The Prison Journal: An International Forum on Incarceration and Alternative Sanctions

Fisher-Giorlando, Marianne

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329489pmid: N/A

DiMascio, William

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329488pmid: N/A

Wodahl, Eric J.; Garland, Brett

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329775pmid: N/A

Community corrections has grown into a salient component of the correctional system. This article traces the growth and development of community-based sanctions in the United States. The authors assert that the evolution of community corrections has largely been shaped by its enduring relationship with the prison. Thus, it is not possible to fully comprehend the evolution of community-based corrections without considering the influence of the institutions. As such, this article documents the development and durability of community corrections by focusing on their unique and dynamic relationship with the prison.

Lurigio, Arthur J.

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329773pmid: N/A

This article reviews The Lucifer Effect, a fascinating and incisive book by Phillip Zimbardo, a professor emeritus at Stanford University. The book is a multilayered and compelling treatise about the malleability of human nature and the utter rapidity with which it can change from civility to malevolence. Lying at the heart of the volume is a painstaking chronology of the Stanford Prison Experiment, a case study that illustrates the overriding “power of the situation” to transform “good citizens” into “evil doers.” The book's most valuable contributions are the parallels Zimbardo draws between the experiment and the Abu Ghraib atrocities. This underscore the timelessness of the insights generated in his laboratory that went unheeded in Iraq because of systemic and situational forces that compelled young men and women of the military to engage in wanton acts of abuse and torture. The author extracts from The Lucifer Effect seven enduring lessons for America's prison administrators.

Johnston, Norman

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329761pmid: N/A

This article explores the usages of imprisonment, both de facto and de jure, from its earliest recorded use 3,000 years ago down to recent times. Early scattered use, unreflected in the statutes, was followed by houses of correction for minor offenders and later, displacing capital punishment, for major crimes. Serious reform in England and Pennsylvania and the subsequent battle between two systems developed in Pennsylvania and New York states and their ultimate demise are described. The origins of special prisons for women, youth, and other categories are traced, and early prison labor and schooling are described.

Perkinson, Robert

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329772pmid: N/A

This article examines the role of prisoner self-expression in destabilizing the harshest penal regime in American history, convict leasing, which developed more extensively in Texas than in any other state. In particular, it analyzes African American work songs and turn-of-the-century convict autobiographies written mainly by Whites. It argues that prisoner criticisms influenced free-world leasing opponents and that convict resentment thereafter complicated postleasing reform efforts. In the tradition of anti-institutional prison sociologists, the article suggests that reform-oriented prisons often have difficulty maintaining order because their newly expectant inmates desire release over rehabilitation.

Craig, Susan C.

doi: 10.1177/0032885508329768pmid: N/A

Programs for incarcerated mothers and their children have received little scholarly attention over the years. This article presents a historical review and discussion of programs for incarcerated mothers and their children in the United States. Recurring themes in the history of these programs include the pervasive effects of race and class, the state's attempt to regulate and control women's minds and bodies, and the persistent dilemmas posed by the presence of mothers in prison. The article begins with an examination of historical influences from England and continues with an overview of programs in the United States from the early 1800s to the present. A discussion and recommendations for further research are provided.