The Violence of Incarceration

Scraton (criminology, Queen's University, Belfast) and McCulloch (criminology, Monash University, Australia) unite academic contributors from the US, the UK, Australia, and Northern Ireland to expose the reality of violence, torture, and human rights abuses perpetrated against prisoners in western liberal democracies. The first three chapters demonstrate how deeply violence is embedded in the daily exchanges between prisoners and between prisoners and staff in three male prisons. Lawrence McKeown, author of the chapter on the 1983 mass escape from Ireland's Long Kesh prison, was himself imprisoned in Long Kesh/Maze Prison from 1976 to 1992. In subsequent chapters, a historical context is given to the systematic violence and violations endured by women and child prisoners, Aboriginals, refugees, and detainees in military prisons. A chapter on US global statecraft and the technology of punishment and capture investigates the role of the US prison system in the production of American global dominance. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)