NCJ Number
85754
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 28 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1982) Pages: 514-566
Date Published
1982
Length
53 pages
Annotation
Twelve writers confined to prison present their thoughts on coping with prison life; confinement and freedom; and the life of Jack Abbott, a prison writer who found fame only to be reincarcerated for murder.
Abstract
Separate essays focus on surviving in prison and dealing with the prison guards' power plays, the effects of overcrowding on inmates' behavior, control mechanisms employed by prisons, and emotional deprivation in prison, and ways prisoners can cope with brutality by guards. Other subjects discussed include alternatives to incarceration, the meaning of meaningless violence, inmates' powerlessness, and recidivism and prisonization. The lack of social supports for newly released prisoners, and drug addiction and crime are also discussed. Critiques of Jack Abbott, the prison writer given support by Norman Mailer, are included. Footnotes are included.