Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State

by Patricia O'Brien, Judith S. Willison

Overview

With violent policing, inhumane detention and imprisonment, community surveillance and loss of civil rights, the criminal legal system is unjust; and it is crucial for social workers to understand and take steps toward change. Under the guise of helping adults in multiple correctional contexts, social workers have historically engaged in efforts that privilege the carceral system and reproduce its harmful apparatus that extends to families and communities.

Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State plots a path to change by using an anti-oppressive and transformative approach. Patricia O'Brien and Judith S. Willison critically examine strategies to shift punishment-centered practices to build collaborative partnerships and possibilities toward decarceration and individual and community power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190076757
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/19/2022
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	656,503
Product dimensions:	9.31(w) x 6.09(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Patricia O'Brien, PhD, MSW, is Associate Professor (retired) at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Nationally known for her advocacy and research on women in and out of prison, she published one of the first studies examining how women succeed in the community after release from incarceration.

Judith S. Willison, PhD, MSW, LICSW, is Associate Professor in the Bridgewater State University School of Social Work. Her scholarship focuses on understanding the place of criminalized behavior within existing systems of social inequity and institutionalized white supremacy to support activist interventions.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Sidebars xi

Foreword xiii

About the Authors xvii

Part I Foundations for Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State

1 How We Got Here and Where We Want to Go 3

How We Got Here: Carceral State Summary 7

Where We Want to Go: Social Work in the Carceral State 9

Overview of the Criminal Legal System 12

A Brief History 12

Functions and Components of the Criminal Legal System 13

Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice 17

Book Structure and Chapters 18

Expanding Our Vision 20

Online Resources 20

Notes 20

References 20

2 The Sociopolitical Context of Social Work Practice and the Carceral State 23

Anti-Oppressive Social Work: Why Sociopolitical Context Matters 26

Understanding the Sociopolitical Evolution and Expansion of the Carceral State 27

Defining the Carceral State 28

Evolution and Expansion of the Carceral State 29

Introduction to Institutional Mechanisms of the Carceral State 33

Transforming the Carceral System: Implications of a Sociopolitical Analysis for Anti-Oppressive Social Work 37

Conclusion 38

Expanding Our Vision 39

Online Resources 40

References 40

3 An Anti-Oppressive Framework for Social Work Practice in the Carceral State 44

Empowerment and Strengths Perspective 45

Anti-Oppressive Practice in the Carceral State 47

Engagement Phase 47

Teaching and Learning-Assessment Phase 49

Action and Accompaniment-Intervention Phase 51

Evaluation Phase 53

Evidence-Informed Practice in the Criminal Legal System 54

Trauma-Informed Care 55

Public Health Approach 56

Conclusion 58

Expanding Our Vision 58

Online Resources 59

References 59

4 The Criminalization of People With Mental Illness 62

The Evolution of the Criminalization of Mental Illness 66

Mechanisms of the Criminalization of Mental Illness 69

Anti-Oppressive Social Work and Public Health Interventions 72

Intercept 0: Community Services 74

Intercept 1: Law Enforcement 74

Intercept 2: Initial Detention and Court Hearings 75

Intercept 3: Jails and Courts 76

Intercept 4: Reentry 76

Intercept 5: Community Corrections 76

Conclusion 78

Expanding Our Vision 78

Online Resources 79

References 79

Part II Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice in Carceral Settings

5 An Anti-Oppressive Social Work Approach to Public Safety and Judicial Responses 87

Anti-Oppressive Social Work and Policing 89

The Changed Nature of Contemporary Police Forces 89

Policing and Community-Based Behavioral Crises 92

An Anti-Oppressive Analysis of Police-Social Work Collaborations 96

A Community-Based Approach to Public Safety 97

Anti-Oppressive Social Work and Problem-Solving Courts 100

Drug Courts 101

Mental Health Courts 102

An Anti-Oppressive Analysis of Problem-Solving Courts 103

Community-Based Restorative Responses 105

Conclusion 106

Expanding Our Vision 106

Online Resources 107

References 107

6 Transparency and Transformation in Carceral Detention 113

Healthcare During Detention 118

Suicide in Jail 120

Immigrant Detention 123

Anti-Oppressive Social Work in Jails and Detention Centers 126

Conclusion 130

Expanding Our Vision 131

Note 131

References 131

7 Challenges and Possibilities of Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice in Prison With Men 135

The Mass Incarceration of Men 137

The Buildup of Incarcerated Men: A History of Gendered Racism 138

Mechanisms of Men's Criminalization 140

Men's Convictions 141

Violent Crime 142

Men Sentenced to the Death Penalty for Capital Crimes 143

Life Sentences 144

Prison Conditions 144

Solitary Confinement and Supermax Prisons 146

Prison Suicide and Self-Injurious Behavior 148

Health Conditions 149

Practice Interventions With Men in Prison 150

Conclusion 155

Expanding Our Vision 155

Online Resources 156

References 156

8 Challenges and Possibilities of Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice in Prison With Women 162

Prison as a Gendered Organization 163

The Buildup of Women's Incarceration: Reform 163

The Buildup of Women's Incarceration: Punishment 166

Characteristics of Women in Prison 167

Women's Convictions 170

Drug Crimes 171

Sexual Crimes 171

Women Sentenced to the Death Penalty for Capital Crimes 172

Pathways to Criminalization 172

Prison Conditions 174

Solitary Confinement 174

Pregnancy/Birth/Loss 175

Sexual Assault in Prison 176

Health Conditions 177

Social Work Practice With Women in Prison 177

Promising Interventions 179

From Prison to the Community: Advocacy and Concluding Thoughts 181

Expanding Our Vision 182

Social Work Practice: Tracy 182

Group Work 182

Organization/Community 183

Online Resources 183

References 184

Part III Levels of Intervention

9 How Families Resist the Carceral State and Move Toward Healing 191

Parental Incarceration 193

Caregiving 196

Compounded Pain: The Child Welfare System 197

Visitation During Incarceration 199

Community Rebuilding 201

Conclusion 202

Expanding Our Vision 203

Online Resources 203

References 204

10 Reinvesting in People and Communities 207

Desistance from Crime 210

Community-Driven Solutions 211

Community Corrections 213

Collateral Consequences 215

Moving Homeward 217

Community-Based Treatment for Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders 221

Conclusion 223

Expanding Our Vision 224

Online Resources 224

References 224

11 Knowledge Building for Revisioning Accountability and Restoration 228

The Role of Research in Shaping Mass Incarceration 229

Anti-Oppressive Research 231

Participatory Action Research 232

Anti-Oppressive Research in the Criminal Legal System 233

Anti-Oppressive Research and Transformation in the Carceral State 237

Conclusion 239

Expanding Our Vision 239

Online Resources 240

Note 240

References 240

12 Transformative Justice: Dismantling the Carceral State 243

Structural Efforts at Reform in the Carceral State 245

Restorative Justice 245

Transformative Justice 251

Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People's Leadership 256

Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People in Anti-Oppressive Social Work 257

Anti-Oppressive Social Work and Transformation of the Carceral State 258

Expanding Our Vision 259

Online Resources 260

Note 260

References 260

13 Conclusion and a Call to Action 263

Where We Go From Here: Reforming or Transforming the Carceral State? 264

Anti-Oppressive Social Work and the Carceral State: Synopsis and Contribution 265

Implications for Anti-Oppressive Social Work and the Carceral State 268

Expanding Our Vision 270

Online Resources 270

Note 270

References 270

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

"Anti-oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State is a contribution that fills a significant gap. Increasingly there are calls for anti-oppressive social work, particularly related to carceral systems, and this book provides language and context. O'Brien and Willison have created a text for those who are new to the topic to begin to understand the important issues, and for someone who is familiar, to expand their knowledge. Anyone interested in anti-oppression should add this resource to their library." — Henrika McCoy, PhD, Associate Professor, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago

"It's not easy to find space for anti-oppressive frameworks in a place that is created for and animated by oppression. And yet this space is in deep need of both humanity, for those who are currently locked in, and disassembled. O'Brien and Willison attend to both sides of this spectrum with wisdom, strategies for anti-oppressive social work practice, and some of the most important ethical considerations for this period in social work. The books attention to practice and ethics makes it invaluable to students and practitioners." — Elizabeth L. Beck, PhD, Professor, School of Social Work at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Georgia State University

"The social work profession is at a critical point where we must question our role in maintaining the carceral state and the conflicts this creates with our professed values. Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State raises the important questions we must consider and provides some paths forward. If the profession does not address the questions raised in this important text, it risks moving towards irrelevancy." — Alan Dettlaff, Dean and Maconda Brown O'Connor Endowed Dean's Chair, University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work

"Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State delivers fully and dynamically on its stated promises. Patricia O'Brien and Judith Willison offer a creative and timely book that greatly expands the reader's grasp of the U.S. carceral state as a whole and as a set of parts. The contours and mechanisms of Its operations and unjust aspects are clearly illuminated through illustrations from the reports of people caught up in the bowels of the carceral state and from the reflections of experienced social work practitioners." — Barbara Levy Simon, PhD, Professor Emerita and Special Lecturer, Colombia School of Social Work

"Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and the Carceral State stands out as a timely and practical book." — Ran Hu, Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work

From the Publisher