imprisonment

"Galvanized by her work in our nation's jails, psychiatrist Christine Montross illuminates the human cost of mass incarceration and mental illness. Dr. Christine Montross has spent her career treating the most severely ill psychiatric patients. Several years ago, she set out to investigate why so many of her patients got caught up in the legal system when discharged from her care--and what happened to them therein. Waiting for an Echo is a riveting, rarely seen glimpse into American incarceration. It is also a damning account of policies that have criminalized mental illness, shifting large numbers of people who belong in therapeutic settings into punitive ones. The stark world of American prisons is shocking for all who enter it. But Dr. Montross's expertise--the mind in crisis--allowed her to reckon with the human stories behind the bars. A father attempting to weigh the impossible calculus of a plea bargain. A bright young woman whose life is derailed by addiction. Boys in a juvenile detention facility who, desperate for human connection, invent a way to communicate with one another from cell to cell. Overextended doctors and correctional officers who strive to provide care and security in environments riddled with danger. In these encounters, Montross finds that while our system of correction routinely makes people with mental illness worse, just as routinely it renders mentally stable people psychiatrically unwell. The system is quite literally maddening. Our methods of incarceration take away not only freedom but also selfhood and soundness of mind. In a nation where 95 percent of all inmates are released from prison and return to our communities, this is a practice that punishes us all"--.

"After her mother goes to jail, Deena's grandmother, father, and best friend all do their best to help her deal with her feelings of anger"--OCLC.

Approximately ten thousand children are imprisoned in adult correctional facilities in the United States on any given day. Children as young as thirteen have received life sentences in prisons far from their family and community, vulnerable to abuse and neglect. These are often the same conditions that led them there in the first place. What is the most effective method of dealing with youth offenders? Should they be tried as adults and incarcerated with adult prisoners? Is money better spent on education and rehabilitation? This resource tackles these difficult questions through diverse perspectives written by authorities on the subject.

Explores the American prison system, a brief history of incarceration, whether or not incarceration works, and alternatives to imprisonment.

"The American criminal justice system is supposed to be a contest between two equal adversaries, the prosecution and the defense, with judges ensuring a fair fight. But [this book argues] it is prosecutors who have the upper hand, in a contest that is far from equal. More than anyone else, prosecutors decide who goes free and who goes to prison, and even who lives and who dies. The system wasn't designed for this kind of unchecked power, and in 'Charged,' Emily Bazelon shows that it is an underreported cause of enormous injustice--and the missing piece in the mass incarceration puzzle. But that's only half the story. Prosecution in America is at a crossroads. The power of prosecutors makes them the actors in the system--the only actors--who can fix what's broken without changing a single law . . ."--Provided by publisher.

Students will learn what institutional racism is, what areas of life are most impacted by it, and what movements are fighting for its eradication.

"In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. An award-winning investigative journalist, he used his real name; there was no meaningful background check. Four months later, his employment came to an abrupt end. But he had seen enough, and in short order he wrote an expose about his experiences that won a National Magazine Award and became the most-read feature in the history of the magazine Mother Jones. Still, there was much more that he needed to say"--Jacket flap.

This book describes prison conditions in countries on every continent. The stark contrasts are as dramatic as they are instructional.

"Offering perspectives from a range of experts, both academic and nonacademic, this reference book examines the development of prisons in the United States and addresses the principal contemporary issues and controversies of our prisons and prison systems"--Amazon.com.

This book reviews early forms of punishment from horrific executions and torture in medieval times to the creation of the worlds first penitentiaries in the 19th century.