By Roger Grimshaw

Across the UK, an individual can find themselves detained, with no clear sense of when they might be released, under a number of different powers, laws and regulations. In the case of criminal justice detention, indeterminate detention takes three main forms. An unconvicted individual can be remanded in prison while awaiting trial. Given the current backlog of cases in the criminal courts, an individual can be left languishing in prison awaiting trial for months, in some cases years. Life imprisonment – mandatory in the case of a murder conviction – is the second form of indeterminate criminal justice detention. An individual subject to a life sentence has to serve a minimum period in custody (the so-called ‘tariff’) before they can be considered for release. Ongoing detention at the end of the tariff period is common. On release, a life sentence prisoner is subject to lifelong supervision, with recall to prison at any point a real possibility. The third form of indeterminate criminal justice detention are the three life sentence-like sentences: in England and Wales, the imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence; in Northern Ireland, the indeterminate custodial sentence (ICS); and in Scotland, the order for lifelong restriction (OLR). The IPP, ICS and OLR sentences work in a way similar to the life sentence: an indeterminate period in custody, followed by ongoing supervision on release in the community, if the prisoner manages to secure release. They can, though, be imposed for a far wider range of offences than is allowed for by the relatively narrow set of offences in the case of a life sentence. The subject of this briefing is the IPP, ICS and OLR sentences. The main conclusion it draws relates to the question of whether such sentences should be considered a form of psychological torture. With the failed abolition of the IPP sentences in England and Wales, and the ongoing operation of the ICS and OLR sentences in Northern Ireland and Scotland, the torturous and unfair aspects of these indeterminate sentences are likely to become ever more apparent.

London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies , 2023. 8p.

By Helen Taylor and Lorana Bartels

This project scoped whether application software for a mobile or similar device (an app) that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on bail or parole is regarded as appropriate, useful and beneficial within the ACT Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities involved with the justice system. To do this, the scoping project sought the views and advice of participants in the Galambany Circle Sentencing Court (Galambany) (i.e. the potential end-users of such an app), as well as the views of key stakeholders across several organisations that engage with Galambany and the justice system more generally, to determine whether to recommend to the ACT Government that such an app be developed. The aims of this research project were to: • ascertain whether an app that supports people on bail or parole is a priority for, and is of value to, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities in the ACT that engage with Galambany; and • if so, gain input from Galambany participants (the potential end-users) and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and other professional stakeholders, who work in the ACT criminal justice system, on what app features would be useful in supporting compliance with bail and parole conditions, to inform the potential development of an app. The first section examines criminal justice data on the issues of bail, remand, parole and Indigenous incarceration. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), indicate that, in the March 2022 quarter, 40% of Indigenous adults in custody at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) were unsentenced. In addition, 27% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison in the ACT on 30 June 2021 had a justice procedure offence, which includes breach of bail or parole, as their most serious offence; this was much higher than for non-Indigenous prisoners in the ACT (23%) or both cohorts nationally (10% and 7% respectively) (ABS, 2021a). This highlights the need for measures that help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comply with their bail, parole and other justice orders, in order to reduce Indigenous incarceration. The second section examines the increasing availability and use of mobile technology for behaviour change. Such technological advances have created opportunities within the justice context and the past decade has seen the development and use of mobile technology in the criminal justice system. This section outlines the theoretical framework in which the research is situated, which draws on behavioural economics, especially nudge theory. The behavioural economics literature in general, and that on nudges in particular, is relevant for the design of criminal justice apps, as it provides a number of (non-coercive) influences on behaviour and thinking that can be used to improve justice outcomes. The third section outlines the methodology and ethics approval process undertaken for this research. The project adopted a mixed-methods approach, involving the use of semi- structured interviews, focus groups and analyses of secondary source material. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with two different stakeholder groups: professional stakeholders (Group 1) and Galambany clients, as people with lived experience of bail and/or parole (Group 2). In the fourth section, we thematically analyse responses from the semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Group 1 and Group 2 participants. Participants highlighted a range of challenges that make complying with bail and parole conditions harder, including the lack of stable housing, access to transport and other practical issues related to reporting requirements, trouble keeping track of appointments and a lack of structure in their daily lives. Participants also identified what they would consider to be the most useful features of a mobile app designed to help them comply with bail and/or parole conditions. These included an appointment reminder function, a list of useful information and contacts, and reminders of trigger times (those times during the day or week in which a person is particularly vulnerable). Nearly all of the people we spoke to (34 out of 35; 97%), supported the idea of an app to help people comply with their bail and/or parole conditions. However, a number of concerns were raised by participants, in particular how the data from an app would or could be used and whether the app would be able to track a person’s whereabouts. These concerns were raised by both Group 1 and Group 2 participants. The report concludes with the recommendation that a mobile app to help support people on bail and/or parole be developed and piloted, but that serious consideration regarding security and privacy concerns needs to be taken into account, in the development of any such app. The proposed app should be developed solely for the purpose of helping to support users’ success and should not be used as a compliance tool. It is further recommended that the app be trialled among a small cohort in the first instance, followed by an rigorous independent evaluation, to inform whether it is working as intended and is of utility to people on bail or parole.

Canberra: ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, 2022. 53p.

By Mia Schlicht

Australia’s imprisonment rate has increased sharply in the last four decades. In 1975, there were 8,900 people in prisons across Australia – there are now over 40,500. The number of prisoners has increased by 355 per cent despite the population of Australia increasing by just 86 per cent. This has resulted in an incarceration rate of 205 per 100,000 of the adult population which places Australia as one of the fastest growing incarcerators in the world amongst other OECD countries.

Of these 40,500 prisoners, 38 per cent have been imprisoned for non-violent offences. Alternative justice measures such as electronic monitoring, home detention, fines, tax penalties, restitution orders and other such measures may be preferable. These alternatives would better realise the interests of those who suffer the most from crimes, the victims, who have vocalised their discontent with the tough-on-crime rhetoric in Australia that has led to an over-reliance on incarceration as a form of justice.The crime landscape across Australia has seen a change in recent years. Offender rates have declined along with the number of victims of crime. Despite this notable shift, sentencing reform has not responded. Of those fewer non-violent offenders, more are being imprisoned for short lengths of time which is contributing to Australia’s high reoffence rate. More than 60 per cent of Australia’s prison population has been previously incarcerated which is one of the highest reoffending rates in the world. Over a third of convicted prisoners in 2021-22 received a prison sentence of less than six months. Short and frequent sentences are associated with high recidivism rates and 66 per cent of these short sentences are served by non-violent offenders.

Criminal behaviour must be punished. However, a distinction needs to be made between those we are afraid of and those we are mad at. For those who are low risk offenders, alternative justice measures should be imposed to punish behaviour whilst also incentivising criminals to make better decisions and foster their rehabilitation with the community.

This paper presents the case for reform to Australia’s incarceration policies by presenting the costs of the criminal justice system in Australia; investigating who is in the system and why; analysing the reasons behind the changing crime scene; and suggesting directions toward an improved system.

This paper finds that the policy surrounding incarceration has not changed for a long time despite obvious changes in the nature of offending and criminal behaviour. Prisons are being used for broader purposes than necessary. Of the aims of the criminal justice system – public safety, deterrence, retribution, and restitution – only public safety through incapacitation can uniquely be achieved by prison. Where public safety is not a concern, alternative methods should be introduced.

Melbourne: Institute of Public Affairs, 2023. 40p.

By Harry Annison and Thomas Guiney, with assistance from Zoë Rubenstein

Moments of crisis and scandal are an ever-present feature of the political cycle and the decisions taken in the heat of the moment can, and frequently do, have consequences and policy legacies that last for decades. The neat distinction sometimes drawn between ‘normal’ and ‘exceptional’ times is a convenient fiction that distracts us from how the criminal justice system operates.

This discussion paper, written by Harry Annison and Thomas Guiney, with assistance from Zoë Rubenstein, aims to shine a light on these important themes, and support those with a stake in the penal system to better understand the forces at work during these intense periods.

London: Prison Reform Trust, 2023. 27p.

By Essex County Civilian Task Force (NJ)

In 2019, the New Jersey Legislature enacted the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act (“ICRA”), significantly limiting isolated confinement in jails and prisons throughout the state. The impetus for the legislation was twofold: a responsive effort to address citizen complaints about the misuse of isolated confinement, as well as a proactive effort by legislators to mitigate the adverse impacts of isolated confinement. As part of its mandate to oversee the policies and practices of the ECCF and in response to concerns raised and explored at public meetings, the SHU Subcommittee has conducted an extensive review of the use of isolated confinement at the facility. The Subcommittee addressed four related issues: (1) whether the ECCF is complying with ICRA; (2) if not, what conditions prevent full compliance; (3) what recommendations the Task Force might make to alter the conditions preventing compliance; and (4) what steps ECCF administrators could undertake to improve operations and inmate conditions in the SHU. The answers remain incomplete. Although the ECCF has made substantial efforts to comply with ICRA, we cannot conclude that the facility complies entirely with ICRA’s prohibitions against excessive time in “isolated confinement”1 and the “isolated confinement” of vulnerable populations2. One of

Newark, NJ: Essex County Civilian Task Force, 2023. 478p.

By Julianne Skarha,Keith Spangler,David Dosa,Josiah D. Rich,David A. Savitz,Antonella Zanobetti

Rising temperatures and heatwaves increase mortality. Many of the subpopulations most vulnerable to heat-related mortality are in prisons, facilities that may exacerbate temperature exposures. Yet, there is scare literature on the impacts of heat among incarcerated populations. We analyzed data on mortality in U.S. state and private prisons from 2001–2019 linked to daily maximum temperature data for the months of June, July, and August. Using a case-crossover approach and distributed lag models, we estimated the association of increasing temperatures with total mortality, heart disease-related mortality, and suicides. We also examined the association with extreme heat and heatwaves (days above the 90th percentile for the prison location) and assessed effect modification by personal, facility, and regional characteristics. There were 12,836 deaths during summer months. The majority were male (96%) and housed in a state-operated prison (97%). A 10°F increase was associated with a 5.2% (95% CI: 1.5%, 9.0%) increase in total mortality and a 6.7% (95% CI: -0.6%, 14.0%) increase in heart disease mortality. The association between temperature and suicides was delayed, peaking around lag 3 (exposure at three days prior death). Two- and three-day heatwaves were associated with increased total mortality of 5.5% (95% CI: 0.3%, 10.9%) and 7.4% (95% CI: 1.6%, 13.5%), respectively. The cumulative effect (lags 1–3) of an extreme heat day was associated with a 22.8% (95% CI: 3.3%, 46.0%) increase in suicides. We found the greatest increase in mortality among people ≥ 65 years old, incarcerated less than one year, held in the Northeast region, and in urban or rural counties. These findings suggest that warm temperatures are associated with increased mortality in prisons, yet this vulnerable population’s risk has largely been overlooked.

PLOS One, March 1, 2023

By Britt Skaathun ,Francesca Maviglia,Anh Vo,Allison McBride,Sarah Seymour,Sebastian Mendez,Gregg Gonsalves,Leo Beletsky

Policing, corrections, and other carceral institutions are under scrutiny for driving health harms, while receiving disproportionate resources at the expense of prevention and other services. Amidst renewed interest in structural determinants of health, roles of race and class in shaping government investment priorities are poorly understood.

Methods: Based on the Social Conflict Model, we assessed relationships between city racial/ economic profiles measured by the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE) and budgetary priorities measured by the novel Carceral Resource Index (CRI), contrasting investments in carceral systems with funding for health and social support across the 50 most populous cities in the United States (U.S.). Bivariate correlations, and unadjusted and adjusted polynomial regression models were used to assess the relationship between budgetary investments and population concentration at extremes in terms of income, racial/ethnic composition, and education, controlling for other demographic characteristics.

Results: In our sample, median CRI was -0.59 (IQR -0.64, -0.45), with only seven cities exhibiting positive CRI values. This indicates that most large U.S. cities spend more on carceral systems than on health and supportive services, combined. Adjusted polynomial models showed a convex relationship between the CRI and ICE-Education, and ICE-Race(White vs. Black)+Income, with quadratic terms that were positive and significant at p<0.05. After controlling for age, the strongest prioritization of carceral systems was observed in cities where the proportion of low-income Black residents approached or exceeded that of high-income white residents.

Conclusions: Municipal prioritization of carceral investments over health and social support is pervasive in the U.S and exacerbated by racial and economic disparities. The CRI offers new opportunities to understand the role of government investments as a structural determinant of health and safety. Longitudinal research is warranted to examine the relationship between budget priorities, structural racism, and health outcomes.

PLOS ONE 17(12): 2022.

Edited by Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves

This book provides international perspectives on corrections, correctional treatment, and penitentiary laws. Although its focus is on African and South American countries, the information provided can be easily expanded to North America and Europe. The chapters present legal frameworks and applied research on prisons and their potential to deter crime and reduce recidivism rates. The book puts the human rights agenda at the forefront and is a useful resource for those who work in corrections, including prison, education, and probation officers.

London: InTechOpen, 2023. 146p.

Edited by Kristen M. Budd, David C. Lane, Glenn W. Muschert, and Jason A. Smith

The year 2023 marks 50 years of mass incarceration in the United States. This timely volume highlights and addresses pressing social problems associated with the US’s heavy reliance on mass imprisonment. In an atmosphere of charged political debate, including ""tough on crime"" rhetoric, the editors bring together scholars and experts in the criminal justice field to provide the most up-to-date science on mass incarceration and its ramifications on justice-impacted people and our communities. This book offers practical solutions for advocates, policy and lawmakers, and the wider public for addressing mass incarceration and its effects to create a more just, fair and safer society.

Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2023. 128p.

By Ujjwal Kumar Singh

From the general editor’s introduction: “….The essays are also intended to be fairly detailed and empirical in emphasis, so as to stand in regard to the introduction in something of the relationship of evidence to interpretation. The project is directed both at specific problems and at a number of fundamental debates on the nature of discourse; and yet it is not intended primarily to generate new theory but rather to make its contribution by approaching questions from a new direction. Part of the dissatisfaction which lies behind the project is with Eurocentric terminology. This is not because we deny the possibility of there being any universal terms, nor because we think all knowledge produced by Europeans essentially the same and equally corrupted by power. It is because we are impressed by the need to avoid all essentialism, and by the importance, both intellectually and in practical situations, of an appreciation of difference. It is because we are uncertain how large categories may properly be constructed. Similar concerns are expressed in various ways in many disciplines, and constitute a crisis of interpretation…”

Delhi. Oxford University Press. 1998. 313p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAINMARK-UP

By Andrea Pitzer

FROM THE COVER; “A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book Of The Year” For more than one hundred years, at least one concentration camp has existed somewhere on earth. First used as battlefield strategy, camps have evolved with each passing decade, in the scope of their effects and the savage practicality with which governments have employed them. Even in the twenty-first century, as we continue to reckon with the magnitude and horror of the Holocaust, history tells us we have broken our solemn promise of "never again." Beginning with 1890s Cuba, Andrea Pitzer pinpoints the histories of concentration camps around the world and across decades. From the Philippines and Southern Africa to the Soviet Gulag and detention in China and North Korea during the Cold War, camp systems have long been used as tools for civilian relocation and political repression. Through telling the stories of individual prisoners swept into detention across the past century, One Long Night shows how camps became brutal and dehumanizing sites that claimed the lives of millions. Featuring a new afterword that places US border detention and family separation within the context of this dark history, One Long Night exposes our collective failure and its continued toll.”

New York, Back Bay Books. Little, Brown And Company. 2017. 494p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP.

By Annie Samuelli

FROM THE PREFACE: “From 1949 to 1961, I was one of a large community of women held in the political prisons of Communist Romania, all harshly convicted, not for their misdeeds but for what they actually represented. Since the advent of Communism, citizens who upheld faith, justice and the principles of democracy-from former prime ministers to simple peasants and confused members of the working class-now were convicted of treasonable activities on just those grounds. The elementary freedoms of opinion, speech, movement, religion and charity, hemmed in by arbitrary government decrees, had been virtually abolished, any transgression being paid for by long imprisonment. Persecution was directed as much against the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, ostensibly the chief targets of class warfare, as against any person, irrespective of origin, who consciously or not expressed criticism or the slightest opposition to the regime. For instance, spouses, parents, children are likewise incriminated as accessories after the fact, and whole families went to prison for having failed to denounce or for having harboured a fugitive from justice for his political beliefs or for violating one of the all-embracing Communist laws.

Thus the women's prisons were filled with representatives from all ranks of society, from the intellectual down to the illiterate. As I shared their lives day by day, night by night for twelve years, I had the opportunity of studying them closely, and it is mainly on them that this book is based.”

Washington, D.C.. Robert B. Luce, Inc. 1967. 241p.

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.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Karlo Stajner. Translated By Joel Agee. With An Introduction By Danilo Kis

AUTHOR'S NOTE: “I was born Karl Steiner on January 15, 1902, in Vienna. After moving to Zagreb, the capital of the Yugoslav Republic of Croatia, in 1922, I adopted the Serbo-Croation spelling of my name, Karlo Stajner. In 1932, I emigrated to the Soviet Union, where I remained until 1956. Because of my Austrian origin, I was accused of being a Nazi agent and condemned to ten years at hard labor; a second ten-year term was later added to my sentence. After my release from prison in 1956, I returned to Yugoslavia and continued calling myself by my Serbo-Croatian name: Karlo Stajner. K.S.”

NY. Farrar Straus Giroux. 1988. 408p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Cairine Petrie

FROM THE FOREWORD: “During the last two decades in the United Kingdom, we have increasingly locked up children who are difficult or delinquent. This study explores the uses and consequences of custody for young people. Cairine Petrie compares a number of boys held in a unit of maximum security with a similar number of delinquents resident in an open training school. The book also provides interesting insights into the workings of the Scottish List D schools which, unlike institutions for young offenders in England and Wales, still remain the responsibility of the central authorities. South of the border since 1969, persistent delinquents have been sheltered in community homes and are in the care of the local authorities. Those who cling to the myth that effective reformatory schools have been swept away by permissive legislation will gain little comfort from this book.”

London. Saxon House. 1980.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Debra Smith

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “After being anti-privatisation (and I am still very concerned about how much of all this is real and will last) I am coming to a positive view of this private prison. In the short term it is certainly better for the prisoners in the long term I don't know what safeguards are there that it is maintained. But it is a 20-year business plan and contract so if I'm still here in 2017 I guess I' be able to make a judgement.' Ididn't make it to 2017 - in September 2004 I received a letter terminating my contract: services no longer required…..”

Adelaide, Aus. Ginninderra Press. 2008. 129p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP.

Edited by Beverly R. Fletcher, Lynda Dixon Shaver, and Dreama G. Moon. Foreword by George Henderson. Illustrations By Lisa J. Billy

FROM THE FOREWORD: “Perhaps nothing captures the debilitating effects of sexism more vividly than an in-depth study of women incarcerated in our correctional institutions. Beneath the statistics lie a human tragedy of a magnitude most people cannot fully comprehend: a disproportionate number of women are wasting away in nonrehabilitative institutions that perpetuate rather than correct criminal behaviors. The editors and contributors to this book capture cogent slices of life of some of the role players in the prison drama. And they do so with the sensitive touch of social surgeons who carefully lift and examine one layer of human behavior and then another. But they do not stop there. They also examine some of the attitudes, beliefs, and values of incarcerated women and their keepers (prison staff). The total work is an insightful glimpse of a neglected subculture.”

Westport, CT. Praeger. 1993. 202p.

By S. Rebecca Neusteter, Ram Subramanian, Jennifer Trone, Mawia Khogali, and Cindy Reed

Police in America arrest millions of people each year, and the likelihood that arrest will lead to jail incarceration has increased steadily. Ending mass incarceration and repairing its extensive collateral consequences thus must begin by focusing on the front end of the system: police work. Recognizing the roughly 18,000 police agencies around the country as gatekeepers of the system, this report explores the factors driving mass enforcement, particularly of low-level offenses; what police agencies could do instead with the right community investment, national and local leadership, and officer training, incentives, and support; and policies that could shift the policing paradigm away from the reflexive use of enforcement, which unnecessarily criminalizes people and leads directly to the jailhouse door.

New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2019. 76p.

by Solitary Watch and the Unlock the Box Campaign

The watchdog group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box released a groundbreaking joint report showing that at least 122,840 people are locked daily in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails for 22 or more hours a day. Calculating Torture is the first report to combine the use of solitary in local and federal jails in addition to state and federal prisons. It is based on analysis of data recently released by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) as well as by state prison systems that did not report to BJS, and data from a survey of local jails conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice.

These report numbers come closer than have any previously published figures in accounting for the total number of people in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. Previous counts have largely focused on prisons, failing to include jails. In some cases, earlier data also omitted some states, and/or counted only those individuals held in solitary confinement for more than two weeks. For these reasons, previous reports have offered an incomplete picture of how extensively the discredited practice is used and the number of people it affects.

Solitary Watch and the Unlock the Box Campaign, 2023. 16p.

By the Unlock the Box Campaign

There is a growing movement across the United States to end or restrict solitary confinement and to employ alternative interventions that improve safety and well-being. Fueling this surge in efforts at ending solitary is a recognition that solitary confinement is a form of torture. It inflicts terrible suffering and injury—physical, psychological, emotional, and social—on individuals who have experienced it or are currently subjected to it and has severe effects on their loved ones and on the wider community. This horrific practice is in extensive use across the country, damaging or destroying untold lives. Deeply disturbed by this reality, an increasing number of campaigns led by people who have survived solitary confinement and those with loved ones in solitary now or in the past have helped spur legislative and administrative policy changes to curb the use of solitary and to promote alternatives. Between 2009 and 2022, in 45 states, 886 bills were introduced to restrict or end solitary confinement in some form; 40 states have passed at least one of these bills. In 2021 alone, 153 pieces of legislation were filed across 37 states to regulate some aspect of solitary confinement, the vast majority seeking to end at least some aspect of the practice in state prisons and jails, youth facilities, and other carceral settings. An additional 74 bills were introduced in 2022, and 16 bills were passed in 2022, namely, in New York, Kentucky, Illinois, Connecticut, Louisiana, Virginia, Hawaii, Colorado, and Maryland, with additional bills to be acted on, as of the writing of this report. Anti-solitary efforts have also contributed to the closure of entire prisons, buildings, and units used to inflict solitary, most recently with the closure of supermax prisons in New York and Connecticut

Unlock the Box Campaign, 2023. 64p.