Explaining U.S. Imprisonment

Explaining U.S. Imprisonment examines women in prison, minorities, the historical path to the modern prison, a wide range of contemporary issues, and social influences on prison reform. While focusing on prisons, this one-of-a-kind book is written within the context of the sociology of punishment and covers cutting-edge topics such as detaining immigrants, the War on Terror, and prison in the 21st century. Features Uses a historical and social framework to place U.S. corrections and imprisonment policies in context Includes first-hand accounts from inmates, as well as primary source documents written by early prison reformers Integrates research on women, men, and minorities throughout, rather than separating each topic into a stand-alone chapter Begins chapters with thought-provoking quotes to set the stage for the content that follows Explaining U.S. Imprisonment is ideal for use as a supplementary text in undergraduate and graduate courses on corrections, imprisonment, and theories of punishment. It is also appropriate for use in courses on criminal justice, incarceration, minority issues in law, sociology of law, and the study of the modern prison system.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION 1: THE ORIGINS OF U.S. IMPRISONMENT: BEYOND THE PENITENTIARY Colonial Justice The War of Independence (1775-1783) Prisons, Slavery and the Antebellum South Religious Reform in the North The Civil War Reconstruction Women’s Prison Debating Imprisonment Conclusion 2: PENAL REFORM AND PRISON SCIENCE: ENGINEERING ORDER AND BUILDING AMERICA Penal Reformism: The National Prison Association ‘Prison Science’: Reformism and Social Engineering The First World War: Conscientious Objectors and Prison The Federal Bureau of Prisons The Depression: Prisons, Labour and Social Structure World War II: Questions of National Security Women’s Reformatories Reform, Science and Nation-Building Conclusion 3: PRISON CULTURE: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE The Prison Community Importation vs. Deprivation Gender Race Sexuality Research Methods, Governance and Social Control Conclusion: Contextualizing Sociological Accounts of Imprisonment 4: AN ERA OF UNCERTAINTY: RIOTS, REFORM AND REPRESSION Attica Activism Before and After Attica The Administration of Justice The Demise of Rehabilitation Penal Revisionism and Prisoners’ Rights: Theory v. Practice Conclusion 5: THE PUNITIVE TURN: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR MASS IMPRISONMENT The Reagan Years Legislating Punishment Private Prisons Prison Building and Supermax Challenging Imprisonment in an Era of Punitivism Conclusion 6: A CULTURE OF CONTROL Prisons and Politics in the 1990s Punishment and Modern Society: Explaining the Culture of Control Neo-conservatives, the Culture Wars and Prison Managing Prisons Experiencing Incarceration and Challenging the Culture of Control Conclusion 7: CHALLENGING THE CULTURE OF CONTROL? Prisons in the Twenty-first Century The Costs of Imprisonment: An Emerging Critique Prison Conditions and Public Safety The Courts: An Alternative Source of Critique Hurricane Katrina Governing Through Crime Opening the Prison: Convict Voices Conclusion: Governing Through Imprisonment? 8: THE NEW DETENTION: SECURING THE BORDER Context The Law Detaining Immigrants The War on Terror Scholarly Accounts of the War on Terror: A Failure of the Criminological Imagination? Conclusion CONCLUSION

About the Author :
Mary Bosworth is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University. Her research interests include prisons, race, and gender. She is the author of Engendering Resistance: Agency and Power in Women’s Prisons (1999).