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In tracing the evolution of federal imprisonment, Paul W. Keve emphasizes the ways in which corrections history has been affected by and is reflective of other trends in the political and cultural life of the United States. The federal penal system has undergone substantial evolution over two hundred years. Keve divides this evolutionary process into three phases. During the first phase, from 1776 through the end of the nineteenth century, no federal prisons existed in the United States. Federal prisoners were simply boarded in state or local facilities. It was in the second phase, starting with the passage of the Three Prison Act by Congress in 1891, that federal facilities were constructed at Leavenworth and Atlanta, while the old territorial prison at McNeil Island in Washington eventually became, in effect, the third prison. In this second phase, the federal government began the enormous task of providing its own prison cells. Still, there was no effective supervisory force to make a prison system. In 1930, the Federal Bureau of Prisons was created, marking the third phase of the prison system’s evolution. The Bureau, in its first sixty years of existence, introduced numerous correctional innovations, thereby building an effective, centrally controlled prison system with progressive standards. Keve details the essential characteristics of this now mature system, guiding the reader through the historical process to the present day.
"In this updated new edition, Rothman chronicles and examines incarceration of the criminal, the deviant, and the dependent in U.S. society, with a focus on how and why these methods have persisted and expanded for over a century and a half, despite longstanding evidence of their failures and abuses. A new epilogue, written for this Aldine paperback edition, assesses prison conditions in America over the past two decades and the more recent failed attempts to reform them." -- Back Cover
From Columbus' voyages to the New World through today's prison expansion movements, incarceration has played an important, yet disconcerting, role in American history. In this sweeping examination of imprisonment in the United States over five centuries, Scott Christianson exposes the hidden record of the nation's prison heritage, illuminating the forces underlying the paradox of a country that sanctifies individual liberty while it continues to build and maintain a growing complex of totalitarian institutions. Based on exhaustive research and the author's insider's knowledge of the criminal justice system, With Liberty for Some provides an absorbing, well-written chronicle of imprisonment in its many forms. Interweaving his narrative with the moving, often shocking, personal stories of the prisoners themselves and their keepers, Christianson considers convict transports to the colonies; the international trade in captive indentured servants, slaves, and military conscripts; life under slavery; the transition from colonial jails to model state prisons; the experience of domestic prisoners of war and political prisoners; the creation of the penitentiary; and the evolution of contemporary corrections. His penetrating study of this broad spectrum of confinement reveals that slavery and prisons have been inextricably linked throughout American history. He also examines imprisonment within the context of the larger society. With Liberty for Some is a thought-provoking work that will shed new light on the ways in which imprisonment has shaped the American experience. As the author writes, "Prison is the black flower of civilization -- a durable weed that refuses to die."
An examination of the discourse of political prisoners as a form of vernacular rhetoric
From one of America's 2.5 million prisoners comes an eye opening account of mistreatment and injustice inside the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
"The Routledge Handbook on American Prisons is an authoritative volume that provides an overview of the state of American prisons and synthesizes the research on the many facets of the prison system. The United States is exceptional in its use of incarceration as punishment. It not only has the largest prison population in the world, but also the highest per-capita incarceration rate. Research and debate about mass incarceration continues to grow, with mounting bipartisan agreement on the need for criminal justice reform. Divided into six sections (Historical and Theoretical Context; Prisons: Security, Operations and Administration; Types of Offenders; Living and Dying in Prison; Prison Programming and Preparing for Release; and Future Directions), the volume covers the development and evolution of American prisons, and then explores the key issues fundamental to understanding the U.S. prison system, including the characteristics of facilities; inmate risk assessment and classification; prison administration and employment; for-profit prisons; special populations; overcrowding; prison health care; prison violence; the special circumstances of death row prisoners; collateral consequences of incarceration; prison programming; and parole. The final section examines reform efforts and ideas, and offers suggestions for future research and attention. With contributions from leading scholars around the globe, this book is a valuable resource for scholars with an interest in American prisons and the issues surrounding them. It is structured to serve scholars and graduate students studying corrections, penology, institutional corrections, and other related topics"--
This is a study of novels by Chester Himes, Malcolm Braly, and others on the experience of doing time in American prisons. The authors are all convicts or ex-convicts who were not professional writers before their incarceration. In fact, Massey notes, the confinement seems to have motivated them to put their experiences into words. Most of the prisoners were incarcerated for armed robbery, one of the most common felonies in the United States. The relationship between that crime and the American Dream has social and political implications, but these writers are neither prisoners of conscience nor prisoners of war. How these writers describe the harsh prison environment reveals patterns and themes common to most prison novels. Although an atmosphere of violence abounds, a sense of camaraderie and an extended home feeling are equally strong characteristics of the prison novels. The writers make it clear that within prisons, inmates change, for better or worse, and sometimes this change results in positive growth.
Respected congressman and human and religious rights crusader Frank Wolf shows us what one person can do to fight injustice and relieve suffering. In Prisoner of Conscience, Wolf shares intimate stories of his adventures from the halls of political power to other dangerous places around the world, what he has learned along the way, and what you can do about it now.
This memoir relates one Americans compelling journey of conscience that culminated in a federal prison sentence for a peaceful act of resistance. Kennon was one of twenty-five Americans in a single federal trial to receive the maximum sentence for a petty offense. Six months for a Class B misdemeanor and a $3,000 fine. The introduction, a fast-forward through this offenders life story, clearly reveals the motivations and consequences of this clergymans purposeful act of resistance, in the spirit of Gandhi and King and in the face of a governmental threat of prison time. Chapters 1 through 7 are taken from his contemporaneous prison journal and letters to family members. They tell how he was dealing with what happened each month during the time he was incarcerated. Over the years I have studied corrections as a sociologist and visited inmates as a clergyman. It is a very different experience being a prisoner, writes Kennon. He paints prison life with a mixture of pain and humor that captures the ironic picture of a correctional institution bent on retribution without rehabilitation. Mingled among these pages are his prison poems, reflections, and articles, as well as selected excerpts from wise writings he encountered during his time there. An epilogue gives a glimpse into what has happened since his release and a brief update on the struggle for peace that caused him, and scores of other Americans, to become prisoners of conscience.