Turnstile Justice Issues in American Corrections

by Gido, Rosemary L.; Alleman, Ted

• ISBN13: 9780130409522
• ISBN10: 0130409529
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-26
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Turnstile Justice: Issues In American Corrections, 2nd Edition, offers a unique, pragmatic approach to the "sociology of corrections." Each chapter contains factual information, social context, and comprehensive research on today's critical correctional issues. The work, edited and authored by Dr. Gido, features contributions from a wide variety of scholars and practitioners. The contents range from broad correctional issues like the impact of social change on corrections and contemporary punishment philosophies to specific problems like prison violence in adult and juvenile facilities, jailed fathers, boot camps, and community reactions to prison construction. As a complement to an introductory text or "stand alone" source for a variety of critical issues courses and seminars, the book presents current topics and policies or strategies that are generating debate in the correctional field.

Author Biography

Ted Alleman was an instructor of sociology and criminal justice at two Pennsylvania State University campuses for 20 years. Drawing on his experience as a systems analyst, he designed a computerized jail management system used in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and authored the text Introduction to Computing in Criminal Justice (1996). Mr. Alleman also taught in several Pennsylvania correctional institutions.

Rosemary L. Gido is associate professor in the Department of Criminology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The former director of research, Office of Program and Policy Analysis, New York State Commission of Correction, she directed the first national prison-based study of HIV/AIDS in the New York State prison system. A teacher at the college or university level for 30 years, her current research interest is a criminological analysis of the Molly Maguires. Dr. Gido is the editor of The Prison Journal.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
About the Contributors	xiii
Turnstile Justice: American Corrections in the New Millennium	1	(5)
Rosemary L. Gido
Outside In: Societal Change and Its Impact on Corrections	6	(12)
John M. Klofas
Correctional Philosophies: Varying Ideologies of Punishment	18	(20)
Ted Alleman
Prison Violence: From Where I Stand	38	(19)
Victor Hassine
The Inmate Subculture in Juvenile Correctional Settings	57	(16)
Dorothy L. Taylor
Wilson R. Palacios
Health Care for Women Offenders: Challenge for the New Century	73	(16)
Phyllis Harrison Ross
James E. Lawrence
Jailed Fathers: Paternal Reactions to Separation from Children	89	(26)
Jamie S. Martin
The Development and Diversity of Correctional Boot Camps	115	(16)
Gaylene Styve Armstrong
Angela R. Gover
Doris Layton MacKenzie
Detention in INS Jails: Bureaucracy, Brutality, and a Booming Business	131	(14)
Michael Welch
Postsecondary Correctional Education: The Imprisoned University	145	(31)
Jon Marc Taylor
Richard Tewksbury
Community Perceptions About Prison Construction: A Case Study	176	(32)
Rand Martin
David Champion
Todd Gibney
Building Local Networks: A Guide for Jail Administrator Leadership	208
Dave Kalinich
Bruce Bikle

Excerpts

Turnstile Justice: Issues in American Corrections,second edition, provides students and practitioners in the field of corrections a set of thoughtful and critical readings on contemporary correctional issues. Designed as a freestanding text or supplement to course materials across the criminal justice/corrections spectrum, the book offers a sociology of corrections--a perspective for analyzing the social context within which current American punishment philosophy and practice take place. The author(s) of each chapter provides factual information and data on an issue or topic for the reader to examine critically for its impact on the correctional system and on society in general.The first three chapters set the tone for the entire book by outlining a context for studying American corrections. In Chapter 1, Rosemary Gido, using the analogy of aturnstile,reviews the major factors that have, at the turn of the millennium, propelled the United States to become the democratic nation with the highest incarceration rate in the world. Gido illustrates the impact of the war on drugs and the politicalization of corrections behind the U.S. "incarceration binge," documenting the high percentages of drug offenders and minorities who have come through the corrections turnstile in the past 15 years. A set of fundamental questions about corrections is offered to the reader of this text as a focus for the issues covered in the remaining chapters. Linked to the race and class issues of Chapter 1, John Klofas (Chapter 2) offers an in-depth analysis of the social changes in American cities and society and the conditions that are undermining urban community structure and vitality. Klofas thoughtfully draws out the implications of "metropolitanization" and our current "penaholic" correctional practices. Ted Alleman's Chapter 3 provides a unique, comprehensive analysis of the implications of the three predominant American correctional philosophies--utilitarian, justice, and rehabilitation--on the treatment of offenders. A practical typology matrix (page 36) summarizes features of each punishment approach.The next two chapters take us inside the prison to understand the norms and values that form the basis of inmate subcultures today. Drawing on the rich tradition of Daniel Clemmer'sThe Prison Community,the authors focus on the violence that is endemic to adult and juvenile correctional facilities today. In Chapter 4, Victor Hassine, who writes from 19 years of imprisonment experience, provides a participant observer's insights on adult prison violence. His study documents both predictors of individual violent behavior (kindling points for violence) and prison environment variables that accelerate or retard violent behaviors and trends. Dorothy Taylor and Wilson Palacios delineate the social codes and social roles of inmates in juvenile correctional facilities in Chapter 5. Recognizing the impact of contemporary street gangs, the authors summarize the research on the war on gangs and the impact that juvenile gangs are having on juvenile correctional facilities.Chapters 6 to 10 offer a comprehensive evaluation of five emerging correctional issues: treatment needs of women offenders, jailed fathers and their separation from their children, the variety of boot camps as alternatives for incarcerating adults and juveniles, noncitizens in U.S federal detention centers, and educational services for inmates. Phyllis Harrison Ross and James Lawrence in Chapter 6 challenge the traditional treatment regimes of women's prisons in the United States. Harrison Ross and Lawrence document the increase of poor and minority women in U.S. prisons and the impact on correctional systems of increased and intensified demand for specialized health care services. In Chapter 7, Jamie Martin summarizes her study of jailed fathers, a topic rarely researched in contemporary criminology. Martin refutes the stereot