NCJ Number
90529
Date Published
1983
Length
239 pages
Annotation
These 12 essays present sociolegal analyses of contemporary American prisons, with emphasis on the sociology of prisons, prison labor relations, questions of race, and legal policy.
Abstract
A macrolevel analysis, focusing on the organizational life of the prison and its components, compares the status of prisons and prisoners in several countries. A discussion of the prisoners' rights movement and its impact explains the movement as a legal and political effort whose participants are prisoners, public interest lawyers, Federal judges, and some leaders of the national corrections establishment. An analysis of the history of prison race relations focuses on showing how the recognition of racial divisions and conflict makes the traditional descriptions and explanations of the prisoner subculture untenable. Policy consequences of prison race relations are also explored. Empirical studies on prison politics explore the complex relationship between the correctional system and the local community, news about prisons in the mass media, and votes on prison issues. A description of the nature and content of the prison guard's job emphasizes the stresses on the guard's role that have been generated by larger societal trends. A case study of the 1979 strike of New York's prison guards focuses on the underlying causes: strains within the guard's role and an increasing division of interest between the rank and file and top departmental administrators. The effects on the uniformed guard force of racial and sexual integration are examined, along with attitudes of guards from different subgroups. The impact that either a compulsory or voluntary national service program might have on prisons is discussed. Footnotes, data tables, an index, a table of cases, and a list of about 250 references are provided.