isolation is a bad idea; and that basic psychiatric and medical care in prisons is woefully inadequate. Some people believe that contracting out prison services to for-profit companies is a recipe for mistreatment. This book argues that these reforms barely scratch the surface of what is wrong with American prisons: an atmosphere of malice and humiliation that subjects prisoners and guards alike to constant degradation. Bolstered by insights from hundreds of letters written by prisoners, the book makes the case for an entirely new concept of prisons and their purpose: an “inner architectonics of reform” that will provide better education for all involved in prisons, more imaginative and careful use of technology, more sophisticated surveillance systems, and better accountability.
Colin Dayan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691070919
- eISBN:
- 9781400838592
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691070919.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Abused dogs, prisoners tortured in Guantánamo and supermax facilities, or slaves killed by the state—all are deprived of personhood through legal acts. Such deprivations have recurred throughout ...
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Abused dogs, prisoners tortured in Guantánamo and supermax facilities, or slaves killed by the state—all are deprived of personhood through legal acts. Such deprivations have recurred throughout history, and the law sustains these terrors and banishments even as it upholds the civil order. Examining such troubling cases, this book tackles key societal questions: How does the law construct our identities? How do its rules and sanctions make or unmake persons? And how do the supposedly rational claims of the law define marginal entities, both natural and supernatural, including ghosts, dogs, slaves, terrorist suspects, and felons? The book looks at how the law disfigures individuals and animals, and how slavery, punishment, and torture create unforeseen effects in our daily lives. Moving seamlessly across genres and disciplines, the book considers legal practices and spiritual beliefs from medieval England, the North American colonies, and the Caribbean that have survived in our legal discourse, and it explores the civil deaths of felons and slaves through lawful repression. Tracing the legacy of slavery in the United States in the structures of the contemporary American prison system and in the administrative detention of ghostly supermax facilities, the book also demonstrates how contemporary jurisprudence regarding cruel and unusual punishment prepared the way for abuses in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Using conventional historical and legal sources to answer unconventional questions, the book illuminates stark truths about civil society's ability to marginalize, exclude, and dehumanize.Less
Abused dogs, prisoners tortured in Guantánamo and supermax facilities, or slaves killed by the state—all are deprived of personhood through legal acts. Such deprivations have recurred throughout history, and the law sustains these terrors and banishments even as it upholds the civil order. Examining such troubling cases, this book tackles key societal questions: How does the law construct our identities? How do its rules and sanctions make or unmake persons? And how do the supposedly rational claims of the law define marginal entities, both natural and supernatural, including ghosts, dogs, slaves, terrorist suspects, and felons? The book looks at how the law disfigures individuals and animals, and how slavery, punishment, and torture create unforeseen effects in our daily lives. Moving seamlessly across genres and disciplines, the book considers legal practices and spiritual beliefs from medieval England, the North American colonies, and the Caribbean that have survived in our legal discourse, and it explores the civil deaths of felons and slaves through lawful repression. Tracing the legacy of slavery in the United States in the structures of the contemporary American prison system and in the administrative detention of ghostly supermax facilities, the book also demonstrates how contemporary jurisprudence regarding cruel and unusual punishment prepared the way for abuses in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Using conventional historical and legal sources to answer unconventional questions, the book illuminates stark truths about civil society's ability to marginalize, exclude, and dehumanize.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The high crime rates of the early 1990s and a string of sensational crimes from coast to coast set the stage in 1994 for the most extensive and costly federal anticrime bill ever. Bill Clinton had ...
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The high crime rates of the early 1990s and a string of sensational crimes from coast to coast set the stage in 1994 for the most extensive and costly federal anticrime bill ever. Bill Clinton had made crime fighting a top priority, particularly after his health care reform bill had faltered. Congress had taken the initiative, led by Democrats Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware and Representative Charles Schumer of New York. The Democrats came up with a way to put $30 billion for anticrime programs into a ‘trust fund’ created by a reduction in the federal bureaucracy. Soon it seemed that Clinton's 100,000 community police officers, a Republican demand for more prisons, and various other programs to combat violence against women and other crime problems all could be funded. Republicans backed off support of big allocations for crime prevention ideas like ‘midnight basketball’ for teens, and the National Rifle Association fought against a proposed ban on assault‐style weapons. The result was a donnybrook that kept Congress in session through most of the summer. Republicans eventually won a series of concessions on funding, although the assault weapon provision survived and the law was passed. In the process, Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill was seen as so flawed that the crime law played a significant part in the Republicans’ seizing control of the House of Representatives in the 1994 elections. Five years later, the crime law's impact on crime rates was uncertain; in fact, crime had begun to fall long before many of its provisions could have had much effect.Less
The high crime rates of the early 1990s and a string of sensational crimes from coast to coast set the stage in 1994 for the most extensive and costly federal anticrime bill ever. Bill Clinton had made crime fighting a top priority, particularly after his health care reform bill had faltered. Congress had taken the initiative, led by Democrats Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware and Representative Charles Schumer of New York. The Democrats came up with a way to put $30 billion for anticrime programs into a ‘trust fund’ created by a reduction in the federal bureaucracy. Soon it seemed that Clinton's 100,000 community police officers, a Republican demand for more prisons, and various other programs to combat violence against women and other crime problems all could be funded. Republicans backed off support of big allocations for crime prevention ideas like ‘midnight basketball’ for teens, and the National Rifle Association fought against a proposed ban on assault‐style weapons. The result was a donnybrook that kept Congress in session through most of the summer. Republicans eventually won a series of concessions on funding, although the assault weapon provision survived and the law was passed. In the process, Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill was seen as so flawed that the crime law played a significant part in the Republicans’ seizing control of the House of Representatives in the 1994 elections. Five years later, the crime law's impact on crime rates was uncertain; in fact, crime had begun to fall long before many of its provisions could have had much effect.
Alison Griffiths
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231161060
- eISBN:
- 9780231541565
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231161060.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
A groundbreaking contribution to the study of nontheatrical film exhibition, Carceral Fantasies tells the little-known story of how cinema found a home in the U.S. penitentiary system and how the ...
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A groundbreaking contribution to the study of nontheatrical film exhibition, Carceral Fantasies tells the little-known story of how cinema found a home in the U.S. penitentiary system and how the prison emerged as a setting and narrative trope in modern cinema. Focusing on films shown in prisons before 1935, Alison Griffiths explores the unique experience of viewing cinema while incarcerated and the complex cultural roots of cinematic renderings of prison life. Griffiths considers a diverse mix of cinematic genres, from early actualities and reenactments of notorious executions to reformist exposés of the 1920s. She connects an early fascination with cinematic images of punishment and execution, especially electrocutions, to the attractions of the nineteenth-century carnival electrical wonder show and Phantasmagoria (a ghost show using magic lantern projections and special effects). Griffiths draws upon convict writing, prison annual reports, and the popular press obsession with prison-house cinema to document the integration of film into existing reformist and educational activities and film’s psychic extension of flights of fancy undertaken by inmates in their cells. Combining penal history with visual and film studies and theories surrounding media’s sensual effects, Carceral Fantasies illuminates how filmic representations of the penal system enacted ideas about modernity, gender, the body, and the public, shaping both the social experience of cinema and the public’s understanding of the modern prison.Less
A groundbreaking contribution to the study of nontheatrical film exhibition, Carceral Fantasies tells the little-known story of how cinema found a home in the U.S. penitentiary system and how the prison emerged as a setting and narrative trope in modern cinema. Focusing on films shown in prisons before 1935, Alison Griffiths explores the unique experience of viewing cinema while incarcerated and the complex cultural roots of cinematic renderings of prison life. Griffiths considers a diverse mix of cinematic genres, from early actualities and reenactments of notorious executions to reformist exposés of the 1920s. She connects an early fascination with cinematic images of punishment and execution, especially electrocutions, to the attractions of the nineteenth-century carnival electrical wonder show and Phantasmagoria (a ghost show using magic lantern projections and special effects). Griffiths draws upon convict writing, prison annual reports, and the popular press obsession with prison-house cinema to document the integration of film into existing reformist and educational activities and film’s psychic extension of flights of fancy undertaken by inmates in their cells. Combining penal history with visual and film studies and theories surrounding media’s sensual effects, Carceral Fantasies illuminates how filmic representations of the penal system enacted ideas about modernity, gender, the body, and the public, shaping both the social experience of cinema and the public’s understanding of the modern prison.
Rex Martin
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198292937
- eISBN:
- 9780191599811
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292937.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The chapter argues that treatment and rehabilitation can be a mode of punishment only if it is required of convicted offenders, either in virtue of a legal sanction imposed on them or in virtue of ...
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The chapter argues that treatment and rehabilitation can be a mode of punishment only if it is required of convicted offenders, either in virtue of a legal sanction imposed on them or in virtue of their status as adjudged violators, and it can exhibit an essential tie with civil rights (as do the other two modes, penalty and compensation) only if convicts are, in virtue of their status, required to receive certain services or benefits that the violator (along with other citizens) has a right to. The argument is developed by reference to work in prisons.One problem faced by this analysis is the widespread belief that convicts qua adjudged violators have forfeited certain important rights (or, indeed, all rights); this claim about forfeit is challenged. Another problem is to distinguish beneficial and rehabilitative work in prisons from hard labour conceived as a penalty or from remunerative work designed to help prisoners pay compensation to their victims. The case for work in prisons asbeneficial and rehabilitative, rests on the idea that work there can be not only a general expectation attached to prisoner status but also a putative right of prisoners (as one feature of a policy of full employment for all citizens, which is itself justified by the idea of a right to work).This line of analysis completes the turn, begun with the discussion of compensation, toward emphasizing coercion of the adjudged law breaker (rather than emphasizing causing them pain) in one's characterization of punishment and, ultimately, of treating punishment in all its modes as integral to a system of rights. The chapter concludes by summarizing the place of punishment in such a system and the reforms needed to make it optimally suitable there.Less
The chapter argues that treatment and rehabilitation can be a mode of punishment only if it is required of convicted offenders, either in virtue of a legal sanction imposed on them or in virtue of their status as adjudged violators, and it can exhibit an essential tie with civil rights (as do the other two modes, penalty and compensation) only if convicts are, in virtue of their status, required to receive certain services or benefits that the violator (along with other citizens) has a right to. The argument is developed by reference to work in prisons.
One problem faced by this analysis is the widespread belief that convicts qua adjudged violators have forfeited certain important rights (or, indeed, all rights); this claim about forfeit is challenged. Another problem is to distinguish beneficial and rehabilitative work in prisons from hard labour conceived as a penalty or from remunerative work designed to help prisoners pay compensation to their victims. The case for work in prisons as
beneficial and rehabilitative, rests on the idea that work there can be not only a general expectation attached to prisoner status but also a putative right of prisoners (as one feature of a policy of full employment for all citizens, which is itself justified by the idea of a right to work).
This line of analysis completes the turn, begun with the discussion of compensation, toward emphasizing coercion of the adjudged law breaker (rather than emphasizing causing them pain) in one's characterization of punishment and, ultimately, of treating punishment in all its modes as integral to a system of rights. The chapter concludes by summarizing the place of punishment in such a system and the reforms needed to make it optimally suitable there.
