Prison Activism and Resistance Annotated Bibliography
From digmovements
As I complete my research my annotations will begin to explain their relevance to my research. As of now, the annotations will explain what I am looking to find from the articles.
1.Currie, Elliott "Crime And Punishment In America" New York: Metropolitan Books Henry Holt and Company, 1998.
Crime and Punishment in America will be helpful to my research because the contents consist of alternatives and choices regarding the present prison industry. Elliot Currie challenges prison myths as well as addresses common misconceptions, lies and facts. I will be addressing such things in my research regarding the injustices in the current America prison system.
2. Travis, Jermey. "Invisible Punishment: Instrument of Social Exclusion" in "Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment" Mauer, Mark and Chesney-Lind, Meda, Editors. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton Company, 2002. Pgs. 15-36 Chp. 1.
Invisible Punishment:Instrument of Social Exclusion "focuses on a criminal sanction that is nearly invisible: namely, the punishment that is accomplished through the diminution of the rights and privileges of citizenship and legal residency in the United States." (pg. 15-16) I aim to look at and understand the notion that our rights are diminishing in conjunction with the rate and expansion of citizens convicted of crimes. The chapter also offers an analysis of the sentencing as well as legislative process, and the injustices that occur within the court. I would like to become more farmiliar with this area to better understand my topic.
3. Platt, Tony "The Prison Fix" in Social Justice, Vol. 33, San Francisco: 2006. Issue 4, Pg. 203, 3 Pgs.
This article is a review of Ruth Wilson Gilmore's "Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Although there are great facts and comparisons between the school system and prison industry the main focus is California and may be too specific to my research.
4. Regales, Jackie. "Engendering Justice: Prisons, Activism and Change" in Off Our Backs, Vol. 36, Washington: 2006. Issue 2, Pg. 23, 4 Pgs.
This article in Off Our Backs focuses on organizations for prison activism and answers the questions of 'why' and 'how'. This article is helpful in understanding the motives of activist groups, yet the article is not written by the groups themselves, rather by an atendee of a conference.
5.Davis, Angela. "Incarceration and the Imbalance of Power" in "Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment" Mauer, Mark and Chesney-Lind, Meda, Editors. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton Company, 2002. Pgs. 61-78 Chp.4.
The author of this article, Angela Davis, is an essential member of the prison abolition movemement. She is apart of the Critical Resistance campaign and I look foward to reading her work in conjunction with following the Critical Resistance's outreach work on the internet. Davis states in the past 30 years it has become customary to deal with law breakers by incarceration, previously other methods were considered. She says on page 61, "This focus on incarceration coincided with a shift toward incapacitation and retribution and away from rehabilitation and deterrence as the preferred goals of the criminal justice system. Instead of utilizing modes of punishment that would rehabilitate, such as treatment, community service, and fines, policy makers have changed the criminal laws and policies in ways that have often mandated lengthy prison terms for many types of criminal offenses." I am interested in this notion of alternatives to the criminal justice system and the changes that have occured recently in administering scentences. I also have a similar grievence with the system, and therefore look forward to reading about the power imbalance.
6.Greene, Judith. "Entrepreneurial Corrections: Incarceration as a Business Opportunity" in "Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment" Mauer, Mark and Chesney-Lind, Meda, Editors. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton Company, 2002. Pgs. 95-113 Chp. 6.
I have yet to read this chapter, yet it looks like it would be of great interest to me, I believe the prison 'industry' to be a huge threat to our civil rights and the justice of the criminal system. The information I am currently aware of encourages me to strongly oppose the private prison system. The first three lines of Entrepreneurial Corrections: Incarceration As a Business Opportunity states "The $2 billion private prison industry was launched in the mid-1980's after a decade of "get tough" sentencing reforms had swelled prison overcrowding to crisis proportions in the United States. The extraordinary rise in incarceration created significant opportunities for privitization. As soon as a few fledgling private prison companies were able to get a foothold in the burgeoning prison system, they began to spend millions to promote its growth." I cannot wait to continue reading and learning about the private prison system.
7.Clear, R. Todd. "The Problem with 'Addition and Subtraction': The Prison Crime Relationship in Low-income Communities" in "Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment" Mauer, Mark and Chesney-Lind, Meda, Editors. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton Company, 2002. Pgs. 181-193 Chp. 11.
I cannot wait to read The Problem with "Adition and Subtraction", I feel it will be essential to understanding why the injustices in the prison system occur and how to prevent and offer resources to those who are oppressed by the system.
8.Sussman, Y. Peter. "Media on Prisons: Censorship and Sterotypes" in "Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment" Mauer, Mark and Chesney-Lind, Meda, Editors. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton Company, 2002. Pgs. 258-278 Chp. 15.
I feel that this article will have relevence both directly to my topic of Prison Resistance and activism as well as the course work and reading we have done in Digitizing Movements thus far.
9.Davis, Angela Yvonne. The Prison Industrial Complex [Sound Recording]. San Francisco Ca: Ak Press Audio, c1999.Recorded May 5, 1997 in Colorado Springs, Co.
This lecture given by Angela Davis addresses the issue of the 'enemies of the state'- the young black male, young Latin male, young black woman, women on welfare, and immigrants- she correlates these 'enemies' with the 'other economy' [drug economy and sex economy] illegal, but often one of the only options of survival for the minority. Davis speaks of the globalization of corporations such as Nike who displace foreign communities [who then come to American hoping for a better life], remove jobs from the Americans they are constructing the shoe for and leave an economical vacuum for prisons to build upon- supplying jobs as well as becoming a profitable organization for both the construction industry and the use of cheap labor.
10. Gender, Race and the Landscape of Social Justice [Video Recording]: Our Struggle to Understand and Dismantle the Prison Industrial Complex/ Ruth Wilson Gilmore. [Olympia, WA.]: The Evergreen State College, [2007].
I have yet to complete viewing this video, but feel the lecture is necessary in understanding the prison industrial complex as well as the efforts of reform and abolition. Perhaps the lecture will address the need for community involvment in the rehabilitation process of their society members as an alternative to the out of site out of mind mentality we are currently upholding.
11.Quiet Rage [Video Recording]: The Standord Prison Study/ Stanford Instructional Television Network; Produced and Directed by Ken Musen; Written by Ken Musen and Philip Zimbardo. [Stanford, CA.]: Stanford University [Distributor] [1992], c1991.
The Stanford experiment yielded surprising results regarding the prison system, human adaptation and the power of rolls in a social situation. I feel this experiment will be of immense interest to my study of the prison system and the issue of abuse, neglect and injustice regarding the institution. I believe I will find reason to further disagree with the institution as a form of rehabilitation and be able to articulate my reasoning with more understanding of the psychological effects the system has both on inmates and employees.
12. Liptak, Adam. U.S. Prison Population Drawfs That of Other Nations, International Harold Tribune, International Harold Tribune Website April 23, 2008.
This article was published in the International Harold Tribune less than a week ago, it brings light to the issue of over crowding and our immense prison population and growth in the last decade. I feel it is a great example of Main Stream Media Coverage of the issue of our corrupt prison system in comparisson to that of other nations. It makes me excited to know the issue is not going unaddressed. I look forward to reading more of this article in the days to come.
13.Weis, Robert P.."Conclusion: Imprisonment At The Millennium 2000-Its Varitey and Patterns Throughout the World" in "Comparing Prison Systems: Toward A Comparative and International Penology" South, Nigel and Weiss, Robert P, Editors. Australia: Gordon & Breach Publishers, c1999.
This article is essential in my understanding the difference between the U.S. incarceration system and abroad, I hope it will provide answers to the question of why. Why is the American prison system the largest in the world, why do we have a population of less than five percent of the world and more prisoners then any where else? What are we doing differently? What are our views and values as a society, as capitalists and as a community?
Article contributed by: Alexa Carson
