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Many people think prisons are all the same-rows of cells filled with violent men who officials rule with an iron fist. Yet, life behind bars varies in incredible ways. In some facilities, prison officials govern with care and attention to prisoners' needs. In others, officials have remarkably little influence on the everyday life of prisoners, sometimes not even providing necessities like food and clean water. Why does prison social order around the world look so remarkably different? In
The Puzzle of Prison Order, David Skarbek develops a theory of why prisons and prison life vary so much. He finds that how they're governed-sometimes by the state, and sometimes by the prisoners-matters the most. He investigates life in a wide array of prisons-in Brazil, Bolivia, Norway, a prisoner of war camp, England and Wales, women's prisons in California, and a gay and transgender housing unit in the Los Angeles County Jail-to understand the hierarchy of life on the inside. Drawing on economics and a vast empirical literature on legal systems, Skarbek offers a framework to not only understand why life on the inside varies in such fascinating and novel ways, but also how social order evolves and takes root behind bars.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- 1. Why Does Prison Social Order Vary?
- Part I: Who Governs?
- 2. When Prisoners Govern: Brazil and Bolivia
- 3. When Officials Govern: Nordic Exceptionalism
- 4. When No One Governs: Andersonville Prisoner of War Camp
- Part II: How Do Prisoners Govern?
- 5. Small Populations: Women's Prisons in California
- 6. Social Networks: England
- 7. Social Distance: Gay and Transgender Unit
- Part III: Conclusion
- 8. Understanding Institutional Diversity
- 9. References
- 10. Endnotes
Über den Autor / die Autorin
David Skarbek is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Political Theory Project at Brown University. He is the author of
The Social Order of the Underworld (Oxford, 2014), which won the APSA's William Riker Award for best book in political economy and the Outstanding Book Award from International Association for the Study of Organized Crime.
Zusammenfassung
Many people think prisons are all the same-rows of cells filled with violent men who officials rule with an iron fist. Yet, life behind bars varies in incredible ways. In some facilities, prison officials govern with care and attention to prisoners' needs. In others, officials have remarkably little influence on the everyday life of prisoners, sometimes not even providing necessities like food and clean water. Why does prison social order around the world look so remarkably different? In The Puzzle of Prison Order, David Skarbek develops a theory of why prisons and prison life vary so much. He finds that how they're governed-sometimes by the state, and sometimes by the prisoners-matters the most. He investigates life in a wide array of prisons-in Brazil, Bolivia, Norway, a prisoner of war camp, England and Wales, women's prisons in California, and a gay and transgender housing unit in the Los Angeles County Jail-to understand the hierarchy of life on the inside. Drawing on economics and a vast empirical literature on legal systems, Skarbek offers a framework to not only understand why life on the inside varies in such fascinating and novel ways, but also how social order evolves and takes root behind bars.
Zusatztext
Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty.
