Incarcerated women in the United States are largely an invisible population because of their small numbers, their involvement in less violent and serious offenses, and their neglect by most criminologists. Yet all too often prison has become a dumping ground for women who lack options for self-support, or who need drug treatment, job training, or a haven from battering.
This work draws on the life stories of forty women inmates at a minimum security prison in North Carolina. It explores their lives before imprisonment, enabling the reader to understand their incarceration within the context of childhood and adolescent experiences, domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, low education levels, and poor work histories. Lori B. Girshick relates the prisoners' views of doing time, the criminal justice system, and their own rehabilitation. She also interviews family members, friends, and social service providers to show how support networks function or fail.
Girshick argues convincingly that the treatment of women in society creates circumstances that lead some of them to break the law, and she makes specific recommendations for policies that address the need for social change and for community programs designed to deter crime.

A major collection of writings about the transforming power of education in British prisons. Prison(er) Education comprises key essays by leading prison education practitioners, academics and prisoners, including new work on how to evaluate the 'success' of education within prison by Dr Ray Pawson of Leeds University, and Stephen Duguid of Simon Fraser University, Canada. A major challenge to penal policy-makers to accept the value of education - beyond 'basic skills', and at a time when prison regimes have come to be dominated by cognitive thinking skills courses. Edited by two leading experts on prison education in the United Kingdom - Professor David Wilson of the University of Central England (a former prison governor and co-presenter of BBC TV's Crime Squad), and Dr Anne Reuss of the University of Abertay (who previously taught at HM Prison Full Sutton). Weaving anecdote, research and evaluation, Prison(er) Education presents for the first time a comprehensive account of education inside British prisons. At the heart of the book lies the question 'Who is prison education for: prison or prisoners?' This book is a major challenge to penal policy-makers to accept the value of education - beyond 'basic skills', and at a time when regimes have come to be dominated by cognitive thinking skills courses. Weaving anecdote with solid research and evaluation, the book presents for the first time in Britain a comprehensive account of education inside prisons. Reviews 'Highly authoritative ...a major challenge': Inside Time 'This book will be of interest to anyone working in the Prison Service, and to educators in general...Non-academic staff will recognise the conflicts, constraints, and challenges, that teachers and learners face...': Sally Bishens, Prison Service Journal 'A diverse, informative survey...of great importance in more ways then can easily be listed': Michael McMullan, Justice of the Peace Editors Prison(er) Education is introduced and concluded by David Wilson and Anne Reuss (who also contributes a chapter on 'Conducting Research in Prisons') with their vision of the direction education in prison should take in the years to come. David Wilson is professor of criminology at the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham. A former prison governor, he is editor of the Howard Journal and a well-known author, broadcaster and presenter for TV and radio, including for the BBC, C4 and Sky Television. He has written three other books for Waterside Press: The Longest Injustice: The Strange Story of Alex Alexandrowicz (with the latter), Images of Incarceration: Representations of Prison in Film and Television Drama (with Sean O'Sullivan) (2004), and Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims 1960-2006 (2007). Dr Anne Reuss lectures in the Sociology Department of the University of Abertay in Scotland. Prior to taking up this appointment, she taught degree level sociology to prisoners at HMP Full Sutton, which formed the basis of her doctoral dissertation - now regarded as the benchmark of research in this field.

Making it in Hell, says Bruce Jackson, is the spirit behind the sixty-five work songs gathered in this eloquent dispatch from a brutal era of prison life in the Deep South. Through engagingly documented song arrangements and profiles of their singers, Jackson shows how such pieces as "Hammer Ring," "Ration Blues," "Yellow Gal," and "Jody's Got My Wife and Gone" are like no other folk music forms: they are distinctly African in heritage, diminished in power and meaning outside their prison context, and used exclusively by black convicts.

The songs helped workers through the rigors of cane cutting, logging, and cotton picking. Perhaps most important, they helped resolve the men's hopes and longings and allowed them a subtle outlet for grievances they could never voice when face-to-face with their jailers.

In 1940 thousands of Jews were trying to flee Nazi persecution in Europe. This is the little-known story of a group of 1,600 Jewish refugees who, having escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe, were refused entry into Palestine by the British in 1940 because they were considered OillegalO immigrants. Their deportation after landing in the Promised Land, Eretz Israel, was unique. As a deterrent to others, they were deported to Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean. They were detained in a Mauritian prison until the end of the war and were deprived of all basic human rights_even that of family life. This story sheds light on the British governmentOs lack of understanding of the critical problem of Jewish refugees at that time.

Ashley Wilkes of "Gone with the Wind" helped to seal Rock Island's reputation as the "Andersonville of the North." McAdams separates truth from fiction about the Rock Island Barracks, the prison that held tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers. Revealing that Rock Island was not without its problems--ignominious punishments, inadequate facilities, malnutrition, and lack of basic supplies--McAdams shows how Union officers sought to maintain humane conditions in the face of a war that raged on longer than anyone anticipated. Two dozen rare photographs round out the unflinching descriptions of prison life.

Going Straight is the flagship publication behind the launch of Unlock, the National Association of Ex-Offenders. It contains revealing interviews with people who have 'succeeded' after prison and in some cases a 'criminal career'. The book looks at a range of offenders who have changed their way of life. They include famous, notorious, creative and ordinary people who were prepared to talk about the turning point in their lives when they left crime behind. Their candid explanations about how they rebuilt their lives - often full of remorse for their victims and determined to repay something to their communities - are challenging, illuminating and a cause for optimism. They include ex-burglar John Bowers (later an editor of prison newspaper Inside Time), former violent criminal Frank Cook (a sculptor and author), ex drug-dealer Peter Cameron (a successful artist whose work features on the front cover), Great Train Robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds, actor Stephen Fry, former armed gangster Bob Cummines (the first Chief Executive of Unlock) and Cameron Mackenzie (Glasgow villain turned minister of religion). Others include a self-made millionaire, a one-time compulsive gambler, an individual involved in The Troubles in Northern Ireland - and one or two who chose to use a pseudonym.

This is the history of the foundations of modern carceral institutions in Ontario. Drawing on a wide range of previously unexplored primary material - including the papers of prison inspectors and officials and the correspondence of those who wrote to the authorities - Peter Oliver provides a narrative and interpretative account of the penal system in nineteenth-century Ontario.

In a century of massive social change, the penal system remained rural, local, decentralized, and resistant to transformations that were affecting other areas of society. Despite the efforts of reformers, neither the political elites nor Ontarians in general paid much attention to the inadequacies of a system plagued by neglect, penny-pinching, and the vagaries of local control. In the 1830s, the Kingston penitentiary and punishment by incarceration became the cornerstones of the system, and these elements, however flawed, dominated the Ontario correctional system until the late twentieth century.

'Terror to Evil-Doers' focuses on the purposes and internal management of particular institutions. By synthesizing a wealth of new material into a comprehensive framework, Oliver's seminal study lays the groundwork for future students and scholars of Canadian history, criminology, and sociology.

I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! is the amazing true story of one man's search for meaning, fall from grace, and eventual victory over injustice. In 1921, Robert E. Burns was a shell-shocked and penniless veteran who found himself at the mercy of Georgia's barbaric penal system when he fell in with a gang of petty thieves. Sentenced to six to ten years' hard labor for his part in a robbery that netted less than $6.00, Burns was shackled to a county chain gang. After four months of backbreaking work, he made a daring escape, dodging shotgun blasts, racing through swamps, and eluding bloodhounds on his way north. For seven years Burns lived as a free man. He married and became a prosperous Chicago businessman and publisher. When he fell in love with another woman, however, his jealous wife turned him in to the police, who arrested him as a fugitive from justice. Although he was promised lenient treatment and a quick pardon, he was back on a chain gang within a month. Undaunted, Burns did the impossible and escaped a second time, this time to New Jersey. He was still a hunted man living in hiding when this book was first published in 1932. The book and its movie version, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1933, shocked the world by exposing Georgia's brutal treatment of prisoners. I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! is a daring and heartbreaking book, an odyssey of misfortune, love, betrayal, adventure, and, above all, the unshakable courage and inner strength of the fugitive himself.

Prison Law is the leading text in its field. It offers comprehensive coverage of the substantive law, the Prison Rules, and the remedies available to prisoners, including complaints procedures, civil claims, judicial review, and claims under the Human Rights Act. Both domestic and international avenues of redress are explained in detail. The book covers all aspects of prison life, from categorization and allocation to living conditions, access to the outside world, transfer and repatriation, discipline, and the procedures governing the release of fixed term prisoners and those serving life sentences. In recent years, restricted access to legal aid and the ongoing threat to the Human Rights Act have made it increasingly difficult for prisoners to exercise their rights. It would now be impossible for prison law to play the same major role in developing constitutional and public law as it has for the past 30 years. As a result, prison law practitioners are having to adapt and evolve their approach to cope with new challenges. The new edition has been completely revised and updated to take account of relevant decisions under the Human Rights Act and at the European Court of Human Rights, including important decisions on IPP sentences, ministerial involvement in prison release, conditions of detention, and their policy ramifications in the UK. The changes to the life sentence regime and the prison disciplinary system, implemented since publication of the previous edition, have been fully addressed. It also covers the Equality Act and its application in the prison context. Further, it includes a new introduction summarizing the development of prison law over the 20 years since the first edition, and its importance in the wider context of public law principles especially the expansion of jurisdiction (St Germain, Leech and Hague), fairness (Duggan, Doody), the principle of legality (Raymond v Honey, Leech No 2, Pierson, Simms and O'Brien) and HRA review (Daly and subsequent HRA decisions). Critical analysis is combined with practical guidance to make Prison Law immensely useful to practitioners, academics, and anyone with a professional interest in crime and punishment.

The author's father was a Kenyan nationalist detained by the British. And thus his son was unable to benefit from anything more than a rudimentary education. He turned to crime for a living, spent fifteen years in prison, then decided to reform. This is his second book about his adventurous life.

Penologists, social services administra-tors, and students of criminal justice as well as of Indian studies will welcome this groundbreaking study, the product of close observation of and direct involvement on behalf of Indians in the Nebraska state penal system. Opening with a group profile, it discusses in detail the special concerns of that population: cultural and spiritual activities (Indians incarcerated in Nebraska were among the first to seek court permission to practice their religion behind bars), the seriously underestimated rates of alcoholism and drug addiction and the need for culturally appropriate treatment, and high rates of recidivism and their effect on parole. The final chapters present comparative data on Indians incarcerated in other states and offer recommendations for dealing with recurrent problems. "Indians in Prison" is particularly timely for its focus on how the social environments of Indian youth contribute to their delinquency and substance abuse and how Indians in prison perceive rehabilitation strategies, parole, and the law.

Der Strafvollzug soll Inhaftierte zu einem straffreien Leben befahigen. Dabei gilt die Vermeidung des Ruckfalls als zentraler Massstab zur Beurteilung des Erfolgs oder Scheiterns freiheitsentziehender Sanktionen. Im Zentrum des Buches steht die Frage, ob und wie individuelle Ruckfallrisiken der Gefangenen verringert, ihre sozialen Eingliederungschancen gesteigert und die angestrebten Wirkungen auf die Legalbewahrung erreicht werden koennen. Zentrale Forschungsbefunde sowie die Moeglichkeiten und Grenzen einer darauf beruhenden, evidenzbasierten Vollzugsgestaltung werden beschrieben. Abschliessend werden Probleme und Perspektiven praxisorientierter Forschung im und uber den Strafvollzug skizziert.

Investigates the sexual behavior and relationships of prison inmates and examines the attitudes of officials and guards toward sex in prison By far the best book on the subject. Painfully accurate. This book far surpasses other studies of male sex in prison.--Laud Humphreys, PhD, Pitzer College, author of Tearoom Trade It expands the existing literature into a realm not previously addressed. . . . No one book will answer all questions about sex in prison, but what impresses me about [the authors'] work is that it answers some questions most people have not even yet thought of asking . . . a pioneering work.--A. Nicholas Groth, PhD, Director, Sex Offender Program, State of Connecticut Department of Corrections

What happens inside Latin American prisons? How does the social organisation of prisoners relate to the political structures beyond the walls? Is it possible to resist corrupt penal regimes? In Prison Writing of Latin America, Joey Whitfield turns to those best placed to answer these questions: people who have been imprisoned themselves. Drawing on a century of material produced by Latin American prisoners from Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, Whitfield weaves readings of novels, memoirs and testimonial texts with social and political analysis. Rather than distinguishing between dictatorial and democratic periods of government, he shows that from the point of view of the prisoner, all states are authoritarian in nature. In the face of oppression, however, prisoners both 'political' and 'criminal' have found ways not only to resist but also to create alternative communities both real and imagined, sometimes in collaboration with each other.

Since 1980, the number of people in U.S. prisons has increased more than 450%. Despite a crime rate that has been falling steadily for decades, California has led the way in this explosion, with what a state analyst called 'the biggest prison building project in the history of the world'. "Golden Gulag" provides the first detailed explanation for that buildup by looking at how political and economic forces, ranging from global to local, conjoined to produce the prison boom. In an informed and impassioned account, Ruth Wilson Gilmore examines this issue through statewide, rural, and urban perspectives to explain how the expansion developed from surpluses of finance capital, labor, land, and state capacity. Detailing crises that hit California's economy with particular ferocity, she argues that defeats of radical struggles, weakening of labor, and shifting patterns of capital investment have been key conditions for prison growth. The results - a vast and expensive prison system, a huge number of incarcerated young people of color, and the increase in punitive justice such as the 'three strikes' law - pose profound and troubling questions for the future of California, the United States, and the world. "Golden Gulag" provides a rich context for this complex dilemma, and at the same time challenges many cherished assumptions about who benefits and who suffers from the state's commitment to prison expansion.

Before September 11, 2001, few Americans had heard of immigration detention, but in fact a secret and repressive prison system run by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has existed in this country for more than two decades. In "American Gulag", prisoners, jailers, and whistle-blowing federal officials come forward to describe the frightening reality inside these INS facilities. Journalist Mark Dow's on-the-ground reporting brings to light documented cases of illegal beatings and psychological torment, prolonged detention, racism, and inhumane conditions. Intelligent, impassioned, and unlike anything that has been written on the topic, this gripping work of investigative journalism should be read by all Americans. It is a book that will change the way we see our country. "American Gulag" takes us inside prisons such as the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, the Corrections Corporation of America's Houston Processing Center, and county jails around the country that profit from contracts to hold INS prisoners. It contains disturbing in-depth profiles of detainees, including Emmy Kutesa, a defector from the Ugandan army who was tortured and then escaped to the United States, where he was imprisoned in Queens, and then undertook a hunger strike in protest. To provide a framework for understanding stories like these, Dow gives a brief history of immigration laws and practices in the United States - including the repercussions of September 11 and present-day policies. His book reveals that current immigration detentions are best understood not as a well-intentioned response to terrorism but rather as part of the larger context of INS secrecy and excessive authority. "American Gulag" exposes the full story of a cruel prison system that is operating today with an astonishing lack of accountability.

The cult guide to UK prisons by Carl Cattermole – now fully updated and featuring contributions from female and LGBTQI prisoners, as well as from family on the outside.

Contains:

Blood – but not as much as you might imagine
Sweat – and the prisons no longer provide soap
Tears – because prison has created a mental health crisis
Humanity – and how to stop the institution destroying it

Featuring contributors Sarah Jake Baker, Jon Gulliver, Darcey Hartley, Julia Howard, Elliot Murawski and Lisa Selby.

‘Essential reading’
Will Self

‘We’re in the justice dark ages and Cattermole’s great book switches on the lights’
Dr Theo Kindynis, Lecturer in Criminology Goldsmiths, University of London

‘It has the potential to change a lot of people’s lives for the better’
Daniel Godden, Partner at Berkeley Square Solicitors’

In Search of Safety takes a close look at the sources of gendered violence and conflict in women's prisons. The authors examine how intersectional inequalities and cumulative disadvantages are at the root of prison conflict and violence and mirror the women's pathways to prison. Women must negotiate these inequities by developing forms of prison capital-social, human, cultural, emotional, and economic-to ensure their safety while inside. The authors also analyze how conflict and subsequent violence result from human-rights violations inside the prison that occur within the gendered context of substandard prison conditions, inequalities of capital among those imprisoned, and relationships with correctional staff. In Search of Safety proposes a way forward-the implementation of international human-rights standards for U.S. prisons.

A Closer Look at Prisons and Prison Inmates first explores how inmates perceive prisons in general, as well as particular aspects of the facilities where they serve time. In that sense, and after reviewing the literature regarding prison conditions and inmates' perceptions about prisons, a Prison Perception Scale is developed and assessed. Additionally, the authors examine how popular depictions of women in prison both interrupt and reinforce damaging stereotypes of incarcerated women. A content analysis of the popular Netflix series "Orange is the New Black" is provided in order to examine the hypothesis that incarcerated women are rarely presented as survivors in media. The closing chapter discusses some cause of recidivism if inmates such as lack of socialization, lack of job training, inability to adjust to social pressure, inability to reintegrate into the society after incarceration, lack of social support, mal-adjustment, lack of education, substance abuse, stigmatization and abuse.

Understanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes "Mass imprisonment and mass prisoner reentry are two faces of the same coin. In a comprehensive and penetrating analysis, Daniel Mears and Joshua Cochran unravel the causes of this pressing problem, detail the challenges confronting released prisoners, and provide an evidence-based blueprint for successfully reintegrating offenders into the community. Scholarly yet accessible, this volume is essential reading-whether by academics or students-for anyone wishing to understand the chief policy issue facing American corrections." Francis T. Cullen Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati 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.

The number of people incarcerated in federal prisons increased dramatically over the past three decades. While research indicates that the expanded use of incarceration during the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the declining crime rate, the effect was likely small, and it has likely reached the point of diminishing returns. Chapter 1 provides information on the use of risk and needs assessment instruments. This includes a discussion of the Risk-Needs-Responsivity principles, which have become the dominant paradigm for reducing the likelihood of recidivism among convicted offenders and concludes with a discussion of the issues policymakers might consider if they debate legislation to expand the use of risk and needs assessment in the federal prison system. The justice system and the Bureau of Prisons also have a responsibility to help rehabilitate that person and help the inmate have a successful reentry back into our communities as reported in chapter 2.

"Interrupted Life" is a gripping collection of writings by and about imprisoned women in the United States, a country that jails a larger percentage of its population than any other nation in the world. This eye-opening work brings together scores of voices from both inside and outside the prison system including incarcerated and previously incarcerated women, their advocates and allies, abolitionists, academics, and other analysts. In vivid, often highly personal essays, poems, stories, reports, and manifestos, they offer an unprecedented view of the realities of women's experiences as they try to sustain relations with children and family on the outside, struggle for healthcare, fight to define and achieve basic rights, deal with irrational sentencing systems, remake life after prison; and more. Together, these powerful writings are an intense and visceral examination of life behind bars for women, and, taken together, they underscore the failures of imagination and policy that have too often underwritten our current prison system.

Al Capone, George 'Machine Gun' Kelly, Alvin Karpis, 'Dock' Barker - these were just a few of the legendary 'public enemies' for whom America's first supermax prison was created. In "Alcatraz: The Gangster Years", David Ward brings their stories to life, along with vivid accounts of the lives of other infamous criminals who passed through the penitentiary from 1934 to 1948. Ward, who enjoyed unprecedented access to FBI, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and Federal Parole records, conducted interviews with one hundred former Alcatraz convicts, guards, and administrators to produce this definitive history of 'The Rock'. "Alcatraz" is the only book with authoritative answers to questions that have swirled about the prison: How did prisoners cope psychologically with the harsh regime? What provoked the protests and strikes? How did security flaws lead to the sensational escape attempts? And what happened when these 'habitual, incorrigible' convicts were finally released? By shining a light on the most famous prison in the world, Ward also raises timely questions about today's supermax prisons.

Aside from capital punishment, incarceration represents the most severe and most costly punishment that state governments can administer to its citizens. The use of incarceration has garnered increasing attention over the years, particularly in the United States where incarcerated populations have undergone approximately forty years of nearly continuous growth. In examining the differences in prisonization and survival strategies between the sexes, research has found that male inmates often enlist gang members for protection, while women recreate family for emotional support. This book examines the conventional identities of both sexes behind the walls of imprisonment, and global trends in incarceration. The book also contributes to the discussion on the education of women in situations of deprivation of liberty and provides an in-depth investigation of reform through interpreting how a selected group of men who have desisted from heroin-use understand and present their change process. Finally, this book discusses the psychological implications of being incarcerated and the patterns and prospects of imprisonment.

Experience has shown that if a jail does not meet the basic human needs of inmates, the inmates will find a way to satisfy their needs in ways that may be unfavorable to the orderly operation of the jail. Understanding what motivates human behavior provides jail administrators with a very useful tool for managing inmates since it helps explain both good inmate behavior and bad. This book not only provides guidance to jail practitioners as they implement this element, but it also provides self-assessment checklists to determine how well the jail is doing in the delivery of basic needs and suggestions for area of improvement. Violence, vandalism, and unsanitary conditions prevail in many jails na tionwide, frustrating jail practitioners who must ensure the safety and security of inmates, staff, and the public. These conditions often result from insufficient attention to inmate behavior management. Thankfully, over the past 25 years, important lessons about managing and controlling inmate behavior have emerged. One lesson is that a jail cannot control inmate be havior by focusing primarily on physical containment. A jail must actively manage inmate behavior to achieve a safe, clean, and secure environment, and this book provides tools for managing inmate behavior in this manner.