Life Without Parole Living in Prison Today

by Hassine, Victor; Johnson, Robert; Bernard, Thomas J.; Irwin, John

• ISBN13: 9780195330120
• ISBN10: 0195330129
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In 1981 law school graduate Victor Hassine was sentenced to prison for life without parole for a capital offense. Life Without Parole , Third Edition, is an insightful look at conditions of confinement and prison life in America today, taking the reader on a "guided tour" of the prison experience. In powerful and poignant prose, Hassine conveys the changes in prison life that have come about as a result of the war on drugs, prison overcrowding, and demographic changes in inmate populations. Topics covered include rape, prison gangs, prison violence, AIDS, homosexuality, and prison politics. The Third Edition features five new chapters and continues to graphically document the violence and fear that are part of everyday life in a men's maximum-security prison. Every chapter also features a new introduction rewritten by eminent criminologist Robert Johnson. New Chapters: * Chapter 8: "Anatomy of a False Confession" recounts the story of Frank Stoppage, an innocent man who was released before DNA testing began to reveal the innumerable travesties of justice that permeate our justice system. * Chapter 17: "Scenes from a Prison" introduces us to several fascinating inmates whose lives reveal the human diversity of the prison world. * Chapter 18: "Interview With Judge Richard J. Nygaard" provides a forum for Judge Nygaard to speak with authority about our growing penal system and the ease with which society has come to live with prisons that operate as destructive human warehouses. * Chapter 23: "In Search of the Convict Code" debunks the long-held notion that there exists a convict code, unique to confinement, which is a powerful force in prison affairs. Real codes of prison conduct, we learn, are imported from the outside world and adapted to the demands of life in confinement. * Chapter 24: "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Prisons" examines how offenders cope with fear, and offers strategies on how correctional officials could convert the prison from a danger zone into an environment where new lives can be forged without fear.

Table of Contents

Prison Life Introduction

How I Became a Convict

Things Missed

Playing the Opposites

Prison Violence

The Underground Economy

Prison Politics

Race Relations in Prison

Anatomy of a False Confession

Saying Goodbye

Interviews Introduction

David: A Sexual Victim

Chaser: A Medication Addict

Toney: An AIDS Tragedy

Albert Brown: A Permanent Resident Chapter

Jacko: Surviving the Hole

Coach: A Changeling

The Dancing Man

Scenes From a Prison

Interview With

Op Ed Introduction

Prison Overcrowding

Prison Rape

Relationships Between Inmates and Guards

A Theory of Prison Evolution

In Search of the Convict Code

A Hitchhiker's Guide to Prisons

Conclusion: The Runaway Train Afterword, Richard A. Wright and Robert Johnson

Appendices

A State Tries to Rein in a Prison Awash in Drugs (Reprinted from The New York Times)

Struggle to Survive: View from Behind Bars (Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer)

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