Mass Incarceration

by Keramet Reiter

In this brief, timely text, Keramet Reiter explores the least visible, but arguably most important, characteristics of mass incarceration in the United the systematic constriction of prisoners' constitutional rights; the treatment of the mentally ill in prison; the long-term consequences of having served time in prison; the problem of prisoner disenfranchisement; and the privatization of multiple aspects of the prison industry. Each chapter begins with a narrative account of one individual's experience within the prison system, drawn from actual cases and recent events that frame the history, themes, and core ethical questions addressed in that chapter.

About the Series

Keynotes in Criminology and Criminal Justice provides essential knowledge on important contemporary matters of crime, law, and justice to a broad audience of readers. Volumes are written by leading scholars in that area. Concise, accessible, and affordable, these texts are designed to serve either as primers around which courses can be built or as supplemental books for a variety of courses.

176 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2017

About the author

Keramet Reiter is the author of 23/7, the first comprehensive history of the origins of the modern supermax prison, and the co-editor of the Extreme Punishment anthology. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and at the School of Law at the University of California, Irvine. She has taught in prison education programs, worked at Human Rights Watch, and testified about the impacts of solitary confinement before state and federal legislators. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not long but so dense, and I mean that as a compliment. The author begins each chapter with a story about a person and their experience in the criminal justice system. Then, following each story are explanations with scholarly research, theory, historical explanations, and statistics. It is not challenging in the ways some academic texts are, but the subject matter is intense and much of the intensity comes from the portrayal of just how sinisterly tangled and complex our criminal justice system is.