A remarkable new book about a dark stain on modern South Africa – our enormous and problematic prison population – and what we can do to fix it.

"Lock them up and throw away the key!" is a cry we hear often in South Africa today. But this simplistic solution to crime simply isn’t working. As Father Babychan Arackathara, a Catholic chaplain to some of the Western Cape’s most notorious prisons, shows in this compassionate reflection on his work, even criminals have stories, and crime invariably has roots. He listens to those stories and untangles those roots on our behalf, sharing insights into the brokenness of our society and communities – and offering real, workable suggestions for fixing them.

Can we move to the ideal of hating the crime, but loving the criminal? What must we do to see that offenders are themselves victims and to engage them constructively? How do we break the cycles of addiction, trauma and crime to reach for reconciliation and transformation?

The Misery Merchants is a hard-hitting exposé of G4S, the company running one of South Africa’s private prisons in Mangaung. Hopkins presents up-close encounters with the gangs who run the prisons, and a unique insight into the minds of the men on the torture squad, who doused inmates with water before electrocuting them, and in some cases, strapped down ‘unruly’ prisoners and forced anti-psychotic medicines into their systems.

In the Free State of Ace Magashule, both the gangs and the prison bosses competed to run Mangaung Prison, one of South Africa’s few private prisons. Torture and forced medication were the order of the day. Hopkins, a seasoned journalist, has interviewed over 100 prisoners and many prison warders in order to understand what makes this prison so dysfunctional. Her insights and revelations will astonish you.

This book follows several characters who were held in or worked at the prison. L. is a prison gang general and an advocate for prisoners’ rights. He smuggled information on assaults, injections and corruption out of the prison for the author. Dan is a prison guard and a shop steward for the union. He led the workforce during two strikes and paid for it with his job and union membership. Setlai is a Department of Correctional Services official who blew the whistle on the abuse at Mangaung Prison in 2009. His reports were ignored and he was punished for speaking out. He was criminally charged and moved to another DCS post. Shakes is a member of the Emergency Security Team (EST) also known as the Ninjas. He engaged in torture and abuse but now feels ‘what we did was wrong’.

G4S is the largest security company in the world, and has its claws deep in SA’s government and private companies. Drive down any street and you’ll find a G4S van collecting or delivering money.

George Bizos is one of a distinguished group of human rights lawyers who in the dark days of apartheid sought to uncover the state's role in eliminating its opponents.

Some, like Biko, Timol and Aggett, were arrested and died in detention, while others, like Matthew Goniwe, were abducted and killed. As counsel for the families of the deceased, George Bizos was centrally involved in many of the inquests following these high-profile deaths.

He is thus well placed to tell the story of the great courtroom dramas in which, with devastating skill, he and his colleagues pared away the tissue of lies protecting the security forces and the state functionaries—only to be rewarded with the invariable finding that there was 'no one to blame'.

What was supposed to be a short business trip to Equatorial Guinea turned into a journey to the depths of hell.

Black Beach, located on Bioko island off the mainland of Equatorial Guinea, is one of the world’s most feared prisons, notorious for its brutality and inhumane conditions.

In 2013, South African businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg set off to the West African country to finalise a legitimate airline contract with a local politician. Within days, Daniel was arrested by the local Rapid Intervention Force and detained without trial in the island’s infamous ‘Guantanamo’ cells, and was later taken to Black Beach. This is his remarkable story of survival over nearly two years, made possible by his unwavering faith and the humanity of a few fellow inmates.

In this thrilling first-person narrative, Daniel relives his ordeal, describing the harrowing conditions in the prison, his extraordinary experiences there, and his ceaseless hope to return to South Africa and be reunited with his family. A story of courage in the face of overwhelming adversity, Black Beach demonstrates the strength of the human spirit and the toll injustice takes on ordinary people who fall foul of the powerful and corrupt.

After matriculating from a top Jewish school, Nikki Munitz finds herself in the clutches of a heroin addiction. She's sent to a remote rehab, run by a pastor who brandishes a tattoo of Satan. There she meets the handsome son of a wealthy Afrikaans family. Lured by the illusion of her ‘happy-ever-after’ she marries him. But the facade soon crumbles.

Money is in short supply. Nikki takes on a job at a reputable law firm. Encrypted passwords are entrusted to her. She begins to siphon small, undetectable amounts from trust funds of loyal clients. The amounts increase. Caught red-handed, she's fired. By the time the law catches up with her, Nikki is clean and sober. On the advice of her lawyer who reassures her she will never go to jail, she pleads guilty to all 37 counts of fraud. After a gruelling 2-year court battle, she's found guilty.

Fraud is a powerful memoir about a young woman who is forced to face her life of deceit in a prison cell where she ultimately finds her freedom to fly.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB 2018 SELECTION

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2018

‘Haunting...beautifully written.’ The New York Times Book Review

‘Compelling.’ The Washington Post

‘Epic...transcendent…triumphant.’ Elle

‘It’s among Tayari’s many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.’ Oprah Winfrey

‘Tayari Jones’ vision, strength, and truth-telling voice have found a new level of artistry and power.’ Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she struggles to hold on to the love that has been her centre. When his conviction is suddenly overturned, he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward – with hope and pain – into the future.

Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons. He has conversations with people inside about their lives, discusses their ideas and feelings and listens as the men and women he works with explore new ways to think about their situation. Could we ever be good if we never felt shame? What makes a person worthy of forgiveness? Could someone in prison ever be more free than someone outside? These questions about how to live are ones we all need to ask, but in this setting they are even more urgent. When Andy steps into jail, he also confronts his inherited guilt: his father, uncle and brother all spent time in prison. He has built a different life for himself, but he still fears that their fate will be his. As he discusses questions of truth, identity and hope with his students, he searches for his own form of freedom. Moving, sympathetic, wise and frequently funny, The Life Inside is an elegantly written and unforgettable book. Through its blend of memoir, storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning, readers will gain a new insight into our justice system, our prisons and the plurality of lives found inside.

On 2 September 1944, a German Wehrmacht Liaison Officer was captured by the Russians in Bucharest. His name was Lieutenant-Colonel Heinz-Helmut von Hinckeldey and he was to remain a "war convict" of the Soviets until 1955. For 11 years, Heinz-Helmut von Hinckeldey had to endure the deprivation - both physical and psychological - of imprisonment; the filth and squalor of the cells, in which he was kept; the agony of isolation and repeated self-examination; and the pain of ignorance, of not knowing if his motherland (Germany) still existed or whether those he loved, ever realized that he was alive. The personal Story that, like countless others, would never have been told, had it not been for the admiration and fascination built up over time by the Author, Charles Wood

Dis 'n fassinerende verslag van die lewe in maksimumsekuriteit-gevangenisse, met vars invalshoek: China was hondemeester, aan die voorfront tydens tronkgevegte. Gewapen slegs met 'n knuppel en sy hond moes hy messtekers en oproeriges afweer. Hy is 'n mensch, 'n ongeslypte diamant met hart en ondernemingsgees.

Hy herinner aan Bennie Griessel: hy rook en drink straf, sy huwelik is op die rotse, hy sukkel om gevoelens te wys, maar oor 'n hond wat doodgaan, grens hy. Sy eerste pos, toe hy net 16 was, was op Robbeneiland, waar hy 'n lang, breedgeskouerde gevangene met 'n vriendelike gesig gesien skerm het. Hy was self 'n bokser en kon sien die man het 'n besonderse tegniek, dat hy lig op sy voete soos 'n weltergewig was.

Die bokser was Nelson Mandela. Saans het Mandela deur sy tralies vir die seun hardgekookte eiers wat hy afgeskil het, aangegee, dan eet hulle saam en gesels. Mandela het hom altyd aaangepor om verder te gaan leer.

'Zekameron' comes from 'Zek' meaning prisoner and is a word-play on Boccaccio's Decameron. 'He came back from interrogation looking like death. Some people look better than he did when they're being put in their coffin. "What happened then? Did they stick any other articles of the Criminal Code on you? Or break your jaw?" "Nothing like that. I've got toothache..." The 100 tales in Zekameron are based on the 14th Century Decameron, but Znak is closer to Beckett than to Boccaccio. Banality and brutality vie with the human ability to overcome oppression. Znak's stories in different voices chart 100 days in prison in Belarus today. The tone is laconic, ironic; the humour sparse. The stories bear witness to resistance and self-assertion and the genuine warmth and appreciation of fellow prisoners.

'Tense and intimate... an education.' Geoff Dyer 'Written with sensitivity and humanity... a remarkable insight into prison life.' Amanda Brown 'Authentic, fascinating and deeply moving.' Terry Waite 'Enriching, sobering and at times heartrending... a wonder' Lenny Henry __________ Can someone in prison be more free than someone outside? Would we ever be good if we never felt shame? What makes a person worthy of forgiveness? Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons. Every day he has conversations with people inside about their lives, discusses their ideas and feelings, and listens as they explore new ways to think about their situation. When Andy goes behind bars, he also confronts his inherited trauma: his father, uncle and brother all spent time in prison. While Andy has built a different life for himself, he still fears that their fate will also be his. As he discusses pressing questions of truth, identity and hope with his students, he searches for his own form of freedom too. Moving, sympathetic, wise and frequently funny, The Life Inside is an elegantly written and unforgettable book. Through a blend of memoir, storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning, it offers a new insight into our stretched justice system, our failing prisons and the complex lives being lived inside. __________ 'Strives with humour and compassion to understand the phenomenon of prison' Sydney Review of Books 'A fascinating and enlightening journey... A legitimate page-turner' 3AM

Vinnie has always been different. But Vinnie is a survivor...A childhood accident robbed Vinnie of his memories, making him sensitive and anxious, and his difference soon attracted bullies. If it wasn't for his family and his brother Frank, Vinnie wouldn't have survived. But as the boys grow up, and after the devastating loss of their parents, Vinnie finds himself increasingly involved in violent situations whenever he's with Frank. Is this the type of man he's become, or can the love of a remarkable woman teach him to embrace life? When Vinnie is accused of a terrible crime, and looks set for a long stretch behind bars, fragments of his memory start to return and he begins to unravel his past. Who was his mother? What kind of a man is his brother, Frank? And why does death surround them? Things are not as they seem, but Vinnie can survive anything... Ross Greenwood is back with this shocking, page-turning glimpse into the criminal underworld. This book was previously published as FIFTY YEARS OF FEAR. Praise for Ross Greenwood: 'Move over Rebus and Morse; a new entry has joined the list of great crime investigators in the form of Detective Inspector John Barton. A rich cast of characters and an explosive plot kept me turning the pages until the final dramatic twist.' author Richard Burke 'Master of the psychological thriller genre Ross Greenwood once again proves his talent for creating engrossing and gritty novels that draw you right in and won't let go until you've reached the shocking ending.' Caroline Vincent at Bitsaboutbooks blog 'Ross Greenwood doesn't write cliches. What he has written here is a fast-paced, action-filled puzzle with believable characters that's spiced with a lot of humour.' author Kath Middleton

What drives a woman to murder? Twenty-nine-year-old Cynthia Galbraith is serving a life sentence for murder, and struggling with the traumatic past that put her behind bars. When the prison counsellor suggests Cynthia write a personal journal exploring the events that drove her to murder, she figures she has all the time in the world and very little, if anything, to lose. So she begins to write, revealing the secrets that haunt her and the truths she's never dared tell. A note from the author: While fictional, this book was inspired by true events. It draws on the author's experiences as a police officer and child protection social worker. The story contains content that some readers may find upsetting. It is dedicated to survivors everywhere. *Previously published as When Evil Calls Your Name*

Victim or villain?She's out of prison... Lauren Miller has served six years behind bars for a crime she did not commit. Now, with her life in tatters, she is determined to bring those who framed her to justice. Out for revenge...Journalist Nate Black is intrigued by Lauren's story. Is she the innocent victim she claims to be or is there more to her past? Eager to learn more he offers to help Lauren clear her name and bring the real villains to justice. And running out of time.But with millions of pounds still missing, Lauren remains the prime suspect...and the main target in an increasingly deadly game. And as Lauren's plan with Nate reaches its shocking climax, no one knows who will ultimately take the fall... A nail-biting revenge thriller, perfect for fans of Gemma Rogers, Heather Atkinson and Caro Savage. 'A brilliant read that hooked me from the outset. The Fall is a tale of sweet revenge that I couldn't tear myself away from!' Bestselling author Gemma Rogers.

This book distills thirty years of research on the impacts of jail and prison environments. The research program began with evaluations of new jails that were created by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which had a novel design intended to provide a nontraditional and safe environment for pretrial inmates, and documented the stunning success of these jails in reducing tension and violence. This book uses assessments of this new model as a basis for considering the nature of environment and behavior in correctional settings, and more broadly in all human settings. It provides a critical review of research on jail environments and of specific issues critical to the way they are experienced and places them in historical and theoretical context. It presents a contextual model for the way environment influences the chance of violence.

This book explores the dramatic evolution of a feminist movement that mobilised to challenge a women's prison system in crisis. Through in-depth historical research conducted in the Australian state of Victoria that spans the 1980s and 1990s, the authors uncover how incarcerated women have worked productively with feminist activists and community coalitions to expose, critique and resist the conditions and harms of their confinement. Resisting Carceral Violence tells the story of how activists-through a combination of creative direct actions, reformist lobbying and legal challenges-forged an anti-carceral feminist movement that traversed the prison walls. This powerful history provides vital lessons for service providers, social justice advocates and campaigners, academics and students concerned with the violence of incarceration. It calls for a willingness to look beyond the prison and instead embrace creative solutions to broader structural inequalities and social harm.

This book examines how the prison environment, architecture and culture can affect mental health as well as determine both the type and delivery of mental health services. It also discusses how non-medical practices, such as peer support and prison education programs, offer the possibility of transformative practice and support. By drawing on international contributions, it furthermore demonstrates how mental health in prisons is affected by wider socio-economic and cultural factors, and how in recent years neo-liberalism has abandoned, criminalised and contained large numbers of the world's most marginalised and vulnerable populations. Overall, this collection challenges the dominant narrative of individualism by focusing instead on the relationship between structural inequalities, suffering, survival and punishment. Chapter 2 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.

As a part of the debate on penitentiary architecture, this book proposes a critical interpretation of the conceptual elements and design approaches involved. This proposal, more than others, "mend" the relationship, between theoretical conception and actual building practice of the prison. The interpretation is developed from the idea that the architectural project, when it materialises in a built structure, is always the material expression of an abstract idea and of a specific vision of the world which manifests itself through the architectural consistency of the building and of the built spaces. For a long time the subject of penitentiary architecture had been neglected by contemporary architectural culture, permitting the design of prisons to be the result of a combination of obsolete practices, security regulations and the wish to reduce construction costs, in detriment of the quality of the interior space and of the efficiency of the penitentiary treatment. Thus the conception of the building focused on severe incarceration, and the refusal to accept the possibility of a more open prison remained mostly unvaried through time. Today, the subject of detention has once again caught the public eye, and that the problems related to it have become untenable. The need has become evident for a more efficient penitentiary system capable of producing positive changes in the detainees. It is thus necessary to re-think the architecture of detention in terms of the quality of space and of the respect of the dignity of the individuals, through new modes of detention, and especially through a knowledgeable design that is the expression of a renewed cultural stance that strengthens the re-educational value of the prison sentence, no longer considering it exclusively as the temporal suspension of certain rights. The objectives expressed through new theoretical developments, represent an ambitious and progressive project aimed at eradicating conservative and backward ideas regarding the role of prison architecture, and propose a new disciplinary conception of the architectural project, open to the academic and professional world in the attempt to solve and make effective the relationship between architectural design, building practices and management of the penitentiary structure. The text presented here focuses on the creation of organisational-functional tools for open-regime minimum security structures and on the identification of architectural solutions in which the residential and domestic features of the structures prevail over the typological and distributive layouts typical of traditional penitentiary buildings. The analysis aims at identifying the main essential principles for an efficient design, such as: the location, size, spatial organisation, typology of housing space, and last but not less important, the rationalisation of the internal flows. The key elements identified are summarised into a series of general design criteria aimed at establishing an efficient relationship between the functional model and the typological structure, as well as between the building and the surrounding urban fabric.

This book provides a unique analysis of prisons and the violence at work inside them. It not only addresses aspects such as racial discrimination, especially in US prisons, but also gender differences, specific criminal groups operating within prisons, the reintegration processes and its failures. Combining works by various authors, it presents diverse perspectives on prison violence: in countries ranging from the USA to Australia, crossing European countries such as Portugal and Spain, among others, but also specific aspects such as prohibitions on phone calls, the economic crisis, and the current challenges of mass incarceration. As such, it offers a broad overview of several problems relevant to all scholars interested in deepening their understanding of violence in prisons.

Written by an inmate serving 45 years for a drug conviction when he was 23, this is an in-depth view living behind bars from the perspective of prisoners themselves. Sections of the book are based on length of imprisonment. Prisoners in Fort Dix, N.J., detail their unique experiences, thoughts, and feelings about "life on the inside." Some describe the actions that lead to their confinement, or detail the complexities of living in all-male communities. Others reveal the ways they cope with their terms, or the expectations they have for life after prison. Santos offers the gripping stories of men serving a variety of terms, providing commentary and analysis as he guides readers through the prison experience. How men adjust to their confinement, and how they utilize their time while serving their sentences, can be a predictor of future success or failure both in prison and society upon their release. Through these often-difficult accounts, readers gain a greater understanding of what it means to be a prisoner, and how the system itself can contribute to both positive adjustment and negative outcomes alike.

Established as America's first foreign naval base following the Spanish-American War, Guantnamo is now more often thought of as our Devil's Island, the gulag of our times. This book takes readers beyond the orange-jumpsuited detainees of today's headlines to provide the first comprehensive history of Guantnamo from its origins to the present.

Occupying 45 square miles of land and sea, Guantnamo has for more than a century symbolized the imperial impulse within U.S. foreign policy, and its occupation is decried by Cuba as a violation of international law-even though a treaty legally grants the U.S. a lease in perpetuity. Stephen Schwab now describes the base's role in American, Caribbean, and global history, explaining how it came to be, why it's still there, and how it continues to serve a variety of purposes.

Schwab views the base's creation as part of a broad U.S. strategy of annexations, protectorates, and limited interventions devised to create a strong sphere of influence in the western Atlantic. He charts its history from this early belief that it would prevent European powers from staking imperial claims in the Caribbean and examines the crucial defensive role that Guantnamo played as a convoy hub for strategic goods during World War II. He then looks at clashes over Guantnamo during the Cold War, culminating in LBJ's decision to make the base independent by firing Cuban workers and building a desalinization plant. Schwab also fleshes out Guantnamo's ongoing roles as the U.S. Navy's lone forward base in the Caribbean, providing refueling for U.S. and allied ships, as a Coast Guard station engaged in search-and-rescue missions and counternarcotics operations, and as a U.S. facility for processing undocumented aliens.

Even though the Castro government persistently protests America's presence--and refuses even to bank the rent that the U.S. dutifully pays--Guantnamo remains the only place where diplomatic exchanges between the two countries occur, and Schwab documents how the facility has served mutual interests as both a point of nationalistic frictions and a center for diplomatic compromise. By presenting Guantnamo's story within its broader historical framework, his book gives readers a greater appreciation of America's true stake in this controversial Caribbean outpost.

Are advantaged offenders defenseless against the harshness of prison life? Based upon a qualitative study of the prison adjustment of advantaged offenders--those who, prior to prison, possessed college degrees and held high status occupations with commensurately high incomes--this book challenges the special sensitivity hypothesis and concludes that these offenders adjust well to incarceration. The author compared a group of advantaged offenders to a similar group of nonadvantaged offenders, both drawn from New York State prisons, and discovered that the advantaged offenders exhibited little (if any) engagement in institutional misconduct. They also adopted effective coping strategies.

DeRosia presents a thematic analysis of in-depth, focused interviews with both subsamples, as well as vignettes based upon those interviews. Her findings reveal that advantaged offenders hold a perspective on doing time, including prescriptions for avoiding trouble, and make conscious efforts to avoid trouble by "using" time beneficially. This study contains the most current statistics available on corrections in the U.S., including its organization, the overcrowding crisis, and prisoner profiles. The nature of life in prison and prior research on adjustment are also examined.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Chapter 1.

"An important and significant contribution. . . . A study of the social construction of gender and how culture and agency influence the meaning of work . . ., vivid and compelling."
--"American Journal of Sociology"

When most people think of prisons, they imagine chaos, violence, and fundamentally, an atmosphere of overwhelming brute masculinity. But real prisons rarely fit the "Big House" stereotype of popular film and literature. One fifth of all correctional officers are women, and the rate at which women are imprisoned is growing faster than that of men. Yet, despite increasing numbers of women prisoners and officers, ideas about prison life and prison work are sill dominated by an exaggerated image of men's prisons where inmates supposedly struggle for physical dominance.

In a rare comparative analysis of men's and women's prisons, Dana Britton identifies the factors that influence the gendering of the American workplace, a process that often leaves women in lower-paying jobs with less prestige and responsibility.

In interviews with dozens of male and female officers in five prisons, Britton explains how gender shapes their day-to-day work experiences. Combining criminology, penology, and feminist theory, she offers a radical new argument for the persistence of gender inequality in prisons and other organizations. At Work in the Iron Cage demonstrates the importance of the prison as a site of gender relations as well as social control.

This work is an in-depth, on-the-ground examination of how prisons impact rural communities, including a revealing study of two rural communities that have chosen prisons as an economic development strategy. A recent study by the Urban Institute estimates that one-third of all counties in the United States house a prison, and that our prison and jail population is now over 2.1 million. Another report indicates that more than 97 percent of all U.S. prisoners are eventually released, and communities are absorbing nearly 650,000 formerly incarcerated individuals each year. These figures are particularly alarming considering the fact that rural communities are using prisons as economic development vehicles without fully understanding the effects of these jails on the area. This book is the result of author Eric J. Williams' ground-level research about the effects of prisons upon two rural American communities that lobbied to host maximum security prisons. Through hundreds of interviews conducted while living in Florence, Colorado, and Beeville, Texas, Williams offers the perspective of local residents on all sides of the issue, as well as a social history told mainly from the standpoint of those who lobbied for the prisons. Provides compelling data from over 200 formal and informal interviews of local politicians, residents, and prison officials, including the former directors of Texas's prison system Utilizes a combination of two qualitative methods to conduct the research