Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison, 4th Edition, is a revised and updated version of the highly successful text addressing the origins, evolution, and promise of America’s penal system.
Draws from both ethnographic and professional material, and situates the prison experience within both contemporary and historical contexts Features first person accounts from male and female inmates and staff, revealing what it’s actually like to live and work in prison Includes all-new chapters on prison reform and on supermax correctional facilities, including the latest research on confinement, long-term segregation, and death row Explores a wide range of topics, including the nature of prison as punishment; prisoner personality types and coping strategies; gang violence; prison officers’ custodial duties; and psychological, educational, and work programs Develops policy recommendations for the future based on qualitative and quantitative research and evidence-based initiatives
Foreword xi Acknowledgments xvii 1 Crime, Prison, and the Case for Corrections 1 A Predilection for Prisons 4 Prison America 6 Incarcerating Men and Women of Color 7 No Escaping Prison 9 The Goals of Prison Punishment 12 A Case for Decent Prisons 16 Decent Prisons and Mature Coping 17 General Dynamics of Adjustment 21 Decent Prisons as a Human Right 23 Notes 25 References 30 2 Modern Prisons in Historical Context 35 American Prisons Before the Penitentiary 35 Penitentiaries 37 Models of Reformative Penitentiary Quarantine 39 Women and Minorities in the Penitentiary 41 The Southern Plantation Prison 42 Reformatories 44 The Big House 47 Women and Minorities in the Big House 48 The Big House: Repression and Its Discontents 49 The Decline of the Big House 52 The Correctional Institution 53 Models of Correctional Facilities 55 Prison Violence 58 Deinstitutionalization and the Increase in Mentally Ill Inmates 61 Supermax Prisons 62 Notes 65 References 71 3 the Pains of Modern Imprisonment 76 Pain Amelioration in Prisons: Three Stages 77 Living With Deprivation 79 Loss of Liberty 79 Deprivation of Autonomy 81 Deprivation of Goods and Services 83 Boredom 85 Deprivation of Heterosexual Contact 87 Missing Family 90 Disrespect 93 Deprivation of Security 96 Pain and Harm 99 Notes 103 References 107 4 Prisoner Deficits and Immature Coping 111 Immature Coping 112 Limited Cognitive and Interpersonal Skills 112 Denial 113 Poor Self-Control 114 Defective Socialization 115 Lack of Empathy 119 Prisoner Types 120 Predatory Convicts 120 State-Raised Convicts 121 Institutionalized Inmates 122 The Mentally Ill 124 Exceptions to Immature Coping: Square Johns and Long-Termers 126 Dysfunctional Adaptations to Imprisonment 128 Reconciling Public and Private Inmate Cultures 130 Notes 133 References 138 5 the Public Culture of the Prison: Violence 144 The Nature of Violent Prisoners 146 Predatory Convicts and State-Raised Youth 148 Gang Violence 150 Hypermasculinity in Prisons 152 Fear, Street Culture, and the Campaign for Respect 154 The Mentally Ill 159 The Nature of Violent Prisons 161 Violence Exacerbated By Prison Administration and Conditions 162 Relationships Between Inmates and Officers 163 Situational Violence 166 A Note on Violence in women’s Prisons 169 Notes 172 References 177 6 The Private Culture of the Prison: Living in Prison 182 Living in Prison 183 A Day in a Life in Prison 185 The Ecology of Prison Survival 189 Prison Life, Prison Niches 194 Types of Prison Niches 197 Coping Strategies for Living in Prison 209 General Coping Strategies 209 Coping Adaptations Unique to Prison 210 Coping Strategies for Lifers and Long-Termers 212 More Than Survival 216 Notes 219 References 225 7 Correctional Officers’ Public Custodial Agenda 230 Correctional Officer as Hack 231 The Persistent Image 231 Prevalence of Correctional Officer Violence 234 Nature of Prohibited Correctional Officer Violence 236 Nature of Prison-Sanctioned Correctional Officer Violence 240 Correctional Practices That Breed Violence 244 Stress, Alienation, and Burnout 250 Dimensions of Alienation 252 Causes of Stress in the Prison Workplace 258 Notes 261 References 266 8 Prison Officers’ Private Correctional Agenda 271 Providing Human Service 271 The Nature of Human Service 272 Typology of Correctional Officers as Agents of Care 275 Human Service Activities 277 Goods and Services 277 Referrals and Advocacy 278 Helping Prisoners Adjust and Solve Problems 279 Rule Enforcement as Human Service Work: Developing Relationships and Legitimacy 282 Collaboration in Helping 286 Human Service in Perspective 291 Notes 294 References 298 9 Supermax and the Overuse of Solitary Confinement 303 Living and Working in Supermax 304 Assessing the Efficacy of the Supermax Experiment 311 Do Supermax Prisons Meet Their Goals? 311 Supermax as a Shelter and a Place to Pause 314 Some Failures of Supermax 315 Getting Into Supermax 316 Contributing to a Cycle of Violence 323 Deterioration of Mental Health 327 Supermax as Anti-Rehabilitation and Anti-Public Safety 329 Moving Forward: the Devil is in the Details 330 Notes 335 References 341 10 Reform 346 Smarter Punishment, Better Prisons 348 Reforming Prison Ecology 350 Prison Programs and the Cultivation of Mature Coping 363 Getting Out and Staying Out 372 Transitional Support 373 Reconciliation 377 Notes 379 References 387 Afterword 397 Index 400
Robert Johnson is a Professor of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University, Washington, D.C., and Editor and Publisher of BleakHouse Publishing. His publications include Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process, which won the Outstanding Book Award of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Ann Marie Rocheleau is an Associate Professor at Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts. She collaborated on research studies on adult and juvenile corrections, community policing, and drug purchase for the National Institute of Justice and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Alison B. Martin is a Policy Analyst with the Council of State Governments Justice Center. She is the co-author of Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship the World Over and Gay and Lesbian Communities the World Over. The book includes a Foreword by Francis T. Cullen, Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology at the University of Cincinnati and an Afterword by Alison Libeling, University Lecturer and Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology.
