23/7 : Pelican Bay Prison and the rise of long-term solitary confinement / Keramet Reiter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reiter, Keramet, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pelican Bay State Prison (Calif.).

Solitary confinement--United States.

Solitary confinement.

Prisons--California.

Prisons.

California.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 302 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Twenty three by seven

Twenty-three / seven

Pelican Bay Prison and the rise of long-term solitary confinement

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2016]

Summary:

"Originally meant to be brief and exceptional, solitary confinement in U.S. prisons has become long-term and common. Prisoners spend twenty-three hours a day in featureless cells, with no visitors or human contact for years on end, and they are held entirely at administrators' discretion. Keramet Reiter tells the history of one "supermax," California's Pelican Bay State Prison, whose extreme conditions recently sparked a statewide hunger strike by 30,000 prisoners. This book describes how Pelican Bay was created without legislative oversight, in fearful response to 1970s radicals; how easily prisoners slip into solitary; and the mental havoc and social costs of years and decades in isolation. The product of fifteen years of research in and about prisons, this book provides essential background to a subject now drawing national attention,"--Baker & Taylor.

Contents:

Introduction: When prison is not enough

A supermax life

The most dangerous prisoner

The most dangerous policies

Constructing the supermax, one rule at a time

Skeleton bay

Snitching or dying

"You can't even imagine there's people"

Another way out

Afterword.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-286) and index.

ISBN:

0300211465

9780300211467

OCLC:

945719055