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Indefinite: Doing Time in Jail
An intimate, first-hand account of the emotional and physical experience of doing time in jail and the strategies for enduring it.
Jails are the principal people-processing machines of the criminal justice system. Mostly they hold persons awaiting trial who cannot afford or have been denied bail. Although jail sentences max out at a year, some spend years awaiting trial in jail-especially in counties where courts are jammed with cases. City and county jails, detention centers, police lockups, and other temporary holding facilities are regularly overcrowded, poorly funded, and the buildings are often in disrepair. American jails admit over ten million people every year, but very little is known about what happens to them while they're locked away.
Indefinite is an ethnographic study of a California county jail that reflects on what it means to do jail time and what it does to men. Michael L. Walker spent several extended spells in jail, having been arrested while trying to pay parking tickets in graduate school. This book is an intimate account of his experience and in it he shares the routines, rhythms, and subtle meanings that come with being incarcerated. Walker shows how punishment in jail is much more than the deprivation of liberties. It is, he argues, purposefully degrading. Jail creates a racial politics that organizes daily life, moves men from clock time to event time, normalizes trauma, and imbues residents with substantial measures of vulnerability. Deputies used self-centered management styles to address the problems associated with running a jail, some that magnified individual conflicts to potential group conflicts and others that created divisions between residents for the sake of control. And though not every
deputy indulged, many gave themselves over to the pleasures of punishment.
Jails are the principal people-processing machines of the criminal justice system. Mostly they hold persons awaiting trial who cannot afford or have been denied bail. Although jail sentences max out at a year, some spend years awaiting trial in jail-especially in counties where courts are jammed with cases. City and county jails, detention centers, police lockups, and other temporary holding facilities are regularly overcrowded, poorly funded, and the buildings are often in disrepair. American jails admit over ten million people every year, but very little is known about what happens to them while they're locked away.
Indefinite is an ethnographic study of a California county jail that reflects on what it means to do jail time and what it does to men. Michael L. Walker spent several extended spells in jail, having been arrested while trying to pay parking tickets in graduate school. This book is an intimate account of his experience and in it he shares the routines, rhythms, and subtle meanings that come with being incarcerated. Walker shows how punishment in jail is much more than the deprivation of liberties. It is, he argues, purposefully degrading. Jail creates a racial politics that organizes daily life, moves men from clock time to event time, normalizes trauma, and imbues residents with substantial measures of vulnerability. Deputies used self-centered management styles to address the problems associated with running a jail, some that magnified individual conflicts to potential group conflicts and others that created divisions between residents for the sake of control. And though not every
deputy indulged, many gave themselves over to the pleasures of punishment.
- GenresNonfictionSociologyRace
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 25, 2022
3 people are currently reading
1399 people want to read
About the author
Michael L. Walker
1 book4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Michael Lawrence Walker is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His broad research interests include social control, stratification, and inequality, which he pursues through studies of the criminal justice system.
Michael Lawrence Walker is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His broad research interests include social control, stratification, and inequality, which he pursues through studies of the criminal justice system.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 19, 2023
ugh such a good book. michael walker is so captivating. the introduction to this book is so gut wrenching and upsetting, but i believe it is the perfect opening and depiction on what life really is like in jail. his writing style really hooks you in and even though it is sociological it doesn’t really feel like it is bc of his more emotional writing style, which i enjoyed thoroughly. this book was super eye opening into yet another part of the criminal legal system that is in fact racist. jail is honestly such a weird thing to think about and really doesn’t accomplish anything if you really think about it… but that’s another story.
overall such a good book and i would recommend even if you don’t really care for sociology.
overall such a good book and i would recommend even if you don’t really care for sociology.
September 19, 2025
Really compelling premise (an academic becomes incarcerated in California jails and essentially dedicates his time to conducting social science research to then consolidate into a book upon his release). Effectively illuminates the many ways in which jails are worse than prisons, although of course this is subjective and dependent on the institution and individual’s experience.
The concepts and stories were 10/10, but it felt like there was no editor. There were multiple typos on every page and the organization of the book felt all over the place. A worthwhile read though nonetheless.
The concepts and stories were 10/10, but it felt like there was no editor. There were multiple typos on every page and the organization of the book felt all over the place. A worthwhile read though nonetheless.
May 25, 2022
I found this narrative from the inside of a correctional facility fascinating. While one person's perspective there are undeniable facts that tell the rest of the story. Well written with a depth of understanding that can only come from experience. A good read.
May 10, 2022
This book was a profound revelation of first hand experience. I really appreciate this kind of quantitative data as most sociological literature has focused on prisons rather than jails.
March 19, 2023
An honest account of jail time, from both a personal and an ethnographic perspective. Frustrating and riveting. Could have used a closer proofread, but that's not the author's fault!
March 11, 2025
Had to read this book for class, enjoyed it thoroughly. Was very interesting to read the descriptions of the jail from the prisoners’ perspectives.
July 25, 2025
You know, like the story, like that it helped keep him sane and all that, but think others do similar work that are simply more captivating.
July 28, 2021
Although I disagreed with some of the author’s conclusions, his vantage point was necessarily myopic, I really liked this overall.
March 26, 2024
Very good book about the social workings of jail. He writes that jails aren’t studied like prisons are but that they are worth being studied, and I fully agree with this, especially after reading this book. I wish the time line of events was a little more clear but other than that, it was great. There’s so much to learn from this book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews