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Witness : an insider's narrative of the carceral state / Lyle C. May, foreword by Danielle Purifoy.
Van Pelt Library HV8699.U5 M39 2024
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- May, Lyle C.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Death row--United States.
- Death row.
- Death row inmates--United States.
- Death row inmates.
- Mass incarceration--United States.
- Mass incarceration.
- Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.
- Criminal justice, Administration of.
- Prison abolition movements--United States.
- Prison abolition movements.
- Prison-industrial complex--United States.
- Prison-industrial complex.
- COVID-19 (Disease)--Social aspects.
- COVID-19 (Disease).
- Physical Description:
- xii, 272 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
- Other Title:
- An insider's narrative of the carceral state
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago, Ill. : Haymarket Books, 2024.
- Summary:
- "No outside journalist can adequately report what happens inside death row or what it is like to live through thirty-three executions of people you know. Lyle C. May has spent more than twenty-five years of his life on North Carolina's congregate death row. May's grounded writings in Witness challenge the myths, misconceptions, and misinformation about the criminal legal system and death in prison. With a foreword by activist, lawyer, and professor Danielle Purifoy, and drawing on the work of Angela Y. Davis, Mariame Kaba, and other abolitionist scholars, Witness shows there is more to life under the sentence of death than what is portrayed in crime dramas or mass media. May's life, journalism, and activism are a guidebook to abolitionism in practice." --back cover.
- Contents:
- Part I. State of Violence: Capital Punishment and Death Row. Chapter 1. Learning to Die
- Chapter 2. Secrecy and the Death Penalty
- Chapter 3. A Confirmation of Faith
- Chapter 4. Death Row Phenomenon
- Chapter 5. A Tale of Two Henrys
- Chapter 6: Qualified Immunity: How "Ordinary Police Work" Tramples Civil Rights
- Chapter 7. The Economics of Capital Punishment: An Abolitionist Argument
- Chapter 8. On Death Row, Eating to Live
- Frontline Snapshots of Activism
- Interview with Ben Finholt
- Part II. Carceral State: Life Imprisonment. Chapter 9. Life without Parole is a Silent Execution
- Chapter 10. Beyond the Wall
- Chapter 11. Death by Incarceration
- Chapter 12. The Myth of Deterrence
- Chapter 13. Paroling Michael Pinch
- Chapter 14. Mob Mentality in Politics: A Viral Space Where Bad Laws Are Made
- Frontline Interview with Kerwin Pittman
- Frontline Interview with Marsha Owen
- Part III. Culture of Control: Challenging the Narrative. Chapter 15. Draconian Ideals
- Chapter 16. Freeing the Press in Prisons
- Chapter 17. Prison Journalism: Fighting the Narrative of Control
- Chapter 18. Developing a Career from Prison: It Takes a Team
- Chapter 19. On Retaliation Against Incarcerated Writers
- Chapter 20. Keeping the People Ignorant: When Censorship Contributes to Misinformation around Mass Incarceration
- Chapter 21. "A Modernized, Streamlined Incarceration Experience": New Prison Technology Surveils Life on Both Sides of the Wall
- Interview with Kathy Williams
- Interview with Tessie Castillo
- Part IV: Witness: Advocacy and Abolition. Chapter 22. Science vs. Anti-Intellectualism and the Death Penalty
- Chapter 23. Protesting Death
- Chapter 24. Inside the Tinder Box: COVID-19 in Prison
- Chapter 25. When the Thermometer Breaks
- Chapter 26. Thank You for Your Service: Punishment and Disposability
- Chapter 27. Jesus as a Man on Death Row
- Interview with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
- Part V. The Fury of Resistance. Chapter 28. The Hole: To Live Means to Resist
- Chapter 29: The Fury of Our Resistance
- Chapter 30. Attention, Activists, and Election Cynics: Crowdfunding Local Political Campaigns Can Combat Mass Incarceration
- Chapter 31. Reform or Abolish: Taking Steps to Shrink the Carceral State
- Amber Caron Interviews Lyle C. May
- An Essay Adapted from Lyle C. May's The Transformative Journey of Higher Education in Prison: A Class of One.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.
- ISBN:
- 9781642599718 (pbk.)
- 1642599719 (pbk.)
- OCLC:
- 1429161997
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