History of Prisons

There is no one volume that comes close to providing an adequate history of prisons. The most ambitious attempt is:

Morris, Norval and David Rothman (eds.) The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society, Oxford U.S., New York 1997

Other works that provide an overview include:

Conley, John A (ed.) The 1967 President's Crime Commission Report: Its Impact 25 Years Later Anderson Publishing Co. Cincinnati, 1994 (a collection of articles assessing the changes relating to the 1967 report)

Feucht, Thomas E. and Edwin Zedlewski, “The 40th Anniversary of the Crime Report ,” NIJ Journal,  257, June 2007

Foucault, M.. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Pantheon Book New York 1977 (an historical and philosophical inquiry into the origins of prisons and punishment)

Johnston, Norman, Forms of Constraint: A History of Prison Architecture , Universityof Illinois Press, Champaign, 2006

Meskell, Matthew, “An American Resolution: A History of U.S. Prisons from 1777 to 1877,” Stanford Law Review, 51, 1999

National Public Radio, Serving Time: A History of Punishment, 2008 http://www.backstoryradio.org/2008/ accessed 2/3/10 (an excellent 1 hour radio program on the U.S. system’s history)

Rothman, D.. Discovery of the Asylum. Little Brown and Co. , Boston 1971
(though this volume focuses mainly on asylums it has an excellent section on the history of prisons in the late 19^th and early 20^th century)

Willis, James, “Transportation versus Imprisonment in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain: Penal Power, Liberty, and the State:” Law & Society Review, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Mar., 2005), pp. 171-210: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1555123

Race and Incarceration

Unfortunately most of these surveys don’t give much attention to race and incarceration. A number of more specialized and localized studies add this dimension:

Alexander, Michelle., The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, New Press, Boston, 2010

Blackmon, Douglas A., Slavery By Another Name The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II , Anchor, New York, 2009

Oshinsky, David M.,  Worse Than Slavery,Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice, Free Press, New York 1997.

Contemporary Writings on Incarceration

In recent years a vast literature has emerged examining concepts like mass incarceration, the prison-industrial complex as well as an activist writings reflecting a range of perspectives. The titles below are suggestive of the writing.

Davis, Angela,  Are Prisons Obsolete? Open Media, New York, 2003
(The most succinct statement from the abolitionist position – those who think prisons should be abolished altogether.)

Real Cost of Prisons Website (has links to news stories on latest prison developments nationwide):
http://realcostofprisons.org/

Reiman, Jeffrey and Paul Leighton, The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice. Prentice Hal, 2009

Voices of Prisoners

There are many prison memoirs and writings by prisoners. Here are some suggestions:

James, Joy, The New Abolitionists: (Neo)slave Narratives And Contemporary Prison Writings SUNY Press, New York 2005 (a collection of writings by those who regard themselves as political prisoners in the U.S.)

Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution, Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters, Harper Perennial, New York  2004

________________,I'll Fly Away: Further Testimonies from the Women of York Prison, Harper, New York 2007 (These two collections are writings compiled by well-known novelist Wally Lamb from his writers’ group at York Correctional Insitution in Maine. They are amazing.)

Theories of Punishment

American Civil Liberties Union, “Ten Reasons to Oppose Three Strikes”, paper available at: http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cri01.htm (a short, accessible summary of the case against three strikes)

Bedau, Hugo Adam and Paul Cassell (eds.), Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Case, Oxford University Press, New York, 2005

Butler, Paul, Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice, New Press, Boston, 2009.

Center for Justice and Reconciliation, Restorative Justice Online http://www.restorativejustice.org/ (a collection of news, articles and links on this issue. If you're new to the concept, this is a great starting point.)

Families Against Mandatory Minimums, (an organization that campaigns to change mandatory sentencing laws- news on that issue and their campaign at: http://www.famm.org/ )

Franklin H. Bruce, The American Prison and the Normalization of Torture, n.d. available at: http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/resources/torture/brucefranklin.html

Kahan, Dan M., “What's Really Wrong with Shaming Sanctions?” Texas Law Review, 84, 2006, p. 2075

Langbein, John, “The Historical Origins of the Sanction of Imprisonment for Serious Crime,” The Journal of Legal Studies, 5,1,1976, 35-60 (traces the history of galleys, banishing and corporal punishment as used in criminal justice)

Maull, Fleet, “Integral Transformative Justice”, (15 min. lecture on the commonality and differences between restorative and transformative justice. Very clearly and simply presented.) Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FQHn68m7Xs (part one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfCWcOyQcoQ&NR=1 (part two)

Quinney, Richard, Critique of the Legal Order: Crime Control in Capitalist Society, Transaction Publishers, Edison NJ, 2001 (a re-issue of Quinney's classic 1974 radical critique of the American criminal justice system. Quinney taught at U. of N. Illinois)

PBS, “Bridges to Life Restorative Justice Program”, 3 minute video of sessions with inmates and victims who embrace restorative justice. Avaliable at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8HZmD9VckY

Robinson, Paul H, “How Psychology is Changing the Punishment Theory Debate” University of Pennsylvania Law School, Working Paper No. 07-01, 2007 Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=956130

Vitali, Greg, “Why I oppose mandatory minimum sentencing laws”, a simple, two page argument by a Delaware congressman, available at: www.pahouse.com/PR/20060601-oppose-mand-min-sentencing.pdf

Families and Communities

The Effect of Incarceration on Families and Communities

Bernstein, Nell. All alone in the world : Children of Incarcerated Parents. New Press New York. 2005.

Bouchet, Stacey M. “Children and Families with Incarcerated Families Exploring Development in the Field and Opportunities for Growth.” Annie E. Casey Foundation. Baltimore. 2008.

Braman, Donald . Doing Time on the Outside: Incarceration and Families in Urban America. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor. 2004. (a comprehensive tracking of families of the incarcertated for many years)

Chui, Wing Hong. “Pains of imprisonment: narratives of the women partners and children of the incarcerated.” Child And Family Social Work. 15 (2), p196-205. 2010

Clear, Todd R. Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse. Oxford. New York. 2009.

Edenfield, Ann. Families Arrested, How to Survive the Incarceration of a Loved One. Americana Publishing. Albuquerque. 2002.

Gabel, Katherine, and Denise Johnston, (eds.) Children of Incarcerated Parents. Lexington Books. New York. 1997.

Geller, Amana et al. “Parental Incarceration and Child Well-Being: Implications for Urban Families.” Social Science Quarterly. 90 (5), p1186-1202, 2009.

Harper, Cynthia and S. McLanahan. “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration.” Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14(3), 369–397. 2004.

Harris, Othello and Robin Miller (eds). Impacts of Incarceration on the African American Family: Transaction Publishers New Brunswick, N.J. 2003.

La Vigne, Nancy et al. “Broken Bonds: Understanding and Addressing the Needs of Children with Incarcerated Parents” Urban Institute. Washington D.C. 2008

Mauer, Marc and Meda Chesney-Lind (eds.) InvisiblePunishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Incarceration. New York Press. New York. 2002.

Pattillo, Mary et al. (eds.) Imprisoning America : the social effects of mass incarceration. Russell Sage Foundation. New York 2004.

Schwartz, Sunny. Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption and One Woman's Fight to Restore Justice to All. Scribner. New York. 2010.

Solomon, Amy et al. “Life After Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community.” Urban Institute. Washington D.C. 2008

Stringer, Ebonie, “‘Keeping the Faith’: How Incarcerated African American Mothers Use Religion and Spirituality to Cope with Imprisonment.” Journal of African American Studies. 2009, 13 (3), 325-347.

Travis, Jeremy et al. “Families Left Behind: The Hidden Costs of Incarceration and Reentry.”
Urban Institute Justice Policy Center. Washington D.C. 2005.

Travis, Jeremy, Amy L. Solomon, and Michelle Waul. From Prison to Home: The Dimensions and Consequences of Prisoner Reentry. The Urban Institute. Washington,D.C.: 2001.

Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets. Penguin Press, New York . 2008. (A fascinating study by a student who did research in Chicago housing projects)

Visher, Christy. Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges for Prisoners. Urban Institute. Washington D.C. 2009.

Websites

A number of organizations involved in issue of the families of the incarcerated which have websites discussing their activities and other issues of interest. Among these are:

Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers.

The Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents. http://www.e-ccip.org

Families of Incarcerated Individuals (Memphis-based) http://www.familiesofincarcerated.org/
The mission of this Memphis-based group is “to deter incarceration through family support.”

Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones. . http://www.charityadvantage.com/FILO/Home.asp

Forever Family (formerly Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers) http://www.gadisciples.org/organizations/cwf/ForeverFamily/foreverfamily.htm
Atlanta-based group that works prisoners’ children and families.

National Incarcerated Parents and Families Network. www.incarceratedparents.org


National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated www.fcnetwork.org/Resource%20Center/resource-center-main.htm -

Prison Talk website has discussion group for parents with incarcerated children http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=75

Project NIA http://www.project-nia.org/about.html They run peacemaking circles in Chicago among other things.

Transition from jail to community initiative http://www.urban.org/projects/tjc/index.cfm (deals with people in jails not prisons)

You Tube Video:

Hip hop video by Fam “Break the Chain” – the story of young man whose father goes to prison. Done as a benefit for children of incarcerated parents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5IGU8lm18s&NR=1

Documentary Films:

Huston, Brian and Adam Blank. From Prison to Home. (a film of four parolees’ experience) for info go to: http://www.fromprisontohome.com/

Television Series

The HBO series The Wire reveals a considerable amount about the impact of incarceration and the threat of incarceration on family members and communities. See especially Years One and Four.

Liberal Education

Bloom, Allan. Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students. Simon & Schuster. New York 1987. (Outlines the debates about liberal education and post-modernism)

Boman, Ylva and B. “A discussion with Martha Nussbaum on `ducation for Citizenship in an Era of Global Connection’'' Studies in Philosophy & Education; Jul-Sep 2002, 21(4/5), p305-311.

Chrucky, Andrew. "Trying to Understand the Program of Educational Reform through Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines," in Critical Thinking: Implications for Teaching and Teachers, ed. W. Oxman, M. Weinstein, N.M. Michelli (Upper Montclair: Institute for Critical Thinking, 1992) Available at : http://www.ditext.com/chrucky/weins.html

_____________. “Philosophy of Liberal Education” available at: http://www.ditext.com/libed/libed.html ( a vast but slightly dated bibliography on the topic)
Corson, David The Eclipse of Liberal Education in the Twenty-first Century?
Educational Review; Jun 2000, 52(2), p111-123.

Dewey, John. A collection of his writings on Education and Democracy is available at: http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/socl/education/DemocracyandEducation/toc.html

Donoghue, Frank. The Last Professors: The Corporate University and the Fate of the Humanities. Fordham. New York. 2008

Englund, Tomas. “Higher education, democracy and citizenship – the democratic potential of the university”. Studies in Philosophy & Education; Jul-Sep2002, Vol. 21 Issue 4/5, p281-287.

Ford, Laura C. Liberal Education and the Canon: Five Great Texts Speak to Contemporary Social Issues. Camden House. Rochester NY. 1994. (argues for the preservation of Plato et al. against accusations of Eurocentrism)

Gould, Eric. The University in a Corporate Culture. Yale. New Haven. 2003.

Hildreth, R. W. “John Dewey as a Critical Resourcefor the Theory and Practice of Civic Engagement.” Paper delivered Midwestern Political Science Association; 2004 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Kenaw, Setargew "The Idea of a University and the Increasing Pressures of Utilitarianism: A Critical Reflection on Addis Ababa University," The Ethiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 1, No. 1, December 2003 (interesting article which shows efforts to undermine the notion of liberal education in favor of more market-oriented education in an African context)

Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP). “College Learning in the New Global Century.” Association of American Colleges and Universities. Washington DC. 2008

Marsh, John. “Neither Necessary nor Sufficient: Community Education and the Fight against Poverty.” Pedagogy 9.2 (2009): 205-215 (interesting paper on the power of education as a vehicle to lift people out of poverty, written by the former Director of the Odyssey Project at the University of Illinois (C-U)).

Menand, Louis. The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University. Norton. New York. 2010.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “On Race and Voice: Challenges for Liberal Education in the 1990s”. Cultural Critique, No. 14, The Construction of Gender and Modes of Social Division II (Winter, 1989-1990), p. 179-208.

Newfield, Christopher. Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class. Harvard. Cambridge. 2008.

Nussbaum, Martha C. Education for Profit, Education for Freedom. Liberal Education; Summer 2009, 95(3). p6-13.

________________ Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Liberal Education. Harvard. Cambridge. 1997

Sears, Alan. Retooling the Mind Factory: Education in a Lean State, Garamond Press. Toronto. 2003.

Seymour, Mike. Educating For Humanity: Rethinking the Purposes of Education, Paradigm Press. Boulder 2004

Sherren, Kate. “History of the future of higher education for sustainable development.” Environmental Education Research; Jun 2008, 14 (3). p238-256.

Slaughter, Sheila and Gary Rhoades Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Markets, State, and Higher Education, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 2009

Watras, Joseph. “Was Fundamental Education Another Form Of Colonialism?”
International Review of Education. Jan2007, 53(1), p55-72.

Video Resources

Interviews with business leaders and employers about liberal education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Bg7sAFJsA

What is a Liberal Arts Education?
Ten minute summary by Professor Stephen Watt of Indiana University. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI0LEhEj5B8&feature=related