The Crisis of Imprisonment
Book description
America's prison-based system of punishment has not always enjoyed the widespread political and moral legitimacy it has today. In this groundbreaking reinterpretation of penal history, Rebecca McLennan covers the periods of deep instability, popular protest, and political crisis that characterized early American prisons. She details the debates surrounding prison reform,…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Crisis of Imprisonment as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
In The Crisis of Imprisonment, McLennan examines the role of labor in the early prisons through to the Second World War. Labor was central to the motivation for adopting prisons, but also to their regular routines and functioning. After the Civil War, however, labor unions and others opposed to prisoner labor became more effective at restricting the sale of prisoner-made products, which helped to undermine the order of prisons.
The second half of the book explores the question of how do you maintain order in prisons if its central lynchpin is no longer available. It also has rich discussions…
From Ashley's list on the origins of American prisons.
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