"Stigma, shame and hardship---this is the lot shared by families
whose young men have been swept into prison. Braman reveals the
devastating toll mass incarceration takes on the parents, partners,
and children left behind."
-Katherine S. Newman
""Doing Time on the Outside" brings to life in a compelling way the
human drama, and tragedy, of our incarceration policies. Donald
Braman documents the profound economic and social consequences of
the American policy of massive imprisonment of young African
American males. He shows us the link between the broad-scale policy
changes of recent decades and the isolation and stigma that these
bring to family members who have a loved one in prison. If we want
to understand fully the impact of current criminal justice
policies, this book should be required reading."
-Mark Mauer, Assistant Director, The Sentencing Project
"Through compelling stories and thoughtful analysis, this book
describes how our nation's punishment policies have caused
incalculable damage to the fabric of family and community life.
Anyone concerned about the future of urban America should read this
book."
-Jeremy Travis, The Urban Institute
In the tradition of Elijah Anderson's "Code of the Street" and
Katherine Newman's "No Shame in My Game," this startling new
ethnography by Donald Braman uncovers the other side of the
incarceration saga: the little-told story of the effects of
imprisonment on the prisoners' families.
Since 1970 the incarceration rate in the United States has more
than tripled, and in many cities-urban centers such as Washington,
D.C.-it has increased over five-fold. Today, one out of every ten
adult black men in the District is inprison and three out of every
four can expect to spend some time behind bars. But the numbers
don't reveal what it's like for the children, wives, and parents of
prisoners, or the subtle and not-so-subtle effects mass
incarceration is having on life in the inner city.
Author Donald Braman shows that those doing time on the inside are
having a ripple effect on the outside-reaching deep into the family
and community life of urban America. Braman gives us the personal
stories of what happens to the families and communities that
prisoners are taken from and return to. Carefully documenting the
effects of incarceration on the material and emotional lives of
families, this groundbreaking ethnography reveals how criminal
justice policies are furthering rather than abating the problem of
social disorder. Braman also delivers a number of genuinely new
arguments.
Among these is the compelling assertion that incarceration is
holding offenders unaccountable to victims, communities, and
families. The author gives the first detailed account of
incarceration's corrosive effect on social capital in the inner
city and describes in poignant detail how the stigma of prison pits
family and community members against one another. Drawing on a
series of powerful family portraits supported by extensive
empirical data, Braman shines a light on the darker side of a
system that is failing the very families and communities it seeks
to protect.
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