MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

By Benedict S. Alper

"PRISONS INSIDE OUT: Alternatives in Correctional Reform" delves into innovative approaches to reforming the traditional prison system. From restorative justice practices to community-based rehabilitation programs, this book explores a range of alternative methods aimed at transforming the correctional system. By highlighting successful case studies and thought-provoking insights, this book challenges conventional norms and offers new perspectives on how we can redefine the purpose and effectiveness of prisons in modern society. Whether you are a policymaker, a criminal justice professional, or simply an interested individual, "PRISONS INSIDE OUT" is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the complexities of correctional reform.

Cambridge Mass. Ballinger Co. 1974.

By   E. Ann Carson, Lauren Beatty and Stephanie Mueller

This is the fifth report as required under the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA; P.L. 115-391). It includes data on federal prisoners for calendar year 2022 provided to BJS by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). As required by the FSA, this report details select characteristics of persons in prison, including marital, veteran, citizenship, and English-speaking status; education levels; medical conditions; and participation in treatment programs. It also includes statistics BJS is required to report at the facility level, such as the number of assaults on staff by prisoners, prisoners’ violations of rules that resulted in time credit reductions, and selected facility characteristics related to accreditation, on-site health care, remote learning, video conferencing, and costs of prisoners’ phone calls.

Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2023. 26p

By John J. Dilulio, Jr.

FROM THE COVER: The American prison, in conventional wisdom, 1s doomed to be filthy, violent, and unproductive. It is a breeding ground for crime rather than a punishment for it, an institution where lawless inmates and abusive guards confront each other in riots that erupt in response to oppressive conditions. Now, John J. Dilulio, Jr., already considered one of the most original thinkers about prisons in a generation, challenges all these accepted notions about incarceration. Dilulio argues that-far from necessarily being hellish traps for society's refuse-prisons must and can be safe and humane, despite overcrowding, budget limitations, and racial polarization. The key is good government.

The Free Press. London. NY. 1987. 357p.

By Miranda Davies, Lucina Rolewicz, Laura Schlepper and Femi Fagunwa

There were, on average, 83,000 people in prison in England and Wales at any one time last year, yet relatively little is known about prisoners’ physical health care needs; how and why they access hospital services; and whether their physical health needs are being adequately met. Drawing on over 110,000 patient hospital records for prisoners at 112 prisons in 2017–18, this study provides the most in-depth look to date at how prisoners’ health needs are being met in hospital. Prisoners use hospital services far less and miss more hospital appointments than the general population • Prisoners had 24% fewer inpatient admissions and outpatient attendances than the equivalent age and sex demographic in the wider population, and 45% fewer attendances at accident and emergency departments. • 40% of outpatient appointments for prisoners were not attended (32,987 appointments) – double the proportion of non-attended appointments in the general population. Our research found that the value of non-attended appointments by prisoners in 2017/18 where no advanced warning was given equated to around £2 million for the NHS. Prisoners have particular health needs related to violence, drug use and self-harm • Injury and poisoning were the most common reason for prisoners being admitted to hospital, accounting for 18% of cases (2,169 admissions) compared to 6% of all admissions in the general population (aged 15+). • Psychoactive substance use was recorded in more than 25% of all inpatient admissions by prisoners in 2017/18. Hospital data reveals potential lapses of care within prisons for certain groups of prisoners • Six prisoners gave birth either in prison or on their way to hospital, representing more than one in 10 of all women who gave birth during their prison stay. • There were 51 hospital admissions by 39 prisoners with diabetes as a result of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), an avoidable and potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes caused by lack of insulin. This analysis points to two key areas where more focused policy attention could result in improvements to prisoner health: improving prisoners’ access to hospital care and making better use of hospital data. We therefore make the following recommendations for the five public authorities involved in the National Partnership Agreement for Prison Healthcare – the Ministry of Justice, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, Public Health England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England – as well as prisons, health care providers, commissioners, and the research community .

London: Nuffield Trust, 2020. 83p.

By Richard Walton

Prisons exist to keep the public safe by depriving the most serious offenders of their liberty, and to enable them to become law-abiding citizens. In recent years, those priorities increasingly have been neglected by the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service. The collective rights of the vast majority of the public have been overlooked, without noticeable benefit to those who have been sentenced to prison. The case of Usman Khan, who launched an Islamist terror attack in central London in November, despite being released on supposedly strict licence conditions, illustrates the inherent risks of an approach that appears to set poorly researched offender rehabilitation programmes above the safety of ordinary citizens. This is especially true in the context of extremist offenders, who are ideologically motivated and more difficult, sometimes impossible, to rehabilitate. Khan, previously convicted for involvement in a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange, hoodwinked his supervisors, who allowed him to travel to the heart of the capital, with fatal consequences for two young people and their families. This should not have happened: the process that led to it has to be re-examined. It is clear that a reordering of priorities for ministers, officials, police and probation officers is urgently required. The alleged terrorist attack at HMP Whitemoor, which is said to have featured replica suicide vests, is further evidence that the most dangerous offenders are not being monitored effectively and in the public interest – even within a Category A prison. This report sets out some of the organisational changes that would help to achieve the necessary change.The recommendation for the Home Office to reabsorb Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) is persuasive. The Ministry of Justice, formed in 2007, has proven to be institutionally flawed and a cultural timidity still persists among officials around the management of terrorist offenders. The 13-year experiment, which removed prisons from the purview of the Home Office, has failed and should be brought to a close. It would make far more sense – in operational and strategic terms – for the Home Secretary, who has ministerial responsibility for domestic security, policing and public safety, to be once again accountable for the management of all prisoners, with the assistance of an able and knowledgeable Prisons Minister. A Home Office structured along traditional lines would also be in a stronger position to direct information-sharing and more carefully assess the risks to public safety posed by prisoners – notably terrorist offenders – on their release. A revamped Home Office must review how prisoner behaviour is evaluated, as well as the schemes designed to deradicalise terrorist offenders and rehabilitate other dangerous offenders. As the report explains, there has been little empirical study into the effectiveness of schemes designed to challenge extremist world views. Specialist training is vital here, and the use of the best psychological and neurological techniques to assess risk and danger. This is not work for the generalist: as Usman Khan’s case shows, those who are ideologically motivated of Islamist extremism are capable of hiding their true intent for long periods in order to carry out devastating acts of violence. Finally, legislating to prevent seriously dangerous convicted terrorists and possibly some other dangerous offenders from being released early into the community on licence is an idea that deserves serious consideration (and properly informed debate in both Houses of Parliament). It is likely to gain public support but judges must be persuaded of its legal integrity too. As the Government explores these legislative changes and structural changes in the round, it must ensure that public safety is paramount.

London: PolIcy Exchange, 2020. 28p.

By Sandra M. Bucerius, William Schultz and Kevin D. Haggerty

Many observers describe prison subcultures as inherently and irredeemably antisocial. Research directly ties prison subcultures to violence, gang membership, and poor reintegration. In extreme cases, research has also suggested that prison subcultures contribute to incarcerated people joining radical groups or embracing violent extremist beliefs. These claims, however, ignore key differences in the larger cultural and social context of prisons. We examine the relationship between prison subcultures and prison radicalization based on semi- structured qualitative interviews with 148 incarcerated men and 131 correctional officers from four western Canadian prisons. We outline several imported features of the prison subculture that make incarcerated people resilient to radicalized and extremist messaging. These features include 1) national cultural imaginaries; 2) the racial profile of a prison, including racial sorting or a lack thereof; and 3) how radicalization allowed incarcerated men and correctional officers to act outside the otherwise agreed-to subcultural rules. Our research findings stress the importance of contemplating broader sociocultural influences when trying to understand the relationship between radicalization and prison dynamics and politics

Criminology, 2023.

Anna Schlieher and Ben Crewe

The politics involved in cell-sharing reach into the most personal parts of prisoners’ lives and are highly determinate of their experiences of imprisonment. While there is a small amount of research on the impact of cell-sharing on personal wellbeing and prison quality, much less has been written about the daily dynamics and significance of negotiating shared space under conditions of coercion. In this paper, based on in-depth research undertaken in England & Wales, we explore the experience of cell-sharing and how dynamics in the cell matter both intimately and socially. Essentially, we locate the cell as one of the primary sites of ‘where the action is’ in prisons, and where matters of safety, dignity and abjection are of particular relevance.

The British Journal of Criminology, 2022, 62, 484–500

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Oleg V. Khlevniuk. Translated by Vadim A. Staklo. With editorial assistance and commentary by David J. Nordlander. Foreword by Robert Conquest

FROM THE FOREWORD: “Although it is sometimes suggested that the Gulag was in some way derived from an older Russia, one has only to read about Dostoevsky's experiences as a political prisoner in The House of the Dead to find many differences. By the early twentieth century a number of Russian people--far fewer of them in any case than in Soviet times--were either in prison or in "exile." The latter penalty, whose victims included Lenin and Stalin, simply meant forced residence at some distant village, with a monetary allowance, sometimes with wives, but with no barbed wire or penal labor. The Gulag is only one example of how the Soviet regime represented a huge decline in civilization in Russia. But it is a revealing one. Areas of the Stalinist experience still remain obscure…”

NY. Yale University Press. 2004. 449p.

The The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General

  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this limited-scope review after certain operational issues became so serious at U.S. Penitentiary (USP) Atlanta and Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) New York that, in 2021, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) significantly limited operations at the former and closed the latter. The DOJ OIG sought to assess how critical issues at BOP institutions are identified, communicated to BOP Executive Staff, and remediated. At the outset of our limited-scope review, then BOP Executive Staff told us they had been largely aware of the long-standing operational issues at USP Atlanta and MCC New York and expressed confidence in the BOP’s existing mechanisms to communicate information about operational issues. However, they also described four foundational, enterprise-wide challenges that they said limited their ability to remedy institution operational issues, specifically: • weaknesses in the BOP’s internal audit function, • delays in the BOP’s employee discipline process, • inadequacy of BOP assessments of institution staffing level needs, and • the BOP’s inability to address its aging infrastructure. In light of then BOP Executive Staff’s prior awareness of the USP Atlanta and MCC New York operational issues, we modified the scope of this review following these initial meetings to focus on these four causes and the scope of the challenges, their effects on institutional operations, and the Executive Staff’s efforts to remedy them.  

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2023. 42p.

By Karol Lucken and Thomas G. Blomberg

The purpose of American Penology is to provide a story of punishment's past, present, and likely future. The story begins in the 1600s, in the setting of colonial America, and ends in the present As the story evolves through various historical and contemporary settings, America's efforts to understand and control crime unfold. The context, ideas, practices, and consequences of various punishment reforms are described and examined. Though the book's broader scope and purpose can be distinguished from prior efforts, it necessarily incorporates many contributions from this rich literature. These many contributions are explicitly discussed in the book, and their relationship to the story of American penology is self-evident (e.g., the rise of prisons, reformatories, probation, parole, and juvenile courts, the origins and functions of prison subcultures, the needs of special inmate populations, the effectiveness of community-based alternatives to incarceration). It is important to acknowledge that while this book incorporates selected descriptions of historical contingencies in relation to particular eras and punishment ideas and practices, it does not provide individual "histories" of these eras. Rather than doing history, this book uses history to frame and help explain particular punishment ideas and practices in relation to the period and context from which they evolved. The authors focus upon selected demographic, economic, political, religious, and intellectual con-tingencies that are associated with particular historical and contemporary eras to suggest how these contingencies shaped America's punishment ideas and practices. The purpose is to inform the reader about American penology's story as it evolved over several centuries. The focus is purposely narrowed to major punishment reform eras and selected historical influences. In offering a new understanding of received notions of crime control, Blomberg and Lucken not only provide insights into its future, but also show how the larger culture of control extends beyond the field of criminology to have an impact on declining levels of democracy, freedom, and privacy.

New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 2000. 400p.

By Gresham M. Sykes

The Society of Captives, first published in 1958, is a classic of modern criminology and one of the most important books ever written about prison.

Gresham Sykes wrote the book at the height of the Cold War, motivated by the world’s experience of fascism and communism to study the closest thing to a totalitarian system in American life: a maximum security prison. His analysis calls into question the extent to which prisons can succeed in their attempts to control every facet of life — or whether the strong bonds between prisoners make it impossible to run a prison without finding ways of “accommodating” the prisoners.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1958. 168p.

By Helen Fair and Jessica Jacobson

When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, there was immediate concern about the potential health impacts on prisoners and prison staff. Concern focused on the close proximity in which prisoners live, particularly in overcrowded systems; the prevalence of underlying health conditions which affect many of those in custody; and the porous nature of prison walls and boundaries, presenting a risk of infection spreading from prisons to local communities. In the wake of the declaration of the pandemic, penal reformers and human rights organizations around the world called for measures to be taken to reduce the numbers of people in prison, particularly in overcrowded systems, and to contain the risks of infection spreading. This report examines the population management and infection control measures (excluding direct health interventions) taken by prison systems in a diverse group of ten countries spanning all five continents: Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, the USA (and more specifically, New York State), India, Thailand, England and Wales, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Australia (more specifically, New South Wales). The report is produced under the banner of ICPR’s international, comparative project, ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in ten countries’, launched in 2017.

London: Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, 33p.

By Alexander Söderholm

The disruption caused by COVID-19 has exposed the health inequities faced by marginalised communities globally, particularly those deprived of their liberty in prison settings. As a result of the extreme risks posed by COVID-19 to these individuals, international organisations, civil society organisations (CSOs), and community advocates have called for urgent criminal justice system and prison reforms. Calls have been made to address chronic overcrowding in prisons, the suspension of arrests and incarceration of people for minor or non-violent offences, and the urgent roll-out of life-saving health and harm reduction measures for people who use drugs in custodial facilities and the community. While it is the state’s legal obligation to provide adequate care to people deprived of their liberty, COVID-19 has shed light on how many states have reneged on this responsibility. As aptly expressed by a group of researchers, ‘we cannot forget that prison health is public health by definition’. While many states heeded the call to release people in prison, few have taken substantial steps toward addressing the structural issues exposed by COVID-19 within their criminal justice systems. Meanwhile, others have not fulfilled their promises to carry out measures such as early release programmes to reduce overcrowding in prisons. As such, the briefing paper seeks to shed light on the experiences of people involved with the criminal justice system prior to, during and after incarceration, with a focus on four case study countries: Colombia, Ireland, Indonesia and Kenya.

London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2021. 25p.

By Yvonne Jewkes

This is the most comprehensive and ambitious book on prisons to have been published, a key text for anybody studying the subject and an essential work of reference for practitioners working in prisons and other parts of the criminal justice system. It is especially timely in view of the many changes and debates about the role of prisons and their future organisation and management as part of the National Offender Management Service. A key aim of the book is to explore a wide range of historical and contemporary issues relating to prisons, imprisonment and prison management, and to chart likely future trends. Chapters in the book are written by leading scholars in the field, and reflect the range and depth of prison research and scholarship. Like the Handbook of Policing and Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community Safety the Handbook on Prisons will be the essential book on the subject.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2011. 809p.

By Thomas Mathiesen

A leading text of worldwide renown: available in Norwegian, Danish, English, Swedish, German, Spanish, Italian - and now being translated into Chinese. In this new Third Edition - with its new preface, epilogue and other revisions (plus all the material from earlier editions) - the author expands on the control aspects of prison, the gear change brought about by responses to international terrorism post-September 11 and the London bombings and explains how contemporary events are changing the boundaries of crime and punishment and increasing the risks to civil liberties and the Rule of Law. Thomas Mathiesen also argues for an 'Alternative Public Space' where discussion of serious and fundamental issues of this nature can take place free from the superficial world of knee-jerk reactions from politicians and the entertainment driven needs of the press and media.Part of the "Waterside Press Criminal Policy Series", Prison On Trial distils the arguments for and against imprisonment in a readable, accessible and authoritative way, making Thomas Mathiesen's work a classic for students and other people concerned to understand the real issues. It is as relevant today as when it was first published, arguably more so as policy-making becomes increasingly politicized and true opportunities to influence developments diminish. Mindful of this, Mathiesen recommends an 'alternative public space' where people can engage in valid discussion on the basis of sound information, free from the survival priority of the media, to entertain.

Winchester, UK: Waterside Press, 2006. 215p

Edited by Tom Daems and Luc Robert

This volume explores the role that European institutions have come to play in regulating national prisons systems. The authors introduce and contribute to advancing a new research agenda in international penology (‘Europe in prisons’) which complements the conventional comparative approach (‘prisons in Europe’). The chapters examine the impact – if any – that institutions such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the European Court of Human Rights have had on prison policy throughout Europe. With contributions from a wide range of countries such as Albania, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Norway and Spain, this edited collection offers a wide-ranging and authoritative guide to the effects of European institutions on prison policy.

Cham: Springer International Publishing , 2017. 333p.

By Stanton Wheeler , Hugh F. Cline , David J. Armor

This book presents the formerly-unpublished manuscript by Wheeler and Cline detailing the landmark, comparative prisons study they conducted in the 1960s which examined fifteen Scandinavian prisons and nearly 2000 inmates across four Nordic countries. At the time, it was the largest comparative study of prisons and inmate behavior ever undertaken and despite 15 years of analysis and write-up it was never published but it influenced many other important prison studies that followed. This book engages with the functionalist perspectives that were widespread in the 1960s, and tries to answer some of the classical questions of prison sociology such as how prisoners adapt to imprisonment and the degree to which prisoner adaptations can be attributed to characteristics of prisoners and prisons. It examines the nature and structure of prisons, the effect of that structure on individual prisoners and the other factors that may influence the way that they respond to confinement. It also includes discussion about the prisoners’ considerations of justice and fairness and a explanation of the study design and data which was highly unique at the time. The Scandinavian Prison Study brings Wheeler and Cline's pioneering work into the present context with a preface and an introduction which discuss the questions and claims raised in the book still relevant to this day.

Cham, SWIT: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 390p. 386p.

By Roy Walmsley.

This second study of developments in the prison systems of central and eastern Europe owes a very great deal to the contributions of experts in the participating countries. I am extremely grateful for the warm hospitality of those prison administrations that I visited and the generous co-operation of those that completed survey questionnaires giving detailed information on the situation in their prison systems, including statistics of prisoners, penal institutions and prison staff. The report focuses mainly on the situation in 2001, although some reference is made to developments in the following year, notably the passing of new legislation bearing on the prison system, and the publication of documents referring to events in 2001. But it must be acknowledged that some of the information presented will already have been superseded by subsequent events. In covering so wide a range of countries and so broad a topic it is not feasible to present detailed information on each prison administration that is completely up-to-date. An appendix containing reference material also mentions some more recent events, in particular the appointment of new directors of prison administration. The core of the study is contained in the first twenty sections which provide an overview of developments across the whole region. The second part presents an account of the situation in each of the twenty-four prison systems (sections 21-44), and also brief information about prisons of the region that are located in areas that are outside the control of the governments of the countries of which they are officially a part and are consequently not under the prison administrations of those countries.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, 2003. 593p.