Suchergebnisse

Experiments in prison reform have often included efforts to democratize prisons. Such experiments were especially popular during the progressive era. Today, democratization efforts are congruent with management literature that describes employee participation and total quality of management initiatives through which organizations try to improve the quality of their products and services. Prison democratization can combine opportunities for staff involvement with enhanced prisoner participation. Inmates can be afforded a greater role in classification and programming decisions, and in determining policies that affect the quality of prison life. Such participatory approaches help to normalize prison life and contribute to the resocialization of offenders.

Dealing with crime is everyone's business. It demands a clear law enforcement response combined with significant efforts to address the root causes of crime, particularly poverty, racism, and overwhelmed families. As a society, we are spending the bulk of our resources on the most expensive response: incarceration. Traditional approaches to crime need to address the differences between men and women as these differences translate to appropriate reactions by the criminal justice system. For example, the Rockefeller drug laws in New York were meant to incarcerate high-level drug pushers for long terms. Instead, women in financial or family crises have been easy dupes for dealers who never handle their own drugs. These women do not dispute their guilt, but is their crime worth a 15-year minimum? Certainly, the public needs to make informed decisions about which women should be in prison and for how long and which women might be dealt with differently.

From role-plays with street gangs in the USA to Beckett in Brixton; from opera productions with sex offenders to psychodrama with psychopaths, the book will discuss, analyse and reflect on theoretical notions and practical applications of theatre for and with the incarcerated. Theatre in Prison is a collection of thirteen international essays exploring the rich diversity of innovative drama works in prisons. The book includes an introduction that will present a contextualisation of the prison theatre field. Thereafter, leading practitioners and academics will explore key aspects of practice &endash; problemitising, theorising and describing specific approaches to working with offenders. The book also includes extracts from prison plays, poetry and prisoners writings that offer illustrations and insights into the experience of prison life

It is widely accepted that prisoners are at risk of victimization from their fellow prisoners. However, little is known about the psychological consequences of exposure to such risk. In particular, what is the relationship between prisoners' feelings of anxiety and their observations or experiences of victimization? How is the level of incivility in penal institutions related to perceptions of safety? The findings from a survey of 1,182 inmates shed some light on the dynamics of fear in prison. Most prisoners reported feeling safe most of the time, although a small number of prison locations consistently were rated as unsafe. Prisoners with direct experience of victimization were more fearful than those without. An attempt is made to outline possible explanations for these and other findings.

Use of convict labor by private business in private-run and state prison systems; impact on civilian employment, prisoners' rights, export of prison-made goods, and other issues; US.

Examines attempts by prison inmates to organize unions for workers in US correctional institutions, contending that these labor leaders are strongly disciplined, sometimes threatened with death, & have little outside support. The case of Jerome White-Bey, founder of the Missouri Prisoners Labor Union (MPLU) is related, noting that silent strikes have been frequent in MO's system where inmates are required to work for pittances making various consumer goods. In spite of the filing of over 1,000 grievances in a single week, the MO Dept of Corrections not only refuses to recognize the MPLU, but is keeping White-Bey in a solitary confinement cell known as "the Hole." The history of prison labor in the US is traced, & prison unions that have been formed in other states are examined. It is noted that the AFL-CIO does not absolutely oppose prison labor but has spoken out against expanding federal prison industries on the basis that it takes jobs away from nonconvicts. Reasons for opposition to the unionization of prisoners & prospects for the future are discussed. J. Lindroth

The voices of prisoners are seldom heard as contributors to the evaluation of imprisonment. Official discourse is hostile to their accounts. Prisoner autobiography is a small but established genre in prison writing. The article presents a critical introduction to the study of these texts. Two groups of authors are identified in a sample of post‐war British autobiographies. Several key themes are identified and it is argued that, although problematic, prisoner autobiography should receive more systematic attention as a contribution to the penological archive.