NCJ Number
155181
Editor(s)
H S Davidson
Date Published
1995
Length
237 pages
Annotation
Written by inmates or former inmates who finished their schooling in prison, some taking advanced degrees, and by social scientists who taught in prisons but are not professional correctional educators, these 13 essays present critical perspectives on prison education.
Abstract
Instead of regarding prison education as a process of correcting cognitive problems and improving employment opportunities, the discussions focus on the issues of prison education as surveillance, as politics, and as a means to reconstruct a historical consciousness that remembers personal histories. The essays examine prison schools as they originated and developed, analyze processes of differentiation and segregation, discuss instances of prison resistance, describe self-government as a form of education in the prisoners, and consider the education of female inmates and the role of jailhouse attorneys. Chapter notes, index, and more than 200 references