DOCSLIB.ORG

Prison Periodicals As a Mechanism for Institutional Change

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Prison Periodicals As a Mechanism for Institutional Change Prison Periodicals as a Mechanism for Institutional Change Kaitlyn Woltz1* Abstract How did prison periodicals—newspapers written and produced by prisoners—effect institutional change in the US criminal justice system during the twentieth century? This paper answers this question by applying insights from Coyne and Leeson (2009) who argue that mass media serves as a mechanism for institutional change. In that same vein, I argue that these periodicals served as a mechanism for institutional change (both of formal criminal justice legislation and prison policies, and informal prison norms) by providing prisoners a platform by which they could influence the mental models of voters, political actors, prison officials, and other inmates. These periodicals also served as an accountability mechanism, holding political actors accountable to voters and holding prison officials accountable to the political actors who appointed them. By informing the public about the realities of prison life and the mismatch between the goal of rehabilitation and the prison experience, prisoners achieved penological reform despite a lack of direct agency over criminal justice institutions. KEYWORDS: Prison Periodicals; Prison Programming; Institutions; Institutional Change JEL CODES: K42, P16 1* Email: [email protected] Address: Department of Economics, George Mason University, MSN 3G4, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. I’m grateful for the support of the Mercatus Center and IHS that made doing this research possible. Thanks to Peter Boettke, Alain Marciano, and participants of the Graduate Student Paper Workshop through the F. A. Hayek Program for their helpful feedback. Thanks also to the librarians as John Jay College of Criminology for their help in accessing the collection of prison periodicals there. Special thanks to Dr. Ellen Belcher who helped me access the special collections at John Jay and recommended many helpful references. The usual caveat applies. The prisoners in the famous dilemma cannot change the constraints imposed on them by the district attorney; they are in jail. Not all users of natural resources are similarly incapable of changing their constraints. As long as individuals are viewed as prisoners, policy prescriptions will address this metaphor. I would rather address the question of how to enhance the capabilities of those involved to change the constraining rules of the game to lead to outcomes other than the remorseless tragedies. (Elinor Ostrom 1990, 7) We are not power brokers in the traditional sense. We can’t do that. What we have is the ability to influence people. (Wilbert Rideau editor of the Angolite from 1976 to 2001, quoted in Morris 1998, 163) 1 Introduction In 1979, Wilbert Rideau and Billy Sinclair—inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary— won the George Polk Award for special interest reporting in the Angolite (George Polk Award 2019). The Angolite was one of over 200 periodicals published out of US prisons in the twentieth century. Like many other prison journalists at the time, Rideau and Sinclair strove to use the periodical as a tool to improve the prison environment. Rideau wanted The Angolite to serve as a “two-way education process” (2010: 116). He sought to educate inmates and the administration about each other in order to reduce the tension in the prison and improve inmates’ quality of life. Other inmate journalists, who shared Rideau’s vision, also desired to educate the public about the reality of life in prison. They sought not only to reform the prison internally, but to achieve reform of the criminal justice system overall. For example, Dave Saunders, editor of the Menard Times—the inmate-produced periodical published out of Illinois State Penitentiary— was successful in inspiring the reform of parole laws in Illinois. In an editorial, he described how those inmates who had a support network and a job waiting for them after release received parole and supervisory assistance, while inmates who had neither were not released until the end of their sentence and were simply given a new suit and twenty-five dollars. Saunders’s article 2 alerted senator Paul Simon to the discrepancy in parole procedures. As a result, Simon pushed a bill through the legislature that established a system of conditional release to replace previous parole procedures (Morris 2002, 149). Afterward, Simon credited the improvement in the Illinois penal system to the Menard Times (ibid). How were inmate journalists able to effect institutional change? And, on what margins were they successful in triggering reform? I argue that prison periodicals served as a mechanism for institutional change by providing a platform through which prison journalists could influence the mental models of prisoners, guards, prison officials, political actors, and the public. I apply the framework from Coyne and Leeson (2009a, 2009b). Coyne and Leeson (2009a, 2009b) find that mass media triggers institutional change by influencing the mental models of voters and holding political actors accountable to voters. Drawing on the New Institutional Economics, Coyne and Leeson (2004,2005a, 2005b, 2009a, 2009b) analyze the role of mass media in the transition to growth enhancing institution in post-Soviet countries. They find that when the media operates freely it holds political actors accountable for the policies they implement. In this way, free media coordinates the interests of the citizenry, political actors, and special interests (Coyne and Leeson 2007). Like media outlets in Post-Soviet countries, inmate journalists challenge the mental models of the public and hold political actors and prison officials accountable for prison reform. Existing literature on prison journalism comes out of the fields of communications and criminal justice. Much of the early literature consists of descriptive research, acquainting the reader with the phenomenon of prison journalism and, at times, advocating for its further implementation in the criminal justice system (Barrows 1910; Coulter 1936; Lundon 1952, 1955; Lainson 1955; Time 1959; Baird 1967; Gettinger 1976). They document the self-proclaimed goal 3 of prison editors: to educate society about the realities of prison life. Because of this effort, these researchers attributed several roles to prison periodicals. These include rehabilitation, a release valve, penological reform, information dissemination, influencing prison culture, governance, entertainment. Through these roles these researchers represent periodicals as serving both inmates and prison officials. More recent work on prison journalism argues that by giving prisoners a voice, inmate- produced media provides prisoners with some agency within the prison. In this way, inmate- journalists influence the prison culture (Bedford 2016, 2018; Churcher 2008, 2011, 2018; Novek 2005). With the exception of Churcher (2011), these works see inmate-produced media as only influencing prisoners. They focus on how the inmate-produced media influences prisoners’ attitudes and do not account for how the inmate-produced media influences prison officials, political actors, or the public such that the resulting formal institutional change identified in descriptive research on prison journalism is explained. In contrast, Churcher (2011) argues that prison journalism unites prisoners and the public in the goal of prison reform but fails to identify a mechanism by which this coordination occurs. As the first economic analysis of prison journalism, this paper aims to fill this gap by identifying the mechanism by which prison journalism effects formal and informal institutional change both inside and outside the prison. The paper proceeds as follows: section two acquaints the reader with the phenomenon of prison periodicals. Section three applies Coyne and Leeson (2009)’s framework for how media can serve as a mechanism for institutional change to prison periodicals. Section four provides comparative evidence of efforts by prison journalists to trigger penological reform through prison periodicals. The final section concludes. 2 Prison Periodicals 4 Prison periodicals are newspapers and magazines written and produced by inmates. They vary in size and publication frequency, ranging from four-page weekly newspapers to 100-page bimonthly magazines. They have existed since 1880 and have been published out of every state (except New Hampshire) and the District of Columbia. The largest number of periodicals were in circulation during 1964, when sixty-seven periodicals were in publication, after which their numbers declined. Today, eight are still in operation. The content of the periodicals is largely consistent across publications. Inmate journalists spoke to a diverse audience: inmates, correctional officers, prison officials, political actors, judges, inmates’ family, and the public. To address all of these audiences, the periodicals included a wide range of articles. The material included for inmates focused on entertainment through jokes and sports news, communicating prison news (upcoming events, prison policy changes, and programming updates), and providing information on legal changes and resources. In addressing those involved in everyday life of the prison (inmates, correctional officers, prison officials), the periodicals advocated for change within the prison by documenting prison events that celebrated efforts by inmates to improve themselves, cooperation between inmates and guards, and calling for inmate and correctional officers to show greater respect for each other. In addressing
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Solitary Confinement Torture in California’S Security Housing Units (Shus), 12,000 People in Prisons Throughout the State Participated in the Hunger Strike
    SOLITARY CONFINEMENT - TORTURE I Thought Solitary Confinement in Iran Was Bad -- Then I Went Inside America's Prisons We throw thousands of people in prison for the books they read, the company they keep, the beliefs they hold. Here's why. of the three American hikers imprisoned in Iran after being apprehended on the Iraqi border in 2009. He spent 26 months in Tehran's Evin Prison, 4 of them in solitary. Bauer is winner of the2013 Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism for the article below, his special investigation into solitary confinement. The winning feature was published in Mother Jones and supported by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute. IT'S BEEN SEVEN MONTHS since I've been inside a prison cell. Now I'm back, sort of. The experience is eerily like my dreams, where I am a prisoner in another man's cell. Like the cell I go back to in my sleep, this one is built for solitary confinement. I'm taking intermittent, heaving breaths, like I can't get enough air. This still happens to me from time to time, especially in tight spaces. At a little over 11 by 7 feet, this cell is smaller than any I've ever inhabited. You can't pace in it. Like in my dreams, I case the space for the means of staying sane. Is there a TV to watch, a book to read, a round object to toss? The pathetic artifacts of this inmate's life remind me of objects that were once everything to me: a stack of books, a handmade chessboard, a few scattered pieces of artwork taped to the concrete, a family photo, large manila envelopes full of letters.
    [Show full text]
  • Books-Library.Online-10151911Lf5w5.Pdf
    CHAPTER 11 Press and Public Access to the Judicial Processes, Records, Places, and Meetings My relationship doesn’t fall under the Freedom of Information Act. I keep it to myself. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. —Actress Julia Roberts1 The First Amendment protects the press in two important areas. First, the govern- ment cannot interfere with the publication of material except under unusual cir- cumstances such as when national security is at stake. Second, publishers generally do not have to fear criminal sanctions. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has never explicitly recognized a First Amendment right to gather information. In those rare instances in which the Court has enunciated the rights of the media to have access to information, places, or events such criminal trials, the Court has done so on the ground that the press acts as a surrogate for the public. The Court clings to the principle that the press can claim no greater rights of access than those afforded the public under the U.S. Constitution. Thus the press faces the unfortu- nate dilemma of having broad freedom to publish but considerably less freedom to ferret out the truth. The situation may be due largely to the fact that the press at the time the Constitution was written consisted primarily of “party organs” financed by political and other special interest groups that had little concern with objectivity, fairness, and truth. They were simply seeking to inform and influence their constitu- ents and to criticize their opponents, not necessarily to serve as a watchdog over the government.
    [Show full text]
  • Law Division
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 401 561 CS 215 569 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996). Law Division. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE Aug 96 NOTE 456p.; For other sections of these proceedings, see CS 215 569-580. PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC19 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Copyrights; *Court Litigation; *Freedom of Information; *Freedom of Speech; *Government Role; Homosexuality; Juvenile Courts; Libel and Slander; Policy Formation; Programming (Broadcast); Telecommunications; War; World Wide Web IDENTIFIERS Fairness Doctrine; Media Coverage; Prisoners Rights; Telecommunications Act 1996 ABSTRACT The law section of the Proceedings contains the following 12 papers: "Middle Justice: Anthony Kennedy's Freedom of Expression Jurisprudence" (Evelyn C. Ellison); "Defending the News Media's Right of Access to the Battlefield" (Timothy H. Hoyle); "The Freedom of Information Act and Access to Computerized Government - Information" (Hsiao-Yin Hsueh); "Opening the Doors to Juvenile Court: Is There an Emerging Right of Public Access?" (Thomas A. Hughes); "Linking Copyright to Home Pages" (Matt Jackson); "Protecting Expressive Rights on Society's Fringe: Social Change and Gay and Lesbian Access to Forums" 'Koehler) ;'Thy Nature of Defamation: Social h,res an,. Accusations of Homosexuality" (Elizabeth M. Koehler); "Radio Public Affairs Programming since the Fairness Doctrine" (Kenneth D. Loomis); "Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. Revisited: An Assessment of the Case's Impact So Far" (Hugh J. Martin); The Third-Person Effect and Attitudes toward Expression" (Mark Paxton); "Televising Executions: A Prisoner's Right of Privacy" (Karl H.
    [Show full text]
  • The Angola Special Civics Project, 1987-1992
    University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Summer 8-4-2011 Organizing for Freedom: The Angola Special Civics Project, 1987-1992 Lydia Pelot-Hobbs University of New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Pelot-Hobbs, Lydia, "Organizing for Freedom: The Angola Special Civics Project, 1987-1992" (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 349. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/349 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Organizing for Freedom: The Angola Special Civics Project, 1987-1992 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Studies by Lydia Pelot-Hobbs B.A. Oberlin College 2007 August 2011 Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Epigraph .............................................................................................................................. v Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Corrections Policies and Issues 177
    CORRECTIONS POLICIES 8 AND ISSUES Prisons do not exist in a vacuum; they are part of a political, social, economic, and moral order. — JAMES B. JACOBS, MACROSOCIOLOGY AND IMPRISONMENT, 1977 INTRODUCTION The most consequential issue in American corrections since the early 1980s has been the extent of use of incarceration itself as a crime control measure. Is America better off in 2003 with more than 2 million behind jail and prison bars than it was in 1980, when that number was about 400,000? We will come back to this issue in the international context in chapter 16 at the end of this book. In this chapter, we will look briefly at several other issues that have dominated policy debates regarding institutional corrections in the past decade. After reading the material in this chapter, you should be familiar with: 1. Professionalization and the accreditation movement in corrections. 2. Prison health care. 3. Responding to population increases. 4. Privatization. 5. Race and imprisonment. PROFESSIONALIZATION AND ACCREDITATION Professionalization and accreditation have become important terms in correc- tional administration in the past two decades. Professionalization has to do with gaining professional status for persons working in corrections, while acc- reditation seeks comparable status for their employing organizations. “Professional” is a commonplace term in America today. In its simplest forms, it means one who follows an occupation as a means of earning a living— a professional baseball player as opposed to someone who just plays ball for ISBN: 0-536-16545-9 the fun of it—or merely someone who is an expert at what he does—such as an experienced plumber.
    [Show full text]
  • National Prison Project
    COVER PHOTOGRAPH: A/P WIDE WORLD PHOTOS 1 Joyce Gilson AUTHORS National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU National Prison Project Founded in 1972 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National 915 15th Street NW, 7th Floor Prison Project (NPP) seeks to ensure constitutional conditions of confinement Washington, DC 20005 and strengthen prisoners’ rights through class action litigation and public educa- Tel: (202) 393-4930 tion. Our policy priorities include reducing prison overcrowding, improving pris- Fax: (212) 393-4931 oner medical care, eliminating violence and maltreatment in prisons and jails, and www.aclu.org minimizing the reliance on incarceration as a criminal justice sanction. The Pro- ject also publishes a semi-annual Journal, coordinates a nationwide network of liti- gators, conducts training and public education conferences, and provides expert advice and technical assistance to local community groups and lawyers through- out the country. CO-AUTHORS & CONTRIBUTORS American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana ACLU of Louisiana The ACLU of Louisiana has protected traditional American values as a P.O. Box 56157 guardian of liberty since its founding in 1956. Our mission is to conserve Amer- New Orleans, LA 70156-6157 ica’s original civic values embodied in the U.S. Constitution and the Louisiana Tel: (504) 522-0617 Constitution by working daily in the courts, legislature, and communities. We Toll Free: (866) 522-0617 defend the rights of every man, woman, and child residing in this state against Fax: (504) 522-0618 attempts by the government to take away or limit civil liberties and personal free- www.laaclu.org doms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, as well as federal and state laws.
    [Show full text]
  • E Media, the Jury, and the High-Profile Defendant: a Defense
    VOLUME 55 | 2010/11 JOHN C. MERINGOLO !e Media, the Jury, and the High-Pro"le Defendant: A Defense Perspective on the Media Circus ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Meringolo received his J.D. from New York Law School in 1999 and is currently a criminal defense attorney in New York City. Early in his career, Mr. Meringolo gained experience while working under the esteemed James LaRossa, beginning with the trial of United States v. DeMartino, No. 03 CR 285 (RJD) (E.D.N.Y. May 7, 2004). Such experience provided Mr. Meringolo instant exposure to high-profile criminal defense. Over the last seven years of Mr. Meringolo’s private practice, he has tried numerous high-profile cases, including: United States v. DePalma, No. 05 CR 225 (AKH) (S.D.N.Y. June 6, 2006), United States v. Boyle, No. 03 CR 970 (SJ) (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 21, 2005), Indictment, People v. Lucente, No. 490-09 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 18, 2010), and, as discussed later in this article, United States v. Gotti, No. 08 CR 1220 (PKC) (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 1, 2009). Aside from practicing law, Mr. Meringolo also teaches Trial Advocacy as an Adjunct Professor at New York Law School. 981 THE MEDIA, THE JURY, AND THE HIGH-PROFILE DEFENDANT I. INTRODUCTION Throughout American history, there has been tension between the Sixth Amendment right of a criminal defendant to receive a fair trial and the First Amendment right for freedom of the press to publish news about criminal trials. Over the last seventy-five years in particular, media coverage of trials has steadily increased as a result of rapid advancements in technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Verdict: the Death Penalty Can Never Be Just
    Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 19, Number 47, November 27, 1992 • �TIillBooks Verdict: The death penalty can never be just by Katherine R. Notley The book deals mainly with three interconnected areas: how to improve the prison sys�em, especially through ex­ Life Sentences: Rage and Survival Behind panded and proper use of prob.tion and parole; profiles of Bars men serving life sentences, who lacked the resourcesto effec­ by Wilbert Rideau and Ron Wikberg tively seek parole status, and he ce have remained in prison Random House, New York, 1992 p 342 pages, paperbound, $15 for 20,30,40 years or more; ancll the death penalty. Interestingly, the first two :areas-that is, the lack of justice in both our justice syste� and penal system-make up a ringing indictment of imposing death as a sentence. The authors' fact-based approach to the death penalty renders an Crossed Over: A Murder/A Memoir inescapable verdict: This venge�ce must stop. by Beverly Lowry AlfredA. Knopf, New York, 1992 Convicts reform the pen�1 system 245 pages, hardbound, $22 In discussing the needed ref\orms of the penal system­ as in every subject they raise-+the authors use reportorial understatement to great effect. !Easily the most potentially In spite of the sensationalist subtitle, Life Sentences is any­ heated subject comes under the �hapter "The Sexual Jungle." thing but sensationalist. A collection of articles from 1978 With matter-of-fact persistence,! Editor Rideau describes the to 1991 that originally appeared in The Angolite: The Prison phenomenon of prison
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Petert Bishop Caster 2004
    Copyright by Petert Bishop Caster 2004 The Dissertation Committee for Peter Bishop Caster Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE LANGUAGE OF THE PRISON HOUSE: INCARCERATION, RACE, AND MASCULINITY IN TWENTIETH CENTURY U.S. LITERATURE Committee: Evan Carton, Supervisor Phil Barrish Barbara Harlow Martin Kevorkian David Oshinsky THE LANGUAGE OF THE PRISON HOUSE: INCARCERATION, RACE, AND MASCULINITY IN TWENTIETH CENTURY U.S. LITERATURE by Peter Bishop Caster, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2004 ACKNOWLEDG MENTS The committee supervising this dissertation proved invaluable in their diligent reading and careful comments, and I thank Evan Carton, Barbara Harlow, Phil Barrish, Martin Kevorkian, and David Oshinsky for their tireless efforts. As the primary advisor, Carton in particular read early, unpolished work and helped shape its development. Many others have provided useful feedback on early drafts of chapters, and I thank Warwick Wadlington, Jill Dolan, Julie Sievers, Douglas Taylor, Timothy Buckner, Zac hary Dobbins, Richard Schechner, and the staff and anonymous reviewers for both The Faulkner Journal and The Drama Review . Versions of Chapter Two and Chapter Five, respectively, appeared in those journals, and I am grateful for permission to reprint that material here. The Austin, Texas playwright Ken Webster provided extensive personal background for his writing of Jury Duty as well as a draft of the unpublished manuscript. Much of the material in this dissertation appeared in early draft form at numer ous conferences, including the USC English Conference in Drama, the Northeast Modern Language Association, the American Comparative Literature Association, and the American Studies Association.
    [Show full text]
  • Phoebe Jones: a Bend in the Punitive Road
    A Bend in the Punitive Road: The Unexpected Profundity of Burl Cain’s Religious and Moral Rehabilitation in Angola Prison, 1995-2015 Phoebe Jones Department of History, Barnard College Professor Carl Wennerlind April 18, 2018 Home to God Let me walk, my blessed Saviour In the way that thou hast trod Keep my eyes upon the goal Lord till I make it home to God Let me never walk in darkness Keep my mind upon the right Never let old Satan snare me Lost in that eternal night Keep me moving upward Life my eyes straight up to thee - Donald Hanson #499906 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Acknowledgements 4 II. Introduction 5 Why Angola? Historiography 8 III. A History of the American Prison 11 Historical Balancing Act: Retribution vs. Rehabilitation IV. Moral and Religious Rehabilitation: A Break from Angola’s Retribution 30 Until Burl: An Eye for an Eye: The Four Phases of Retributive History I. Slavery II. Convict Leasing III. Anti-Progressive Progressive Era IV. Heel Stringing V. The 1960’s Onwards Angola Under Burl 35 I. Towards Racial Equality through Education II. Altering Values/Identity as seen through The Angolite III. Transforming Power Dynamics & Physical Spaces IV. From Life to Death, Re-Valuing Loss V. Conclusion 59 VI. Figures 62 VII. Bibliography 63 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe an entire lifetime of gratitude to Sarah Gale and Jessica Call—best friends and fellow history majors. Not only have you both relentlessly supported me throughout this seemingly never-ending thesis process, but the past four years with the two of you have taught me what true Barnard friendship means.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Place of Justice Reading Guide
    Wright State University CORE Scholar Dayton Literary Peace Prize Cumulative DLPP Reading Guides Bibliography 2015 In the Place of Justice Reading Guide John Aghishian Wright State University - Main Campus April Caulfield Wright State University - Main Campus Taylor Clark Wright State University - Main Campus Rachel Ewing Wright State University - Main Campus Jamie Gaffin Wright State University - Main Campus See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_guides Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Repository Citation Aghishian, J., Caulfield, A., Clark, .,T Ewing, R., Gaffin, J., Gale, S., Ganz, E., Garrett, K., Jones, M., Laing, E., Lynch, C., Mangan, S., Mills, A., Ramey, R., Ray, C., Sorg, E., Weisman, A., & York, B. (2015). In the Place of Justice Reading Guide. https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_guides/2 This Guide is brought to you for free and open access by the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Cumulative Bibliography at CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in DLPP Reading Guides by an authorized administrator of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors John Aghishian, April Caulfield, aT ylor Clark, Rachel Ewing, Jamie Gaffin, Sarah Gale, Ellie Ganz, Kareem Garrett, Mollie Jones, Erin Laing, Caitlyn Lynch, Sean Mangan, Anna Mills, Rebecca Ramey, Chelsea Ray, Esther Sorg, Alyssa Weisman, and Bethany York This guide is available at CORE Scholar: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_guides/2 In the Place of Justice Reading Guide Introduction What happens to a man when he is stripped of his freedom? What happens to a person when they are told they aren’t deserving of a fair chance? These are questions that, thankfully, very few people ever have to answer.
    [Show full text]
  • Confronting Christian Penal Charity: 103
    Confronting Christian Penal Charity: 103 Confronting Christian Penal Charity: Neoliberalism and the Rebirth of Religious Penitentiaries Michael Hallett* When historians talk of the cultural forces which have influenced penal policy, the forces which they have in mind are most often religion and humanitarianism. (Garland 1990,203) FFORTS TO REDUCE TAXPAYER SPENDING ON PRISONS HAVE FEATURED ex- panded use of private for-profit corporations as well as increased use Eof voluntary service organizations, particularly faith-based programs seeking offenders’ self-transformation (Hannah-Moffat 2000). In an effort to end the government monopoly on delivery of services in criminal justice, a new level of both market competition and structural charity has become an increasingly commonplace feature of correctional budgeting (see Hackworth 2012, 45–46; Hallett 2006; Tomczak 2016). In an as yet little-explored dimension of carceral devolution, the trend of privately funded Christian seminaries being planted in US prisons reflects a growing prominence of religious neoliberalism in US corrections (see Hackworth 2012, Hallett et al. 2016, Miller 2014). Due to widespread reliance by corrections officials upon faith-based charities to deliver cost-effective services to prisoners and ex-offenders, faith-based resources are increasingly the sole or best-resourced programs available for inmates (Erzen 2017, Hackworth 2012, Sullivan 2009, Tomczak 2016). Federal revocation of Pell Grant eligibility for convicted felons in 1994 has produced a market opportunity for enrollment growth among Chris- * Michael Hallett (email: [email protected]) is Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida. Dr. Hallett has published in numerous books and journals, including Punishment & Society, Justice Quarterly, Critical Criminology, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, and The Prison Journal.
    [Show full text]