Big Prisons Big Dreams

Author : Michael Lynch
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 0813541409
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Big Prisons, Big Dreams written by Michael Lynch and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2007-08-31 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American prison system has grown tenfold since the 1970s, but crime rates in the United States have not decreased. This doesn't surprise Michael J. Lynch, a critical criminologist, who argues that our oversized prison system is a product of our consumer culture, the public's inaccurate beliefs about controlling crime, and the government's criminalizing of the poor. While deterrence and incapacitation theories suggest that imprisoning more criminals and punishing them leads to a reduction in crime, case studies, such as one focusing on the New York City jail system between 1993 and 2003, show that a reduction in crime is unrelated to the size of jail populations. Although we are locking away more people, Lynch explains that we are not targeting the worst offenders. Prison populations are comprised of the poor, and many are incarcerated for relatively minor robberies and violence. America's prison expansion focused on this group to the exclusion of corporate and white collar offenders who create hazardous workplace and environmental conditions that lead to deaths and injuries, and enormous economic crimes. If America truly wants to reduce crime, Lynch urges readers to rethink cultural values that equate bigger with better.

Author : Michael Welch
Publisher : SAGE
ISBN 13 : 1452237395
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ironies of Imprisonment written by Michael Welch and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2004-06-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Foreword "Michael Welch′s book is an invitation to think. It is an invitation to grow intellectually and critically, as a consumer of crime policy and an observer of the American scene. Written by a scholar who has dedicated his work to uncovering the hidden ironies of formal crime policy, this is a collection of essays of depth and significance." -Todd R. Clear, Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Praise for Ironies of Imprisonment: "The American correctional system is too often misshaped by a toxic mixture of ideology, anti-intellectualism, wishful thinking, and structural interests. Michael Welch uses his substantial critical skills to illuminate how these various factors intersect to create policies and practices that produce, in the end, more injustice and less public safety. His sobering analysis deconstructs the rhetoric used to justify mass imprisonment and its unanticipated, disquieting consequences." -Frank Cullen, University of Cincinnati "Michael Welch has written a book which anyone who is looking for an alternative to conventional and conservative approaches to prisons and punishment should read. Welch provides the groundwork for the development of a penology which engages critically with the growing tensions and ironies of imprisonment." -Roger Matthews, Middlesex University Ironies of Imprisonment examines in-depth an array of problems confronting correctional programs and policies from the author′s singular and consistent critical viewpoint. The book challenges the prevailing logic of mass incarceration and traces the ironies of imprisonment to their root causes, manifesting in social, political, economic, and racial inequality. Key Features A compelling Foreword written by Todd E. Clear, an internationally recognized leader in the field of criminal justice. Chapters open with illuminating real-life vignettes and end with provocative review questions. The author′s knowledgeable and dynamic voice provides a consistent perspective on key issues such as the war on drugs, the war on terror, prison violence, capital punishment, health care, and the prison industry. Up-to-date presentation of pertinent subject matter, including chief developments in research and theory. Discussion of the problems facing corrections in a post-September 11th world. Unique and accessible, this book promises to stimulate spirited discussion and debate over the use of prisons. Ironies of Imprisonment is recommended reading for students in corrections classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels in sociology, criminology, and criminal justice departments. In addition, it can be used in conjunction with a core text in courses on policy, theories of punishment, and social problems. The book will also be of interest to a general audience interested in reading about incarceration. Michael Welch is the author of numerous articles and several books on the subject of punishment and social control, including Punishment in America (1999), Flag Burning: Moral Panic and the Criminalization of Protest (2000), and Detained: Immigration Laws and the Expanding I.N.S. Jail Complex (2002). He has correctional experience at the federal, state, and local levels. Welch received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Texas, Denton and is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University.

Author : Francis T. Cullen
Publisher : SAGE
ISBN 13 : 1452241368
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The American Prison written by Francis T. Cullen and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2014 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time in four decades, prison populations are declining and politicians have reached the consensus that mass imprisonment is no longer sustainable. At this unique moment in the history of corrections, the opportunity has emerged to discuss in meaningful ways how best to shape efforts to control crime and to intervene effectively with offenders. The American Prison: Imagining a Different Future, by Francis T. Cullen, Cheryl, Lero Johnson, and Mary K. Stohr, pulls together established correctional scholars to imagine what this prison future might entail. Each scholar uses his or her expertise to craft—in an accessible way for students to read—a blueprint for how to create a new penology along a particular theme. For example, one contributor writes about how to use existing research expertise to create a prison that is therapeutic and another provides insight on how to create a "feminist" prison. In the final chapter the editors pull together the "lessons learned" in a cohesive, comprehensive essay.

Author : Pete Earley
Publisher : Bantam
ISBN 13 : 0307808319
Total Pages : 558 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Hot House written by Pete Earley and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2011-11-09 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning account of life behind bars at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where the nation’s hardest criminals do hard time. “A page-turner, as compelling and evocative as the finest novel. The best book on prison I’ve ever read.”—Jonathan Kellerman The most dreaded facility in the prison system because of its fierce population, Leavenworth is governed by ruthless clans competing for dominance. Among the “star” players in these pages: Carl Cletus Bowles, the sexual predator with a talent for murder; Dallas Scott, a gang member who has spent almost thirty of his forty-two years behind bars; indomitable Warden Robert Matthews, who put his shoulder against his prison’s grim reality; Thomas Silverstein, a sociopath confined in “no human contact” status since 1983; “tough cop” guard Eddie Geouge, the only officer in the penitentiary with the authority to sentence an inmate to “the Hole”; and William Post, a bank robber with a criminal record going back to when he was eight years old—and known as the “Catman” for his devoted care of the cats who live inside the prison walls. Pete Earley, celebrated reporter and author of Family of Spies, all but lived for nearly two years inside the primordial world of Leavenworth, where he conducted hundreds of interviews. Out of this unique, extraordinary access comes the riveting story of what life is actually like in the oldest maximum-security prison in the country. Praise for The Hot House “Reporting at its very finest.”—Los Angeles Times “The book is a large act of courage, its subject an important one, and . . . Earley does it justice.”—The Washington Post Book World “[A] riveting, fiercely unsentimental book . . . To [Earley’s] credit, he does not romanticize the keepers or the criminals. His cool and concise prose style serves him well. . . . This is a gutsy book.”—Chicago Tribune “Harrowing . . . an exceptional work of journalism.”—Detroit Free Press “If you’re going to read any book about prison, The Hot House is the one. . . . It is the most realistic, unbuffed account of prison anywhere in print.”—Kansas City Star “A superb piece of reporting.”—Tom Clancy

Author : Adam Key
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000538508
Total Pages : 79 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Rhetoric of Resistance to Prison Education written by Adam Key and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the discourse and rhetoric that resists and opposes postsecondary prison education. Positioning prison college programs as the best method to truly reduce recidivism, the book shows how the public – and by extension politicians – remain largely opposed to public funding for these programs, and how prisoners face internal resistance from their fellow inmates when pursuing higher education. Utilizing methods including critical rhetorical history, media analysis, and autoethnography, the author explores and critiques the discourses which inhibit prison education. Cultural discourses, echoed through media portrayal of prisoners, produce criminals as both subhuman and always-already a threat to the public. This book highlights the history of rhetorical opposition to prison education; closely analyzes how convictism, prejudicial and discriminatory bias against prisoners, blocks education access and feeds the prison-industrial-complex an ever-recycled supply of free prison labor; and discusses the implications of prison education for understanding and contesting cultural discourses of criminality. This book will be an important reference for scholars, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduates in the fields of Rhetoric, Criminal justice, and Sociology, as well as Media and Communication studies more generally, Politics, and Education studies.

Author : Michael Welch
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136842748
Total Pages : 767 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Corrections written by Michael Welch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-14 with total page 767 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Review questions; Recommended readings; 3. America's Penal Past; Introduction; Colonial America; Methods of punishment; William Penn and the Great Law; Analyzing punishment in colonial America; Prisons in the nation's early years; Newgate Prison, Connecticut: subterranean incarceration and political imprisonment; The Walnut Street Jail: penal reform and the quest for state power; Newgate Prison, New York City; The Jacksonian era; Reconceptualizing crime as a social problem; The Pennsylvania and Auburn systems of prison discipline; Elam Lynds: warden of Auburn and Sing Sing.

Author : Yvonne Jewkes
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317754549
Total Pages : 1011 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Handbook on Prisons written by Yvonne Jewkes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-23 with total page 1011 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of the Handbook on Prisons provides a completely revised and updated collection of essays on a wide range of topics concerning prisons and imprisonment. Bringing together three of the leading prison scholars in the UK as editors, this new volume builds on the success of the first edition and reveals the range and depth of prison scholarship around the world. The Handbook contains chapters written not only by those who have established and developed prison research, but also features contributions from ex-prisoners, prison governors and ex-governors, prison inspectors and others who have worked with prisoners in a wide range of professional capacities. This second edition includes several completely new chapters on topics as diverse as prison design, technology in prisons, the high security estate, therapeutic communities, prisons and desistance, supermax and solitary confinement, plus a brand new section on international perspectives. The Handbook aims to convey the reality of imprisonment, and to reflect the main issues and debates surrounding prisons and prisoners, while also providing novel ways of thinking about familiar penal problems and enhancing our theoretical understanding of imprisonment. The Handbook on Prisons, Second edition is a key text for students taking courses in prisons, penology, criminal justice, criminology and related subjects, and is also an essential reference for academics and practitioners working in the prison service, or in related agencies, who need up-to-date knowledge of thinking on prisons and imprisonment.

Author : Jeffrey Reiman
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131734295X
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, The (Subscription) written by Jeffrey Reiman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrates the issue of economic inequality within the American justice system. The best-selling text, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison contends that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish. The authors argue that even before the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing, the system is biased against the poor in what it chooses to treat as crime. The authors show that numerous acts of the well-off--such as their refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, and prescriptions for unnecessary drugs--cause as much harm as the acts of the poor that are treated as crimes. However, the dangerous acts of the well-off are almost never treated as crimes, and when they are, they are almost never treated as severely as the crimes of the poor. Not only does the criminal justice system fail to protect against the harmful acts of well-off people, it also fails to remedy the causes of crime, such as poverty. This results in a large population of poor criminals in our prisons and in our media. The authors contend that the idea of crime as a work of the poor serves the interests of the rich and powerful while conveying a misleading notion that the real threat to Americans comes from the bottom of society rather than the top. Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers will be able to: Examine the criminal justice system through the lens of the poor. Understand that much of what goes on in the criminal justice system violates one’s own sense of fairness. Morally evaluate the criminal justice system’s failures. Identify the type of legislature that is biased against the poor.

Author : John Dewar Gleissner
Publisher : John Dewar Gleissner
ISBN 13 : 1432753835
Total Pages : 458 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Prison and Slavery - A Surprising Comparison written by John Dewar Gleissner and published by John Dewar Gleissner. This book was released on 2010-11-17 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historically accurate and thoroughly researched book compares the modern American prison system to antebellum slavery. The surprising comparison proves that antebellum slavery was not as bad as many believe, while modern mass incarceration is an unrealized social and financial disaster of mammoth proportions.

Author : Daniel P. Mears
Publisher : SAGE Publications
ISBN 13 : 1483316718
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Prisoner Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration written by Daniel P. Mears and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2014-10-27 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the “era of mass incarceration.” Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.