Total confinement : madness and reason in the maximum security prison / Lorna A. Rhodes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rhodes, Lorna A. (Lorna Amarasingham)

Series:

California series in public anthropology ; 7.

California series in public anthropology ; 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Solitary confinement--United States.

Solitary confinement.

Prisoners--Mental health--United States.

Prisoners.

Imprisonment--United States.

Imprisonment.

Prisons--United States.

Prisons.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (331 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this rare firsthand account, Lorna Rhodes takes us into a hidden world that lies at the heart of the maximum security prison. Focusing on the "supermaximums"-and the mental health units that complement them-Rhodes conveys the internal contradictions of a system mandated to both punish and treat. Her often harrowing, sometimes poignant, exploration of maximum security confinement includes vivid testimony from prisoners and prison workers, describes routines and practices inside prison walls, and takes a hard look at the prison industry. More than an exposé, Total Confinement is a theoretically sophisticated meditation on what incarceration tells us about who we are as a society. Rhodes tackles difficult questions about the extreme conditions of confinement, the treatment of the mentally ill in prisons, and an ever-advancing technology of isolation and surveillance. Using her superb interview skills and powers of observation, she documents how prisoners, workers, and administrators all struggle to retain dignity and a sense of self within maximum security institutions. In settings that place in question the very humanity of those who live and work in them, Rhodes discovers complex interactions-from the violent to the tender-among prisoners and staff. Total Confinement offers an indispensable close-up of the implications of our dependence on prisons to solve long-standing problems of crime and injustice in the United States.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

Author's Note

Preface

Introduction

1. Controlling Troubles

2. The Choice to Be Bad

3. The Asylum of Last Resort

4. Custody and Treatment at the Divide

5. The Games Run Deep

6. Struggling It Out

Glossary of Prison Terms

Appendix: Note on Research

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612762994

9781597349611

1597349615

9781282762992

1282762990

9780520937680

0520937686

OCLC:

70746434