Ironies of Imprisonment / Edition 1

by Michael Welch

Overview

A textbook for a graduate or undergraduate corrections course in sociology, criminology, and criminal justice programs. It traces the ironies of imprisonment to their root causes manifesting in social, political, economic, and racial inequality. Welsh here substantively revises his Punishment in America: Social Control and the Ironies of Imprisonment. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900761930593
Publication date:	06/16/2004
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

MICHAEL WELCH received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Texas and is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (USA). He has correctional experience at the federal, state, and local levels. His research interests include punishment and social control, and he has published numerous articles for academic journals, edited volumes, and other scholarly publications. His key writings have appeared in Justice Quarterly, Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, The Prison Journal, Crime, Law & Social Change, Social Justice, Youth & Society, Race, Gender & Class, Critical Criminology: An International Journal, Contemporary Justice Review, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Women & Criminal Justice, Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Journal of Crime & Justice, Addictive Behaviors: An International Journal, Dialectical Anthropology, Journal of Offender Counseling, Services & Rehabilitation, Social Pathology, Crisis Intervention & Time-Limited Treatment, Federal Probation: Journal of Correctional Philosophy & Practice, and The Justice Professional. Also he is author of Detained: Immigration Laws and the Expanding I.N.S. Jail Complex (2002, Temple University Press), Flag Burning: Moral Panic and the Criminalization of Protest (2000, de Gruyter), Punishment in America: Social Control & the Ironies of Imprisonment (1999, Sage), and Corrections: A Critical Approach, (2nd edition, 2004, Mc Graw-Hill). He serves as an Affiliate with Center for Mental Health Services and Criminal Justice Research at Rutgers University. Welch invites you to visit his website www.professormichaelwelch.com

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Preface	xiii
1.	Introduction	1
	End-of-Chapter Questions	5
2.	Discovery of the Penitentiary	7
	Punishment in Colonial America	9
	Institutionalization During the Jacksonian Era	9
	The Pennsylvania and Auburn Systems of Prison Discipline	11
	Rothman and Social Control	12
	Critical Interpretations of the History of Prisons	14
	Conclusion	17
	End-of-Chapter Questions	17
3.	Critical Penology	19
	Emergence of Critical Criminology	20
	Contemporary Critical Criminology	22
	Production of Problem Populations in Capitalist Society	25
	Disparities in Sentencing	27
	Postmodern Feminism	29
	Anarchist Criminology	30
	Conclusion	32
	End-of-Chapter Questions	33
4.	War on Drugs and Just War Theory	35
	Just War Theory	37
	Justice of the War on Drugs: Evaluating the Moral Reasons	38
	Legitimate Authority	39
	Right Intention	40
	Last Resort	43
	Justice in the War on Drugs: Evaluating the Means	49
	Discrimination	52
	Conclusion	55
	End-of-Chapter Questions	56
5.	Health Care Crisis Behind Bars	57
	HIV/AIDS: Metaphors and Morality	58
	Prisoners With HIV/AIDS as a Problem Population	62
	Tuberculosis in Corrections	69
	Aging Prisoners	71
	The Phenomenology of Imprisonment and Suffering	72
	Conclusion	74
	End-of-Chapter Questions	75
6.	Reproducing Prison Violence	77
	Ironies of Social Control	79
	Escalation	79
	Nonenforcement	89
	Covert Facilitation	95
	Conclusion	98
	Notes	100
	End-of-Chapter Questions	100
7.	Ironies of Capital Punishment	101
	Escalation	102
	Brutalization Versus Deterrence	103
	Creation of New Categories and Net Widening	104
	Nonenforcement	109
	Covert Facilitation	112
	Forced Confessions	116
	Conclusion	118
	End-of-Chapter Questions	119
8.	War on Terror and the Misuse of Detention	121
	Profiling in the War on Terror	122
	Special Registration Program	123
	Misuse of Detention	127
	Government Secrecy	131
	The 2003 Inspector General's Report	134
	Conclusion	136
	Note	137
	End-of-Chapter Questions	137
9.	Punitive Profit	139
	Production of Prisoners	141
	The Corrections Economy	144
	Privatizing Punishment	146
	Corrections-Industrial Complex	147
	Private Prisons, Public Problems	148
	Accountability and Liability	150
	Questionable Claims of Cost Savings	151
	Abuse of Inmates and Security Lapses	152
	Reproducing Inequality	154
	Economic Ironies and Rural Prisons	155
	Student Activism Takes Aim at Prison Profiteering	158
	Conclusion	160
	Note	161
	End-of-Chapter Questions	162
10.	Confronting Corrections	163
	Critical Penology and the Culture of Control	165
	Juvenile Superpredators	166
	Wilding: Manufacturing Menace in the Media	169
	Three Strikes, You're Out	173
	A Final Look at Prisonomics	175
	Conclusion	178
	Notes	180
	End-of-Chapter Questions	181
	Cases	183
	Bibliography	185
	Index	231
	About the Author	239

Editorial Reviews

"Michael Welch’s book is an invitation to think. It is an invitation to grow intellectually and critically, as a consumer of crime policy and an observer of the American scene. Written by a scholar who has dedicated his work to uncovering the hidden ironies of formal crime policy, this is a collection of essays of depth and significance. "

Todd R. Clear

"The American correctional system is too often misshaped by a toxic mixture of ideology, anti-intellectualism, wishful thinking, and structural interests. Michael Welch uses his substantial critical skills to illuminate how these various factors intersect to create policies and practices that produce, in the end, more injustice and less public safety. His sobering analysis deconstructs the rhetoric used to justify mass imprisonment and its unanticipated, disquieting consequences. "

Frank Cullen

"Michael Welch has written a book which anyone who is looking for an alternative to conventional and conservative approaches to prisons and punishment should read. Welch provides the groundwork for the development of a penology which engages critically with the growing tensions and ironies of imprisonment. "

Roger Matthews

"This book brings to the reader in an accessible and engaging way questions of central concern to criminologists, politicians, penal reformists, and policy makers . . . This book achieves its aim in demonstrating that the prison enterprise is inhumane and unjust in its delivery of justice. "

Springer - Azrini Wahidin

"This book brings to the reader in an accessible and engaging way questions of central concern to criminologists, politicians, penal reformists, and policy makers . . . This book achieves its aim in demonstrating that the prison enterprise isinhumane and unjust in its delivery of justice. "— Azrini Wahidin

Springer