Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies
Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies is a database curated by an international board of advisors and part of the Global Issues Library. Organized around a selection of key historical and contemporary events and mixing a case and thematic approach, this resource will look at the history of incarceration not only in the United States but also globally. The main themes and events related to mass incarceration and the history of prisons are easily explored by providing multiple perspectives and points of entries: court cases; prison experience: first-hand accounts; law and government documents; rehabilitation; training materials; policing and law; prison and identity, and theory.
The rise of academic programs in Carceral and Prison Studies underscores the importance of this collection. Statistically, the U.S. incarcerates more people than other countries around the world. Part of the Global Issues Library, Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies is organized around a selection of key historical and contemporary events and themes, bringing together archival and reference materials, court cases, first-hand accounts, videos, Supreme Court audio files, research on rehabilitation, training materials and artistic works.
The database provides a rare breadth of study for students to investigate both crucial global trends in mass incarceration, and the detailed prison infrastructure of specific countries. The collection examines prison populations and their relationship to major prison labor systems; and how correctional facilities may serve as central service providers for those with mental health issues. Other events include: the use of the death penalty; the history of correctional institutions for juvenile offenders; internment camps; prison gangs and riots; the loss of rights for prisoners.
Benefits and Key Features
- Supports an expanding range of courses in prison and carceral studies, criminology, history, human rights, sociology, law, gender, political science, international and public affairs, philosophy
- Answers the need for transnational, comparative, historical and contemporary perspectives
- Provides a lens to study race, gender, and class issues core to the curriculum and current research interests—juveniles, solitary confinement, the death penalty
- Ease of access and indexing: users can browse by titles; events and areas; themes; archival collections; Publishers; Authors/Creators; Subjects; People Discussed; Place Discussed; Organizations Discussed; Content Types
- Expansion of coverage and interplay with other Global Issues Library Collections—with retrospective and contemporaneous/ personal and institutional perspectives
Sample Events and Areas
- History of the prison
- Gangs
- War on Drugs
- Riots
- Prison industries
- Parole
- Prison Labor
- Loss of Rights
- Brown v. Plata
- Halden prison (Nordic exceptionalism)
- Concentration camps (cf. Boers, Nazi, Gulag system)
- Alcatraz
- Juveniles
- Sing Sing
- Rehabilitation programs
- Rikers
- Prison art and art programs
- Exoneration (DNA and other)
Themes
- Causes of mass incarceration
- Economics of mass incarceration
- Conditions of confinement
- Death penalty
- Non-punitive detention
- Prison identity and culture
- Reentry
- Famous prisons and prisoners
- Prison in popular culture
- Prison policy
Sample Content and Partners
Archives, Foundations, and Rare Books
- Senate House, University of London
Selections on the history of prisons and incarceration from the Bromhead Library Special Collections; Family Welfare Association Library Special Collections
- National Archives Records Administration
Records of the National Recovery Administration, 1927 - ca. 1939 (RG9). Records Relating to Prison Labor, 1934 - 1935 (PI 44 334)
- Russell Sage Foundation
Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?
Publishers
- ABC-CLIO
Prisons and Prison Systems: A Global Encyclopedia
- Bristol University Press
Reshaping Probation and Prisons
- Fordham University Press
Death and Other Penalties: Philosophy in a Time of Mass Incarceration
- L’Harmattan
Le Prisonnier : Récit d'une Incarcération
Vivre avec la Prison : des Familles Face à L'Incarcération d'un Proche
Une Mère en Prison ou L'Apprentissage de la Résistance : Uruguay 1972-1976 : Récit
Les Usages Sociaux du Théâtre Hors ses Murs
- National Academy Press
The Growth of Incarceration in the United States
- New York University Press
Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration
5 Grams: Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs
- Oxford University Press
Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality
Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe
Concentration Camps: A Short History
- PM Press
Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women
- Routledge
Contrasts in Punishment: An Explanation of Anglophone Excess and Nordic Exceptionalism
- Temple University Press
The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons
- University of Bristol. Policy Press
Imprisonment Worldwide: The Current Situation And An Alternative Future
Competition for Prisons: Public Or Private?
Getting Out and Staying Out: Results Of The Prisoner Resettlement Pathfinders
- University of California Press
Interrupted Life: Experiences of Incarcerated Women in the United States
Video
- BBC Worldwide
Miami Mega-Jail, Part 1 & 2; Tough Justice: Texas Style
- Daedalus Productions
Through the Wire; Lock Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island
- Music Video Distributors
Not for Rent!
- Parralel Lines
Thanatos Rx
- TVF International
He Didn't Do It
Three Sons Behind Bars
- Windrose
Behind the Bars
- L’Harmattan
La Récidive en Question
Editorial Board
Baz Dreisinger, Professor, John Jay College School of Criminal Justice
Hannah Elsisi, Lecturer in Modern Middle East History, King’s College London
Julie Murphy Erfani, Associate Professor, Arizona State University
Catherine Filloux, Playwright, Social Justice
Amy S. Green, Chairperson & Associate Professor, John Jay U. School of Criminal Justice
Anna Gunderson, Professor of Political Science, Louisiana State University
Vivian D. Nixon, Executive Director, College & Community Fellowship
James Oleson, Associate Professor, University of Auckland
Andrew Taylor, Research Scientist, Research Analyst at Vera Institute of Justice
