Penology and punishment Books

Book SynopsisIN 12 YEARS, MICHELLE LYONS WITNESSED NEARLY 300 EXECUTIONS.As a reporter and then spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Michelle was a frequent visitor to Huntsville's Walls Unit, where she recorded the final moments of death row inmates' lives before they were put to death by the state. Michelle witnessed some of the most notorious criminals, including serial killers, child murderers and rapists, speak their last words on earth, while a cocktail of lethal drugs surged through their veins.Misgivings began to set in as the execution numbers mounted. She came to know and like some of the condemned people she saw die, and began to query the seemingly arbitrary nature of the death penalty. Do executions actually make victims of us all?'Haunting, dark and hard to put down' Houston Chronicle'A portrait of what it's like to be surrounded by death... a memoir of perseverance in the face of routine tragedy' The Daily Beast

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDiscipline and Punish is clearly a tour de force ... that rare kind of book whose methods and conclusions must be reckoned with by humanists, social scientists and political activists * The New York Times Book Review *Foucault's genius is called forth into eloquent clarity of his passions ... his best book * Washington Post *'The main line of the thesis is enormously appealing and the range of historical sources and, even more, the analytical skill with which they are made to yield up their secrets, is quite dazzling' -- Harvie Ferguson * International Journal of Criminology and Penology *

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis''When silence or tricks of language contribute to maintaining an abuse that must be reformed or a suffering that can be relieved, then there is no other solution but to speak out''Written when execution by guillotine was still legal in France, Albert Camus'' devastating attack on the ''obscene exhibition'' of capital punishment remains one of the most powerful, persuasive arguments ever made against the death penalty.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.

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Book SynopsisAn Irish Times and The i Book of 2022'Tense and intimate . . . an education' - Geoff Dyer'Enriching, sobering and at times heartrending. A wonder' - Sir Lenny Henry'Authentic, fascinating and deeply moving' - Terry Waite__________Can someone in prison be more free than someone outside? Would we ever be good if we never felt shame? What makes a person worthy of forgiveness?Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons. Every day he has conversations with people inside about their lives, discusses their ideas and feelings, and listens as they explore new ways to think about their situation.When Andy steps into a prison, he also confronts his inherited shame: his father, uncle and brother all spent time behind bars. While Andy has built a different life for himself, he still fears that their fate will also be his. As he discusses pressing questions of truth, identity and hope with his students, he searches for his own form of freedom too.Moving, sympathetic, wise and frequently funny, The Life Inside is an elegantly written and unforgettable memoir. Through a blend of storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning, it offers a new insight into our stretched justice system, our failing prisons and the complex lives being lived inside.__________'Inspiring' - The Observer'Strives with humour and compassion to understand the phenomenon of prison' - Sydney Review of Books'Expands both heart and mind' - Ciaran Thapar'A fascinating and enlightening journey . . . A legitimate page-turner' - 3AMTrade ReviewAndy West’s tense and intimate book is an education . . . The Life Inside deserves the widest possible readership. -- Geoff DyerBy turns enriching, sobering and at times, heartrending. A tale centering on our inner critic or executioner and how to stifle its constant sniping. A wonder. * Sir Lenny Henry *An authentic, fascinating and deeply moving story about the different ways people search for freedom. -- Terry WaiteWritten with sensitivity and humanity... a remarkable insight into prison life * Amanda Brown, author of The Prison Doctor *West powerfully interweaves an account of teaching philosophy in prison with his own family’s history of imprisonment, creating an intellectually thrilling memoir of freedom and constraint. -- Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a BodyWeaving philosophical questions about free will, forgiveness, guilt and shame, with family history and the realities of incarceration. Beautifully written – honest, painful, absurd and sometimes joyful. -- Caitlin Davies, author of Queens of the UnderworldA book that every thinking person should read. -- Simon Critchley, author of Continental PhilosophyWritten with compassion and searing honesty. * The Tablet *The Life Inside is an honest, delicate memoir that doubles as an accessible handbook of philosophical ideas. It expands both heart and mind; I’ll never think about prisons - let alone my own freedom and family - the same way again. -- Ciaran Thapar, author of Cut ShortIt’s a rare feat for anyone who works in a prison to capture the smell, the flavour and the taste of the fetid air they share with the prisoners in a book . . . More and more compelling with every turn of the page. -- Erwin James, author of RedeemableThese are tender, complicated relationships, and there is candour and wisdom - and no little courage - in how West shows them to us. * The New Humanist *West incorporates philosophical, descriptive, and psychological elements as with a fine Dickensian brush he paints a picture of the gritty details of prison life... profoundly moving. * Philosophy Now *Insightful and sophisticated. * TLS *An astonishing, necessary book . . . brilliantly dispels damaging myths about those whose lives are lived inside. * Lucia Osborne-Crowley *Immersing, entertaining and wonderfully empathetic. * The Bookseller *Drawn with great tenderness. * Prospect *One of the best books I've read this year. Moving, witty and profound, it's a powerfully humane book about a part of life that's defined by inhumanity. * Matt Rowland Hill *Poignant, insightful, and full of philosophical substance. * The Philosophers' Magazine *The Life Inside is extraordinary. * Rob Doyle *

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN, JAMIE FOXX, AND BRIE LARSON. A NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, ESQUIRE, AND TIME BOOK OF THE YEAR. A #1 New York Times bestseller, this is a powerful, true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix America’s broken justice system, as seen in the HBO documentary True Justice. The US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. One in every 15 people born there today is expected to go to prison. For black men this figure rises to one in 3. And Death Row is disproportionately black, too. Bryan Stevenson grew up poor in the racially segregated South. His innate sense of justice made him a brilliant young lawyer, and one of his first defendants was Walter McMillian, a black man sentenced to die for the murder of a white woman — a crime he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, startling racial inequality, and legal brinkmanship — and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. At once an unforgettable account of an idealistic lawyer’s coming of age and a moving portrait of the lives of those he has defended, Just Mercy is an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of justice.Trade Review‘Bryan Stevenson is America's young Nelson Mandela — a brilliant lawyer fighting with courage and conviction to guarantee justice for all.’ -- Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate‘From the frontlines of social justice comes one of the most urgent voices of our era. Bryan Stevenson is a real-life, modern-day Atticus Finch who, through his work in redeeming innocent people condemned to death, has sought to redeem the country itself. This is a book of great power and courage. It is inspiring and suspenseful. A revelation.’ -- Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns‘Bryan Stevenson is one of my personal heroes, perhaps the most inspiring and influential crusader for justice alive today, and Just Mercy is extraordinary. The stories told within these pages hold the potential to transform what we think we mean when we talk about justice.’ -- Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow‘This is so important. Stevenson explains how deep-rooted racism is, while giving hope that it doesn’t have to exist.' -- Gloria Steinem‘Our American criminal justice system has become an instrument of evil. Bryan Stevenson has labored long and hard, and with great skill and temperate passion, to set things right. Words such as important and compelling may have lost their force through overuse, but reading this book will restore their meaning, along with one's hopes for humanity.’ -- Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains‘Just Mercy is as deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty, and the failures of the administration of criminal justice … [It] will make you gasp at the inhumanity of humankind.’ -- Raymond Bonner * Financial Times *‘Powerful … This book will shock, anger and inspire you.’ * Sunday Independent (Ireland) *‘Unfairness in the justice system is a major theme of our age … This book brings new life to the story by placing it in two affecting contexts: Stevenson's life work and the deep strain of racial injustice in American life … You don't have to read too long to start cheering for this man. Against tremendous odds, Stevenson has worked to free scores of people from wrongful or excessive punishment, arguing five times before the Supreme Court … The book extols not his nobility, but that of the cause, and reads like a call to action for all that remains to be done … The message of the book, hammered home by dramatic examples of one man's refusal to sit quietly and countenance horror, is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful … Bryan Stevenson has been angry about [the criminal justice system] for years, and we are all the better for it.’ * New York Times *‘Inspiring … A work of style, substance and clarity … Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he's also a gifted writer and storyteller. His memoir should find an avid audience among players in the legal system — jurists, prosecutors, defense lawyers, legislators, academics, journalists — and especially anyone contemplating a career in criminal justice.’ -- Rob Warden * Washington Post *‘After the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., I wrote a couple of columns entitled When Whites Just Don’t Get It. The reaction to those columns — sometimes bewildered, resentful or unprintable — suggests to me that many whites in America don’t understand the depths of racial inequity lingering in this country. This inequity is embedded in our law enforcement and criminal justice system, and that is why Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America's Mandela … Stevenson, 54, grew up in a poor black neighborhood in Delaware and ended up at Harvard Law School. He started the Equal Justice Initiative, based in Montgomery, Ala., to challenge bias and represent the voiceless. It's a tale he recounts in a searing, moving and infuriating memoir that is scheduled to be published later this month, Just Mercy.’ -- Nick Kristof * New York Times *‘Not since Atticus Finch has a fearless and committed lawyer made such a difference in the American South. Though larger than life, Atticus exists only in fiction. Bryan Stevenson, however, is very much alive and doing God’s work fighting for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, the vulnerable, the outcast, and those with no hope. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story.’ -- John Grisham‘A distinguished NYU law professor and MacArthur grant recipient offers the compelling story of the legal practice he founded to protect the rights of people on the margins of American society ... Emotionally profound, necessary reading.’ STARRED REVIEW * Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Prize Finalist) *‘Just Mercy is every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so … [It] demonstrates, as powerfully as any book on criminal justice that I’ve ever read, the extent to which brutality, unfairness, and racial bias continue to infect criminal law in the United States. But at the same time that [Bryan] Stevenson tells an utterly damning story of deep-seated and widespread injustice, he also recounts instances of human compassion, understanding, mercy, and justice that offer hope ... Just Mercy is a remarkable amalgam, at once a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.’ -- David Cole * The New York Review of Books *‘Stevenson's contributions to social justice have been remarkable. But his efforts, on top of his continuing legal practice, to provide this inside glimpse of the criminal justice system are priceless.’ * The Seattle Times *New York Times ‘100 Notable Books of 2014’‘Lawyer Bryan Stevenson has saved more than 135 people from death row, the majority of them Black men, who are disproportionately found at every stage of the US criminal justice system. In Just Mercy, he paints a picture of a system riddled with racial inequality that sentences children to die in prison and, he says, provides a better outcome if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. The message of this astonishing memoir is that mercy is most powerful when it is freely given. -- Dua Lipa * The Guardian *‘A passionate account of the ways our nation thwarts justice and inhumanely punishes the poor and disadvantaged.’ STARRED REVIEW -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist *‘This powerful book is a damning indictment of the US “justice” system, which has the world’s highest rate of incarceration … A gifted narrator as well as a great lawyer, from his long dedication to helping the poor to achieve justice and mercy, he has learned that “each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.’ -- Brian Maye * The Irish Times *‘[T]he author’s experience with the flaws in the American justice system add extra gravity to a deeply disturbing and oft-overlooked topic.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Stevenson reveals how much of a difference believing in someone and fighting their cause can make. An incredible story … may help fuel the fire on your own journey.’ * Wellbeing *‘Just Mercy presents a scathing exposé of the inequalities, racial bias and discrimination that has characterised the US justice system ... A profoundly important work.’ -- Natalie Platten * Readings *‘Stevenson’s revelatory and thought-provoking memoir, Just Mercy, is a read that alters one’s empathy meter and forever sits deep within the psyche.’ -- Jessica Bailey * Grazia *‘A confronting look at the corrupt and prejudiced trappings of the current criminal justice system in the United States and a moving window into the lives of those persecuted by it.’ * Citizens of the World *

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Book SynopsisLeading crime expert Christopher Berry-Dee gained the trust of some of the most infamous convicted killers, having corresponded with them and even entered their prison lairs to discuss their horrific crimes in detail. In this book, he presents six unforgettable prisoners and allows them to tell their stories, as well as giving the details and background of their terrifying cases - making this a must-read for aficionados of the genre and anyone fascinated by the extremes of human behaviour. Beyond the headlines, once the drama of the courtroom has subsided and the prison gates have been locked behind these killers for good, Talking With Serial Killers: Dead Men Talking allows the reader to get up close and personal with torturers, sexual psychopaths and mass murderers, to read the stories that are rarely heard and get the last word from some of the world's most pitiless killers.

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Book Synopsis***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***A Times and Telegraph Book of the Year'Shocking, scathing, entertaining.' Guardian 'Incredibly compelling.' The Times'Heart-breaking.' Sunday TimesWhere can a tin of tuna buy you clean clothes? Where is it easier to get 'spice' than paracetamol? Where does self-harm barely raise an eyebrow?Welcome to Her Majesty's Prison Service. Like most people, documentary-maker Chris Atkins didn't spend much time thinking about prisons. But after becoming embroiled in a dodgy scheme to fund his latest film, he was sent down for five years. His new home would be HMP Wandsworth, one of the largest and most dysfunctional prisons in Europe.With a cast of characters ranging from wily drug dealers to senior officials bent on endless reform, this powerful memoir uncovers the horrifying reality behind the locked gates. Filled with dark humour and shocking stories, A Bit of a Stretch reveals why our creaking prison system is sorely costing us all - and why you should care.Trade ReviewShocking, scathing, entertaining... If you thought you knew how bad British prisons are, you haven't read this book... It's an inside story to make you weep at the incompetence, stupidity and viciousness of the current system. * Guardian *An incredibly compelling account, not just because of Atkins' incongruity and his knack for black, observational humour, but because it lays bare a system that has become utterly dysfunctional. Atkins is thrust into the heart of Britain's prison crisis and can never quite believe what he is seeing. It's a sort of Kafkaesque haplessness. A bleak catalogue of absurdity. * The Times *Surreal, darkly funny, at times horrifying but always humane account of what it's like to be locked up. * Observer *A soul-searching account... A pacy memoir which is imbued with a dark humour... heartbreaking. [Atkins is] honest enough to have left in the parts that would make his mother wince. * Sunday Times *A razor-sharp and darkly funny memoir... * Spectator *A highly readable and thought-provoking account, which illuminates a failing and anachronistic institution in dire need of a radical overhaul. * Daily Mail *Powerful... a dispassionate record of the grinding down of the human soul, deliberate hopelessness, insane and moribund bureaucracy, the whims of bullying guards, roll calls, curses, kicks and punches. * Roger Lewis, The Telegraph *Terrifically vivid... what makes the book so riveting is that Atkins takes us behind the statistics to show us prison life in all its chaotic, sometimes surreal weirdness. * Reader's Digest *A Bit of a Stretch shows a system in chaos, as guards struggle to deal with mentally ill, poorly educated men housed in decaying old buildings. It is also, in places, very funny. * Helen Lewis, The Atlantic *Heartbreaking and hilarious. * Christie Watson – bestselling author of The Language of Kindness *An entertaining memoir, but also an indictment of our creaking, underfunded prison system. * The Times *Atkins's shocking yet entertaining diary of his time behind bars is a must-read. * Independent *Powerful and highly readable. * Peter Dawson – Director of the Prison Reform Trust and former prison governor *Funny, shocking and powerful. * The Secret Barrister *Gripping, warm and empathetic. Atkins exposes the shocking gap between what politicians claim about prison and the humiliating reality. You'll roar with laughter before turning to deep despair. * Isabel Hardman – author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians *Fabulous. Candid, funny and never self-pitying, this is a must-read insight into why prison simply doesn't work. * Jon Snow – presenter, Channel 4 News *Shocking, funny, and very moving. * Mark Thomas – comedian *Absolutely extraordinary. Heartbreaking without being self-pitying, shocking without being gratuitous and, of course, very, very funny. * John Niven – novelist and screenwriter *Harrowing... required reading for anybody concerned with what entitles a society to call itself civilised. * Law Gazette *Honest and authentic. Atkins perfectly captures the madness, hope and despair of prison. Please read this. * Professor David Wilson – founding Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University and former prison governor *An important, urgent and entertaining memoir. It made me laugh, cry my eyes out and think hard, not only about forgiveness, but about love and life in general. An essential read. * Sathnam Sanghera – bestselling author of The Boy with the Topknot *Table of Contents0: Introduction 1: Trauma and Toothpaste 2: Lockdowns and Love Actually 3: Showers and Slips 4: Goodfellas and Goldilocks 5: Biohazard and Back Rubs 6: Suicide and Sellotape 7: Spinsters and Spiceheads 8: Murder and Mutiny 9: Courtrooms and Cheeseburgers 10: Despair and Dancing Queen 11: Paedophiles and Prizes 12: Epilogue

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Book SynopsisFor millennia, mankind has devised ingenious and diabolical means of inflicting pain on fellow human beings. This deplorable but seemingly universal trait has eaten away at mankind's very claim to civilisation. Despite how repugnant the practice of torture appears to us today, for at least 3,000 years it formed part of most legal codes throughout Europe and the Far East. The Big Book of Pain is an exploration of the systematic use throughout the ages of various means of punishment, torture, coercion and torment. It takes the reader into the Ancient Roman Coliseum, the medieval dungeon, the Inquisitional interrogation, the auto-da-fe, the witch-trial, and the worst of prisons. It is a shocking and compelling study of the shameful methods and motives of the torturer and the executioner, and of the heinous duty they have performed through the ages.

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Book SynopsisRobert Hughes, art critic of Time magazine and twice winner of the American College Art Association's F. J. Mather Award for distinguished criticism, is author of The Shock of the New, and of Heaven and Hell in Western Art. He is also author of the acclaimed Nothing if Not Critical, a work on Frank Auerbach; Barcelona, and Culture of Complaint, essays on the fraying of America. Robert Hughes died in August 2012.Trade ReviewA unique phantasmagoria of crime and punishment, which combines the shadowy terrors of Goya with the tumescent life of Dickens * Peter Ackroyd, The Times *A triumph of research, passion and fine writing. I found it an extraordinary and compelling book to read, one of fantastic scope and imagination; truly a tour de force * William Shawcross *Riveting * The Book Magazine *With its mood and stature...The Fatal Shore is well on its way to becoming the standard opus on the convict years * Sydney Sunday Telegraph *An enthralling account of the convict settlement of Australia, thoroughly researched and excellently written, brimming over with rare and pungent characters, and tales of pathos, bravery, and horror * Peter Matthiessen *

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Book SynopsisThe massive uprising following the police killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020--by some estimates the largest protests in US history--thrust the argument to defund the police to the forefront of international politics. It also made The End of Policing a bestseller and Alex Vitale, its author, a leading figure in the urgent public discussion over police and racial justice.As the writer Rachel Kushner put it in an article called "Things I Can't Live Without", this book explains that "unfortunately, no increased diversity on police forces, nor body cameras, nor better training, has made any seeming difference" in reducing police killings and abuse. "We need to restructure our society and put resources into communities themselves, an argument Alex Vitale makes very persuasively."The problem, Vitale demonstrates, is policing itself-the dramatic expansion of the police role over the last forty years. Drawing on first-hand research from across the globe, The End of Policing describes how the implementation of alternatives to policing, like drug legalization, regulation, and harm reduction instead of the policing of drugs, has led to reductions in crime, spending, and injustice. This edition includes a new introduction that takes stock of the renewed movement to challenge police impunity and shows how we move forward, evaluating protest, policy, and the political situation.Trade ReviewThe End of Policing's great strength lies in demonstrating that if the shape of American policing is historical, it is also contingent. We could have made different choices regarding how we set about securing the public against the array of threats that confront it, and - refreshingly, at this moment of general despair - Vitale believes we still can. -- Adam Greenfield * LA Review of Books *Unfortunately, neither increased diversity in police forces nor body cameras nor better training make any seeming difference. We need to restructure our society and put resources into communities themselves, an argument Alex Vitale makes very persuasively. -- Rachel Kushner * New York Magazine *The End of Policing combines the best in academic research with rhetorical urgency to explain why the ordinary array of police reforms will be ineffective in reducing abusive policing. Alex Vitale shows that we must move beyond conceptualizing public safety as interdiction, exclusion, and arrest if we hope to achieve racial and economic justice. -- Ruth Wilson GilmoreOffers a compelling digest of the dynamics of crime and law enforcement, and a polemic against the militarization of everything. Vitale calls for a dismantling of our very notion of the police: a sprawling, untethered bureaucracy permitted to use lethal force and unaccountable to the people. -- E. Tammy Kim * The Nation *Challenging standard accounts of how to reform policing, Alex Vitale argues that true safety demands directing resources away from police and prisons and towards economic development, education, and drug treatment. Urgent, provocative, and timely, The End of Policing will make you question most of what you have been taught to believe about crime and how to solve it. -- James Forman, author of Locking Up Our OwnThe End of Policing is that holiday argument book, the relatively brief stack of facts you can hand to a relative who still talks about those nice guys who helped out with the flat tire and doesn't see why any lives have to matter more than they already do. A thorough rinsing of the American criminal justice system. -- Sasha Frere-Jones * 4 Columns *

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Book SynopsisFully reworked, restructured, and updated, and incorporating changes following the 2019 general election; this fifth edition is the essential guide for anyone studying sentencing and punishment as part of a law or criminology course.Table of ContentsPart I: Sentencing Principles, Policies and Problems 1: Developing penal policy 2: Structuring sentencing 3: Determining 'just deserts' 4: Utility and deterrence 5: Risk and danger 6: Instead of punishment? Restorative justice, child welfare, and medical treatment 7: Impact on victims and offenders Part II: Punishing Offenders 8: Justice in the modern prison 9: Experiencing imprisonment 10: Punishment and rehabilitation in the community 11: Court orders for young offenders 12: Concluding remarks

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Book Synopsis**WINNER OF THE 2019 MOORE PRIZE ****THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**‘A riveting account of the multiple outrages of the criminal justice system of Alabama. A harrowing masterpiece’ Guardian‘Hinton somehow navigates through his rage and despair to a state of forgiveness and grace’ IndependentAt age 29, Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully charged with robbery and murder, and sentenced to death by electrocution for crimes he didn’t commit. The only thing he had in common with the perpetrator was the colour of his skin.Anthony spent the next 28 years of his life on death row, watching fellow inmates march to their deaths, knowing he would follow soon. Hinton’s incredible story reveals the injustices and inherent racism of the American legal system, but it is also testament to the hope and humanity in us all.‘You will be swept away in this unbelievable, dramatic true story’ Oprah WinfreyTrade Review[Hinton] is a remarkable storyteller. You will be swept away in this unbelievable, dramatic true story * Oprah Winfrey *Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for opposing a racist system in South Africa. Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on death row because a racist system still exists in America. Both emerged from their incarceration with a profound capacity to forgive. They are stunning examples of how the most horrendous cruelty can lead to the most transcendent compassion. -- Archbishop Desmond TutuAnthony Ray Hinton's memoir of his wrongful imprisonment...is a riveting account of the multiple outrages of the criminal justice system of Alabama. But that isn't what makes this a genuine spiritual experience: that comes from the nearly biblical capacity of the author to endure, to forgive, and finally to triumph...his book is a harrowing masterpiece. * Guardian *A wonderful memoir...A story of forgiveness and struggle - and a story of friendship and imagination * Book of the Day, Observer *This incredibly moving chronicle...is one staggering revelation after another, but also a lovely portrait of kindness, warmth and how faith is its own reward...On death row he somehow navigates through his rage and despair to a state of forgiveness and grace. * Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe final volume of Jeffrey Archer’s prison diaries, A Prison Diary Volume III: Heaven, covers the period of his transfer from Wayland to his eventual release on parole in July 2003. It includes a shocking account of the traumatic time he spent in the notorious Lincoln jail and the events that led to his incarceration there – it also throws light on a system that is close to breaking point.Told with humour, compassion and honesty, it closes with a thought-provoking manifesto that should be applauded by the Establishment and prison population alike.Day 115Saturday 10th November 20016.38amIt’s all an act. I am hopelessly unhappy, dejected and broken. I smile when I am at my lowest, I laugh when I see no humour, I help others when I need help myself. I am alone. If I were to show any sign, even for a moment, of what I’m going through, I would have to read the details in some tabloid the following day. Everything I do is only a phone call away from a friendly journalist with an open cheque book. I don’t know where I have found the strength to maintain this facade and never break down in anyone’s presence.Trade ReviewThe finest thing that Jeffrey Archer has ever written * Independent on Sunday *Compelling reportage . . . Jeffrey Archer raises these diaries to the standards of a prison Pepys by being such an assiduous recorder of fellow inmates’ secrets -- Jonathan Aitken * Mail on Sunday *Surprisingly effective . . . A devastating critique written simply and directly * The Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis'Tense and intimate… an education.' Geoff Dyer'Written with sensitivity and humanity... a remarkable insight into prison life.' Amanda Brown'Authentic, fascinating and deeply moving.' Terry Waite'Enriching, sobering and at times heartrending... a wonder' Lenny Henry__________Can someone in prison be more free than someone outside? Would we ever be good if we never felt shame? What makes a person worthy of forgiveness?Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons. Every day he has conversations with people inside about their lives, discusses their ideas and feelings, and listens as they explore new ways to think about their situation.When Andy goes behind bars, he also confronts his inherited trauma: his father, uncle and brother all spent time in prison. While Andy has built a different life for himself, he still fears that their fate will also be his. As he discusses pressing questions of truth, identity and hope with his students, he searches for his own form of freedom too.Moving, sympathetic, wise and frequently funny, The Life Inside is an elegantly written and unforgettable book. Through a blend of memoir, storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning, it offers a new insight into our stretched justice system, our failing prisons and the complex lives being lived inside.__________'Strives with humour and compassion to understand the phenomenon of prison' Sydney Review of Books'A fascinating and enlightening journey... A legitimate page-turner' 3AM

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Book SynopsisHell is the haunting first volume in Jeffrey Archer’s The Prison Diaries, the author’s daily record of the time he spent there.‘The sun is shining through the bars of my window on what must be a glorious summer day. I’ve been incarcerated in a cell five paces by three for twelve and a half hours, and will not be let out again until midday; eighteen and a half hours of solitary confinement. There is a child of seventeen in the cell below me who has been charged with shoplifting – his first offence, not even convicted – and he is being locked up for eighteen and a half hours, unable to speak to anyone. This is Great Britain in the twenty-first century, not Turkey, not Nigeria, not Kosovo, but Britain.’On Thursday 19 July 2001, after a perjury trial lasting seven weeks, Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in jail. He was to spend the first twenty-two days and fourteen hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London, which houses some of Britain’s most violent criminals. This volume recounts his experience while there.Trade ReviewA haunting and compelling insight into prison life * Daily Mail *Surprisingly effective . . . A devastating critique written simply and directly * The Sunday Times *The finest thing that he has ever written * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisIn this landmark work, four of the world''s leading scholar-activists issue an urgent call for a truly intersectional, internationalist, abolitionist feminism.As a politics and as a practice, abolitionism has increasingly shaped our political moment, amplified through the worldwide protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a uniformed police officer. It is at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement, in its demands for police defunding and demilitarisation, and a halt to prison construction. As this book shows, abolitionism and feminism stand shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting a common cause: the end of the carceral state, with its key role in perpetuating violence, both public and private, in prisons, in police forces, and in people''s homes. Abolitionist theories and practices are at their most compelling when they are feminist; and a feminism that is also abolitionist is the most inclusive and persuasive version of feminism for these times.ABOLITION. FEMINISM. NOW.''This extraordinary book makes the most compelling case I''ve ever seen for the indivisibility of feminism and abolition'' Robin D. G. Kelley''This book is as capacious and demanding as the abolitionist feminism it calls for'' Sara AhmedTrade ReviewThis extraordinary book makes the most compelling case I've ever seen for the indivisibility of feminism and abolition . . . Combining decades of analytical brilliance and organizational experience, the authors offer a genealogy of the movements that brought us here, lessons learned, battles won and lost, and the ongoing collective struggle to build a thoroughly revolutionary vision and practice * Robin D. G. Kelley *Powerful, wise and well-crafted . . . filled with insight and provocation . . . this book is as capacious and demanding as the abolitionist feminism it calls for * Sara Ahmed *A powerful and empowering manifesto for a better world. Bringing together history, theory, practice and hope, this book gives us what we need to build flourishing communities in challenging times -- Martha SpurrierA howl of despair at the penal system . . . reveals [Angela Davis'] tireless eloquence and rage * Guardian *Abolition. Feminism. Now. is a demand in every way. It pushes readers not to accept simple stories but to embrace complexity and new ways of thinking * Boston Review *Davis's politics are expressed not merely in what she writes, but how she writes. Although there are four authors, the book is written in one voice. Its form reflects her belief in collective action * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe trial of Angela Davis is remembered as one of America's most historic political trials, and no one can tell the story better than Davis herself. Opening with a letter from James Baldwin to Angela, and including contributions from numerous radicals and commentators such as Black Panthers George Jackson, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and Erica Huggins, this book is not only an account of Davis's incarceration and the struggles surrounding it, but also perhaps the most comprehensive and thorough analysis of the prison system of the United States and the figure embodied in Davis's arrest and imprisonment-the political prisoner. Since the book was written, the carceral system in the US has grown from strength to strength, with more of its black population behind bars than ever before. The scathing analysis of the role of prison and the policing of black populations offered by Davis and her comrades in this astonishing volume remains as relevant today as the day it was published.Trade ReviewAngela Davis taught me that I did not have to tolerate the racism I was suffering in the playground, she told me that I was not alone.it was in this book that I first came across the word 'solidarity'. -- Benjamin ZephaniahDavis' arguments for justice are formidable. . . . The power of her historical insights and the sweetness of her dream cannot be denied. * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisGen Glaister had her heart set on being a prison officer since she was fifteen. Just three months after leaving university she finally got the keys to one of London's largest male prisons, where she learned more about humans than she could ever have imagined.Since leaving the prison service, Gen has remained determined to change the public's perception of people in prison and advocate justice reform.

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Book SynopsisThis full-colour textbook offers a fresh conceptual approach to understanding the intersections of crime, criminal justice and family life. In doing so, it proposes a brand new sub-discipline of Criminology that places the family at the heart of its analysis, offering a groundbreaking approach to the study of crime and deviance. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, this introductory text explores topics from across the spectrum of criminological scholarship, including youth justice, prisons, organized crime, family violence and homicide, and victimology. By drawing together these distinct topics and identifying and discussing their familial connections, this book argues for the importance of family life in the theory and practice of crime and justice. Key questions discussed throughout the text include: How does the criminal justice system engage with families across different contexts? In what ways do crime and criminal justice processes impact on family life? In what ways can families transform the criminal justice system for the betterment of all? This book challenges commonly-held and simplistic assumptions about what the family is in relation to crime and justice and, by doing so, engages in deeper debates about human rights, social justice and the role of the state in relation to families and crime. It includes pedagogic features including conceptual toolboxes, questions for reflection, textboxes, a glossary and interviews with practitioners. Trade Review“The book is thoughtfully structured into nine chapters, each offering a unique perspective on how the concept of family is situated within the broader context of crime studies. … the book’s groundbreaking approach offers a fresh perspective on the complex interplay between families and crimes, marking a significant stride in mainstream criminology.” (Yushawu Abubakari, Criminal Justice and Behavior, January 13, 2024) “Each chapter proceeds by way of elaboration of key concepts and definitions, followed by a rehearsal of the core theories and debates ... . the book knowledgeably covers a great deal of ground. The text itself is supplemented by a host of diagrams, figures and tables to illustrate key aspects of the discussion ... . The case studies are especially useful and could easily lend themselves to class exercises searching for other cases raising similar issues.” (Peter Squires, The British Journal of Criminology, January 7, 2023)Table of Contents1. Introduction2. The Criminogenic Family: Families as the cause of crime in research and policy3. The Stigmatised Family: The impact of offending on families4. The Mafia family: Organised crime families5. The Violent Family: Domestic and family violence6. The Homicidal Family: The killing of family members7. The Traumatised Family: The families of victims8. The Campaigning Family: Victims’ families transforming justice9. Discussion10. Key Terms

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the hidden world of Irish prisoners . . . it's a fascinating book -- Brendan O'ConnorSuch a good read - it's amazing some of the stories -- Muireann O'Connell * Ireland AM *Cracking -- Matt Cooper * Today FM *Illuminating . . . Every chapter contains a wealth of piquant facts and stories * Irish Times *Thought-provoking . . . this unsettling but important book does a fine job of holding [prisons] up to the light -- Andrew Lynch * Business Post *Gripping and thought-provoking . . . takes us behind the prison walls and shows us the many sides of a complex world * RTÉ Guide *

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Book SynopsisGenerativity or ‘giving back’ is regarded as a common life stage, occurring for many around middle age. For the first time, this book offers qualitative research on the lives and social relationships of older imprisoned women. In-depth interviews with 29 female prisoners in the south-eastern United States show that older women both engage in generative behaviours in prison and also wish to do so upon their release. As prisoners continue to age, the US finds itself at a crossroads on prison reform, with potential decarceration beginning with older prisoners. The COVID-19 pandemic has led many to consider how to thrive under difficult circumstances and in stressing the resilience of older incarcerated women, this book envisions what this could look like.Table of Contents1. Ageing Less than Gracefully 2. Welcome to My Home: Cell Block D 3. Older, Wiser, and Incarcerated 4. A Positively Negative Experience 5. Parenting Behind Bars 6: Ageing in Their Own Words: Peace of Mind, Body, and Circumstances 7. ‘Usefulness’ of a ‘Useless’ Population 8. Why Not Give Them a Chance? Afterword Appendices

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Book SynopsisIn 1963, just weeks before the original publication of this book, the last prisoner was escorted off Devil’s Island and Alcatraz ceased to be a prison. Author J. Campbell Bruce chronicles in spellbinding detail the Rock’s transition from a Spanish fort to the maximum-security penitentiary that housed such infamous inmates as Robert Stroud, aka the Birdman of Alcatraz, and mobster Al “Scarface” Capone. The chapters describing the daring escape attempts by Frank Morris and two accomplices from this “inescapable” prison became the basis for the 1979 Clint Eastwood movie. Discover the intriguing and absorbing saga of Alcatraz, whose name is still synonymous with punitive isolation and deprivation, where America’s most violent and notorious prisoners resided in tortuous proximity to one of the world’s favorite cities.The true-crime classic first published in 1963 is reissued in this special edition.Includes archival photos of the prison and prison life.This story will appeal to Bay Area locals and tourists alike.Alcatraz hosts more than a million visitors each year.

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Book SynopsisIn July 1983, James Morgan Kane returned home in the evening to find a corpse in his living room.Fearing that he would be held responsible, and sensing that his wife was somehow involved, he wanted to do all he could to protect his young family.Jamie worked through the night to dispose of the body, all the while disbelieving the situation he found himself in. But his luck ran out days later, as he was arrested and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Jamie entered the American prison system and was to stay there for 34 years with stints in San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the notorious Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) in California. He would rub shoulders with some of the world's most infamous serial killers such as Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper, Charles Tex Watson and Herbie Mullin, as well as gangs such as the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican cartels.This book tells of his time locked up with no hope of release, living the brutality of the tough and unforgiving American penitentiary system, and finding his new purpose in life. As well as tales of his many run-ins with some of the world's most dangerous inmates.For the first time ever, he tells his story. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, no matter how incredible it may sound.

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Book SynopsisOn 9th August 2001, twenty-two days after Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury, he was transferred from HMP Belmarsh, a double-A Category high-security prison in south London, to HMP Wayland, a Category C establishment in Norfolk.He served sixty-seven days in Wayland and during that time, as this account testifies, encountered not only the daily degradations of a dangerously over-stretched prison service, but the spirit and courage of his fellow inmates . . .Prison Diary Volume II: Purgatory is an extraordinary work of non-fiction, where Archer reveals what life is like inside the walls of Britain's prisons.Trade ReviewThe finest thing that Jeffrey Archer has ever written * Independent on Sunday *Compelling reportage . . . Jeffrey Archer raises these diaries to the standards of a prison Pepys by being such an assiduous recorder of fellow inmates’ secrets -- Jonathan Aitken * Mail on Sunday *Archer paints a bleak but true picture of life in prison . . . It is vivid and disturbing, and will reach a vastly wider audience than any academic treatise or political pamphlet on the subject -- Ann Widdecombe * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERAs seen on BBC BreakfastHorrifying, heartbreaking and eye-opening, these are the stories, the patients and the cases that have characterised a career spent being a doctor behind bars.Violence. Drugs. Suicide. Welcome to the world of a Prison Doctor.Dr Amanda Brown has treated inmates in the UK's most infamous prisons first in young offenders' institutions, then at the notorious Wormwood Scrubs and finally at Europe's largest women-only prison in Europe, Bronzefield.From miraculous pregnancies to dirty protests, and from violent attacks on prisoners to heartbreaking acts of self-harm, she has witnessed it all.In this eye-opening, inspirational memoir, Amanda reveals the stories, the patients and the cases that have shaped a career helping those most of us would rather forget.Despite their crimes, she is still their doctor.Trade Review‘Written with both humour and deep concern for the lives of her incarcerated patients. It’s a poignant, compassionate read, giving an insight into the complicated and damaged lives of some of the offenders … a thoroughly enlightening and engaging book.’ Mail on Sunday ‘A fascinating, sometimes funny, often gruelling account of working behind bars.’ Observer ‘Not only features startling anecdotes but also the more rewarding aspects of her job – the prisoners who sent her letters of thanks, the ones for whom there remains hope.’ i newspaper ‘eye-opening … harrowing … Though so many of the tales are unbearably sad, and some details quite difficult to read without flinching, frequent moments of hope and humanity mitigate what could otherwise be a bleak look at life on the lowest rung of society’s ladder.’ The Telegraph ‘All of the highs and lows of prison life, with heart-warming honesty and anecdotes to make your sides split and your jaw drop in equal measure … Amanda has filled her book full of funny tales that both she and the inmates have had a good giggle at.’ Sunday Express S Magazine ‘An enthralling account.’ The Sun

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE CUNDHILL HISTORY PRIZE 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2017, THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2017 AND THE LONGMAN-HISTORY TODAY BOOK PRIZE 2017THE TIMES, SPECTATOR, BBC HISTORY and TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR''Masterful, gripping ... filled with astonishing, vivid and heartbreaking stories of crime and punishment, of redemption, love and terrifying violence. It has an amazing cast of despots, murderers, whores and heroes. It''s a wonderful read'' Simon Sebag MontefioreIt was known as ''the vast prison without a roof''. From the beginning of the nineteenth century to the Russian Revolution, the tsarist regime exiled more than one million prisoners and their families beyond the Ural Mountains to Siberia. The House of the Dead, brings to life both the brutal realities of an inhuman system and the tragic and inspiring fates of those who endured it. This is the vividly told hisTrade ReviewExcellent... an expansive work that neatly manages to combine a broad history of the Romanovs' Gulag with heart-rending tales of the plights of individual prisoners -- Douglas Smith * Literary Review *A splendid example of academic scholarship for a public audience. Yet even though he is an impressively calm and sober narrator, the injustices and atrocities pile up on every page. -- Dominic Sandbrook * The Sunday Times *An absolutely fascinating book, rich in fact and anecdote. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *In many ways Siberia truly was a House of the Dead - as Daniel Beer, who borrows the title of Fyodor Dostoevsky's prison novel for his masterful new study, recounts in horrific and gripping detail. Because of its far greater scale and brutality, the Soviet gulag has eclipsed the memory of the Tsarist penal system in the popular imagination. Beer redresses that imbalance by bringing the voices of the million-plus victims of katorga vividly to life. -- Owen Matthews * Spectator *Although Beer's subject is grim, his writing is not. Grace notes of metaphor elevate The House of the Dead above standard histories; it is also ground-breaking and moving -- Oliver Bullough * The Telegraph *If the scale of the Siberian penal exile inspires a sense of dreadful awe, then the detail is tragic, heart-breaking and marked with individual horror. The vast, Steppe-like sweep of Daniel Beer's work is impressive, sustaining a narrative that ranges from 1801 to 1917, and involves more than one million exiled souls into an area that is one and a half times bigger than the continent of Europe ... An extraordinary, powerful and important story -- Hugh MacDonald * Herald *[This] masterly new history of the tsarist exile system... makes a compelling case for placing Siberia right at the centre of 19th-century Russian-and, indeed, European-history. But for students of Soviet and even post-Soviet Russia it holds lessons, too. Many of the country's modern pathologies can be traced back to this grand tsarist experiment-to its tensions, its traumas and its abject failures. * Economist *Daniel Beer's The House of the Dead is a detailed, rich and powerful account of the inhumane system of imprisonment and exile in Tsarist Siberia that shows how little changed between Tsarism and Stalinism. Both were built on the bones of ordinary Russians -- Neil Robinson * Irish Examiner *An eye-opening, haunting work that delineates how a vast imperial penal system crumbled from its rotten core * Kirkus Reviews *Impeccably researched, beautifully written -- Donald Rayfield * Guardian *Masterful, gripping and deeply researched. It's filled with astonishing, vivid and heartbreaking stories of crime and punishment, of redemption, love and terrifying violence. It has an amazing cast of despots, murderers, whores and heroes, and takes place in godforsaken mines, Arctic villages and beautiful taiga. It's a wonderful read. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * BBC History Magazine *The wretched existence of those banished to Russia's freezing expanses east of the Urals is vividly described in this excellent study... if you want to read the most remarkable recent study of Siberian exile under the Tsars, [read] Beer -- Paul Dukes * History Today *Daniel Beer's The House of the Dead: Siberian exile under the Tsars (Allen Lane) is both a gripping read and an extraordinary feat of scholarly analysis, delivered with the scope and empathy of a novelist - appositely, as both Dostoevsky and Chekhov are part of Siberia's story. The microhistories as well as the grand narrative illuminate a terrible swathe of Russian (and Polish) history. -- Roy Foster * TLS *

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Book SynopsisGeneration after generation has come up with new forms of punishment to inflict on those guilty (and sometimes innocent) of crimes against property and person. From the stocks and pillory, to flogging, ducking and transportation to foreign lands, this volume brings to life those turbulent times of long ago. Even after suffering the ultimate in punishments death the bodies of the convicted could still be punished. Stories of dissection, when the body of the deceased criminal was publicly carved up, or gibbeting, when the corpse would be coated in tar and canvass and displayed in an iron frame on a pole 30ft high, are gruesome in the extreme. Pity poor John Spencer, whose rotting remains were gibbeted for over sixty years until the cage was finally blown down in a storm. Richly illustrated, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into the dark world of punishments through the centuries and will appeal to all those wishing to discover more about Nottinghamshire's intriguing past.

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1973, Wrongful Imprisonment aims to combine the human interest of individual cases of wrongful imprisonment with a general analysis of how and why they occur. It deals in detail with the English system, but also provides comparisons with Scotland, France, and the United States. The authors spent three years collecting material from newspaper reports, trial transcripts, books, lawyers, the Home Office and most important interviews with the persons concerned. As a result, they have been able to analyse objectively the existing system of justice; they have isolated and identified the areas in which the system is at fault, and the successive hazards which may confront the innocent man suspected of a criminal offence; they have also revealed the many obstacles which have to be overcome by the wrongfully imprisoned man seeking to establish his innocence and regain his liberty. This topical and convincingly argued book should appeal not only to students of law aTable of ContentsForeword Preface Acknowledgements 1. Wrongful Imprisonment? 2. Identification Evidence 3. Confessions and Statements 4. Trial Proceedings 5. Witnesses Credible and Incredible 6. How They Got Off 7. Consequences 8. The French System 9. The American Experience 10. Scales of Injustice Epilogue Appendix Reference Notes Index

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Book Synopsis''Compelling, urgent and devastating. A triumph'' The Secret Barrister''Funny, heart-breaking and utterly authentic'' Dr Amanda Brown, author of THE PRISON DOCTOR''A breath-taking account of the UK''s crumbling prison system. Every politician and decision-maker involved in our prisons should be placed on 23-hour lockdown and made to read this book'' Nick Pettigrew, author of ANTI-SOCIALI was what the older generation of prison officers called a ''care bear''. It was my job to work with the prisoners most in danger of falling through the cracks and, if not deliver them safely to the community upon release, fully rehabilitated, then at least stop them from killing themselves or anyone else...Come with Angela Kirwin for a journey inside prison like no other. For over a decade she was a social care worker in some of Britain''s most notorious prisons. Now she wants to tell the stories of the men she met, because she belTrade ReviewThe most compelling account I've read from the other side of the fence....she digs instead into the complex backgrounds of the inmates in her care, while exploring the wider social and political problems that have turned prisons into a factory for reoffending...there are welcome moments of levity * The Times *Compelling, urgent and devastating. Criminal tells the stories from within our prisons that many - not least those in power - would rather went untold. How we treat the vulnerable, the broken and the irredeemable defines our humanity. Angela Kirwin's heartbreaking, beautifully rendered true-life tales forensically expose uncomfortable truths about how we order our society, how we relate to each other, and what we must change. A triumph * The Secret Barrister *The book is at its best when she strips aways the physical and psychological walls that separate those inside from the communities that one day they will rejoin, however long ministers make their sentences...her plea for society to be more compassionate and prisons kinder, safer places, is heartfelt and humane. * The Observer *This is an astonishingly powerful and authentic portrait of today's fatally flawed prison system. Angela Kirwin writes compellingly and researches meticulously. She weaves together her eyewitness narrative and her reforming zeal into a compelling story which should shake our national conscience * Jonathan Aitken *A funny, heart-breaking and utterly authentic journey inside prison. Everyone needs to read this book * Dr Amanda Brown, author of THE PRISON DOCTOR *A brilliant, heartfelt, deeply moving and utterly enraging account of life inside Britain's failing prisons system. The chasm between the political rhetoric of 'Prison Works' and the reality of a system shredded by austerity is growing ever wider and this book from someone who has worked on the frontline should act as a wake up call for radical change. We are wasting billions on perpetuating failure, making rehabilitation harder than ever, destroying lives and contributing to crime rather than bringing it down * Alastair Campbell *Fascinating and necessary, Criminal is a deeply humane look at an often inhumane system * Sarah Langford, author of IN YOUR DEFENCE *A breath-taking account of the UK's crumbling prison system. Kirwin's wealth of experience matches insight, moral clarity, compassion and the ability to find humour and hope in even the darkest of corners. Deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as The Secret Barrister as an unflinching breakdown of how our criminal justice system is failing society. Every politician and decision-maker involved in our prisons should be placed on 23-hour lockdown and made to read this book * Nick Pettigrew, author of ANTI-SOCIAL *A vibrant, authentic and shocking personal account that blends heart-breaking stories with heart-stopping stats. There is no ignoring this book. Every member of society should read it because a failing prison system fails us all * Janice Hallett, author of The Twyford Code *Everyone should read Criminal. It's brave and funny and moving and insightful * Daniel Lavelle, author of DOWN AND OUT *A beautiful book - honest, necessary, humane, funny and howlingly furious. The UK justice system is beyond broken and within that system, our prisons magnify everything that is cruel, expensively pointless, unjust and wilfully destructive in what passes for public policy. Kirwin describes the UK's squalid mass incarceration obsession with aching clarity, revealing it for what it is - a mechanism that produces suicide and reoffending, broken minds, broken communities and broken lives. Our prisons are criminal indeed * A.L. Kennedy *Compassionate and transformative. Unlike any portrayal of prison I've ever encountered. One of those books that if it gets into the right hands will genuinely make a difference * Evie Wyld *Moving, informative, and terrifically readable, Angela Kirwin powerfully puts the case for a fundamental rethink of our failing approach to crime and punishment * Andrea Coomber QC (Hon.), Chief Executive, The Howard League for Penal Reform *This highly engaging and accessible book - combining both revealing memoir of working in criminal justice and insightful commentary on it - deserves to be very widely read. It brings vividly to life what decades of research have also demonstrated: Criminalisation, as we practice it, does more harm than good, delivering or exacerbating injustice rather than justice. As Criminal makes abundantly clear, it's time for a radical change of approach * Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology and Social Work at the University of Glasgow *'Criminal reveals the painful truth of a justice system in disarray, a prison estate not fit for purpose and its damaged population within its walls. Skilfully written and a credible read * Faith Spear, The Criminal Justice Blog *Criminal brings readers a well-grounded and well-written insight into what is really happening behind the walls of our prisons. The state of the prisons in England and Wales is worsening by the day. Her first-hand account is a clarion call for the public at large to insist on better approaches to crime and punishment * @PrisonStorm *The barbaric reality of life behind the wire in our dysfunctional prison estate is laid bare in Angela's visceral, compelling account. This book should be mandatory reading for those charged with the task of reducing crime * @CrimeGirl *A funny, heart-breaking and utterly authentic journey inside prison. Everyone needs to read this book * Dr Amanda Brown, author of THE PRISON DOCTOR *A breathtaking account of the UK's crumbling prison system. Kirwin's wealth of experience matches insight, moral clarity, compassion and the ability to find humour and hope in even the darkest of corners. Deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as The Secret Barrister as an unflinching breakdown of how our criminal justice system is failing society. Every politician and decision-maker involved in our prisons should be placed on 23-hour lockdown and made to read this book * Nick Pettigrew, author of ANTI-SOCIAL *Fascinating and necessary, Criminal is a deeply humane look at an often inhumane system' Sarah Langford, author of IN YOUR DEFENCEA beautiful book - honest, necessary, humane, funny and howlingly furious. The UK justice system is beyond broken and within that system, our prisons magnify everything that is cruel, expensively pointless, unjust and wilfully destructive in what passes for public policy. Kirwin describes the UK's squalid mass incarceration obsession with aching clarity, revealing it for what it is - a mechanism that produces suicide and reoffending, broken minds, broken communities and broken lives. Our prisons are criminal indeed * A.L. Kennedy *

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA master class in social changehow a coalition of parents, activists, and prison officials brought a racist and destructive institution to its kneesOver the past twenty years, one state after another has shuttered its youth prisons and stopped trying kids as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75 percent. How did this remarkable change come about? In the sequel to her 2014 award-winning bookBurning Down the House, journalist Nell Bernstein dissects the forces that converged to move us from a moral panic about juvenile superpredators to a time in which the youth prison is rapidly fading from view. In Our Future, We Are Free begins and ends with the imprisoned youth who took a leading role in their own liberation. Through vivid profiles, Bernstein chronicles the tireless work of mothers, activists, litigators, researchers, and journalists to expose and challenge the racist brutality of youth prisonsas well as the surprising story of prison officials who worked from the inside to close their institutions for good. The descriptions of how communities are pursuing safety, rehabilitation, and accountability outside of locked institutions offers a model for how we might overcome our addiction to incarceration writ large. In Our Future, We Are Free is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how large-scale social change happens.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2022 British Academy Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. Novelist Alia Trabucco Zeran has long been fascinated not only with the root causes of violence against women, but by those women who have violently rejected the domestic and passive roles they were meant by their culture to inhabit. Choosing as her subject four iconic homicides perpetrated by Chilean women in the twentieth century, she spent years researching this brilliant work of narrative nonfiction detailing not only the troubling tales of the murders themselves, but the story of how society, the media and men in power reacted to these killings, painting their perpetrators as witches, hysterics, or femmes fatales . . . That is, either evil or out of control. Corina Rojas, Rosa Faundez, Carolina Geel and Teresa Alfaro all committed murder. Their crimes not only led to substantial court decisions, but gave rise to multiple novels, poems, short stories, paintings, plays, songs and films, produced and reproduced throughout the last century. In When Women Kill, we are provided with timelines of events leading up to and following their killings, their apprehension by the authorities, their trials and their representation in the media throughout and following the judicial process. Running in parallel with this often horrifying testimony are the diaries kept by Trabucco Zeran while she worked on her research, addressing the obstacles and dilemmas she encountered as she tackled this discomfiting yet necessary project.Trade Review'Throughout [When Women Kill], the language is both precise and evocative, and the author's evaluation of the various circumstances is readable, trenchant, and intersectional. A formally inventive, lyrical, feminist analysis of Chile's famous female murderers.' Kirkus Reviews, starred review ---- 'Exquisitely translated by Sophie Hughes, When Women Kill conveys the wonder of a writer determined to uncover the truth about factual events by using story.' Megan Bradbury, Times Literary Supplement ---- 'This book fascinates, illuminates and horrifies in equal measure ... It's an elegant examination of how the act of murder uncovers truths society never wants to confront.' Neil Mackay Herald Scotland ---- 'Are we as women in any way implicated by these four murderers? . . . In its portrait of the media, in the echo from the streets, in the judicial process and sentence of each of the four female killers here, we recognise the judgment of society itself, from which we cannot escape.' Nona Fernandez, La Tercera ---- 'When Women Kill is an entertaining, intelligent and well-written book that, in the process of deconstructing machismo, reflects on the power of story - be it through literature, court proceedings, news, articles, or photos - and its ability to intervene in our lives.' Marta Sanz, El Pais ---- 'When Women Kill is a magnificent work of creative nonfiction: provocative, intelligent, and moving. In it, Alia Trabucco Zeran makes use of her talents as a writer and researcher to reconstruct the complex stories of four women accused of violent crimes in the twentieth century. The result is a masterful and pertinent account full of humanity and emotion.' Fernanda Melchor ---- 'This brilliant work of essayistic nonfiction reveals forcefully and convincingly the rhetorical operations used by the patriarchy.' Lina Meruane ---- 'Tales of love and hate, exposed with a forensic and lyrical power that is rare, brilliant and deeply affecting.' Philippe Sands

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsForewords by Calvin Lewis, Myron Hodges, and Wayne Kramer List of Figures Note to the reader Introduction The Book as a Multi-Movement Musical Piece Uncovering Histories The Musicality of Prison A Brief Overview of Louisiana Behind Bars 1. Astonishment 2. Association 3. Politics 4. Surfaces 5. Inflection 6. Recapitulation Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisCrime and Intelligence Analysis: An Integrated Real-Time Approach, 2nd Edition, covers everything crime analysts and tactical analysts need to know to be successful. Providing an overview of the criminal justice system as well as the more fundamental areas of crime analysis, the book enables students and law enforcement personnel to gain a better understanding of criminal behavior, learn the basics of conducting temporal analysis of crime patterns, use spatial analysis to better understand crime, apply research methods to crime analysis, and more successfully evaluate data and information to help predict criminal offending and solve criminal cases. A new chapter provides expert advice about terrorist threats and threat assessment.Criminal justice and police academy students, as well as civilians, sworn officers, and administrators, can build the skills to be credible crime analysts who play a critical role in the daily operations of law enforcement.Table of ContentsPart I. Crime and the Twenty-First Century; 1. The Crime Problem; 2. What Do We Know about Crime?; 3. What Causes People to Commit Crimes?; Part II. Law Enforcement—Then and Now; 4. The Police and Law Enforcement—It’s Come a Long Way 5. Police Investigations in the Twenty-First Century; Part III. Intelligence and Intelligence Analysis; 6. An Introduction to Intelligence; 7. Intelligence and the Tactical Analyst; 8. Collecting Intelligence; 9. Data Mining and Analyzing Intelligence; Part IV. Crime Analysis; 10. History and Types of Crime Analysis; 11. Tactical Crime Analysis; 12. Tactical Crime Analysis and Hot Spots Policing; 13. Strategic Crime Analysis; 14. Understanding Threat Assessment Methodologies and the Role of the Analyst; 15. Administrative Crime Analysis; 16. Police Operations Crime Analysis; Part V. Crime Analysis and the Future; 17. Crime Analysis and the Future of Policing

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Book SynopsisContaining 200 archive images from the NCCL Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, this book is intended for those with an interest in the history of prisons and prison life in Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

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Book SynopsisIran's prison system is a foundational institution of Iranian political modernity. The Incarcerated Modern traces the transformation of Iran from a decentralized empire with few imprisoned persons at the turn of the twentieth century into a modern nation-state with over a quarter million prisoners today. In policing the line between "bad criminal" and "good citizen," the carceral system has shaped and reshaped Iranian understandings of citizenship, freedom, and political belonging. Golnar Nikpour explores the interplay between the concrete space of the Iranian prison and the role of prisons in producing new public cultures and political languages in Iran. From prison writings of 1920s leftist prisoners and communiqués of 1950s militant Islamists, to paintings of 1970s revolutionary guerrillas and mapping projects organized by contemporary dissident prisoners, carceral confinement has shaped modern Iranian political movements. Today, mass incarceration is a global phenomenon. The Incarcerated Modern connects Iranian history to transnational carceral histories to illuminate the shared architectures, economies, and techniques of modern punishment. Trade Review"Prisons that purport to isolate from public view nevertheless have a public life, Golnar Nikpour contends in this revelatory study. The Incarcerated Modern's depiction of transnational solidarity and human rights movements attempting to confront carcerality worldwide is acute and indispensable."—Samuel Moyn, Yale University"The Incarcerated Modern tells the story of Iran's transformation from a fading empire into a modern nation-state. Steeped in rich archival research, the book brilliantly unpacks the foundational significance of the carceral system and reveals the paradox of this massive system of surveillance—stabilizing the state while creating the space in which modern political movements came into being. A must read!"—Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Princeton University"The Incarcerated Modern is one of those exceptionally rare, original books that transcends academic disciplines and opens up myriad terrains of inquiry. Golnar Nikpour powerfully and convincingly illustrates how the modern prison is global in scope—linked to colonial histories, nation-states, and global politics."—Shahla Talebi, Arizona State UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: On the Significance of the Iranian Prison 1. Lawlessness and Order: The Qajar Roots of Modern Prisons in Iran 2. The Criminal Is the Patient, the Prison Will Be the Cure: Building the Carceral Imagination in Pahlavi Iran 3. Like a Fertile Storm: Prisons and Revolutionary Worldmaking in the Iranian Guerrilla Era 4. The Iranian Prison Goes Global: Iranian Revolutionaries and the International Human Rights Movement 5. Making an Example: Carceral Utopianism and Prison Expansion in Revolutionary Iran 6. Carcerality beyond Prisons?: The Politics of Punishment in the Contemporary Islamic Republic Conclusion: Politics and Prisons beyond Reform Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisGender and punishment in Ireland explores women’s lethal violence in Ireland. Drawing on comprehensive archival research, including government documents, press reporting, the remnants of public opinion and the voices of the women themselves, the book contributes to the burgeoning literature on gender and punishment and women who kill. Engaging with concepts such as ‘double deviance’, chivalry, paternalism and ‘coercive confinement’, the work explores the penal landscape for offending women in postcolonial Ireland, examining in particular the role of the Catholic Church in responses to female deviance. The book is an extensive interdisciplinary treatment of women who kill in Ireland and will be useful to scholars of gender, criminology and history.Trade Review‘Beautifully written and comprehensively researched, this book is a vital addition to historical and criminological work on women, murder and punishment. Extending the literature on women who kill, Black goes beyond a focus on gender representation alone to examine the complex dynamics that influenced conviction, sentencing and punishment of women accused of murder in Ireland in the decades after independence. Distinct from existing research on women accused of murder, she traces their experiences of punishment, including what happened to women reprieved from the death penalty. A particularly fascinating aspect of Gender and punishment in Ireland is Black's analysis of the use of religious detention in Ireland's “shadow system of penalty” as a disposal, which further develops feminist penology on gender and mixed economies of punishment. As such, this book is highly recommended for its combination of rigorous empirical research and fresh conceptual insight.’Professor Lizzie Seal, University of SussexBlack has provided an extensive and close reading of court records, including trial recordbooks, case files, the state books for the Central Criminal Court, relevant files from theDepartment of the Taoiseach and newspaper accounts of trials. The book is a major interventioninto studies of crime and criminality in post-Independence Ireland and forms the basisfor comparative work with other countries. It is informative, well structured, well written andconceptually sophisticated.Maria Luddy, University of Warwick, Women's History ReviewThis book contributes to an international literature on histories and practicesof capital punishment. It also adds to a growing literature presenting the historyof Irish criminal justice as a distinct object of study. And Black’s book makes asignificant contribution here. One of the questions Black sets out in the introductionis whether the theoretical literature on state responses to women who killcan be universalized. While this book’s argument fundamentally requires Irishwomen’s experiences to be taken on their own terms, in setting out exactlyhow these experiences were unique, it also makes major contributions to the relevantliterature well beyond Ireland.Kay Crosby, Newcastle University, The Journal of Legal History -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Women prosecuted for murder2 Clemency for the condemned3 Insanity4 Sentencing and punishment5 Post-reprieve punishment of death-sentenced women6 Motherhood and child-killing7 Marriage and sexuality8 Rural lives and classConclusion Women’s lethal violence in Ireland

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Book SynopsisThere is an ancient and quite baseless myth that the use of torture has never been legal in Britain. This old wives' tale arose because torture had been neither endorsed nor forbidden by either statute or common law. In other words; the law has, until the late twentieth century, never had anything to say on the subject. In fact, torture, inflicted both as punishment and as an aid to interrogation, has been a constant and recurring feature of British life; from the beginning of the country's recorded history, until well into the twentieth century. Even as late as 1976, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British Army was guilty of the systematic torture of suspected terrorists. In 'A History of Torture in Britain' Simon Webb traces the terrible story of the deliberate use of pain on prisoners in Britain and its overseas possessions. Beginning with the medieval trial by ordeal, which entailed carrying a red-hot iron bar in your bare hand for a certain distance, through to the stretching on the rack of political prisoners and the mutilation of those found guilty of sedition; the evidence clearly shows that Britain has relied heavily upon torture, both at home and abroad, for almost the whole of its history. This sweeping and authoritative account of a grisly and distasteful subject is likely to become the definitive history of the judicial infliction of pain in Britain and its Empire.

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Book SynopsisThe cult guide to UK prisons by Carl Cattermole – now fully updated and featuring contributions from female and LGBTQI prisoners, as well as from family on the outside.Contains: Blood – but not as much as you might imagineSweat – and the prisons no longer provide soapTears – because prison has created a mental health crisisHumanity – and how to stop the institution destroying itFeaturing contributors Sarah Jake Baker, Jon Gulliver, Darcey Hartley, Julia Howard, Elliot Murawski and Lisa Selby.‘Essential reading’ Will Self‘We’re in the justice dark ages and Cattermole’s great book switches on the lights’Dr Theo Kindynis, Lecturer in Criminology Goldsmiths, University of London‘It has the potential to change a lot of people’s lives for the better’Daniel Godden, Partner at Berkeley Square Solicitors’Trade ReviewA beautiful, heart-breaking, hopeful, humorous, and insightful analysis of the UK’s industrial prison complex. It touches on everything from the deportation of foreign national prisoners, to how to brew vodka in your cell, and looking for a job on release. * The Sociological Review *

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Book SynopsisBrings together a wide range of feminist research focused on women’s lived experiences and centred on their own narratives. Drawing on expertise in contemporary fields of study, using cutting-edge participatory, inclusive and narrative methodologies, the book updates Carlen’s pioneering work for current times.Table of ContentsForeword – Pat Carlen Introduction – Sharon Grace, Maggie O’Neill, Tammi Walker, Hannah King, Lucy Baldwin, Alison Jobe, Orla Lynch, Fiona Measham, Kate O’Brien and Vicky Seaman 1. Hearing the Voices of Women Involved in Drugs and Crime – Sharon Grace 2. Knifing Off? The Inadequacies of Desistance Frameworks for Women in the Criminal Justice System in Ireland – Vicky Seaman and Orla Lynch 3. Sex Work, Criminalisation and Stigma: Towards a Feminist Criminological Imagination – Maggie O’Neill and Alison Jobe 4. Criminal Women in Prison Who Self-harm: What Can We Learn from Their Experiences? – Tammi Walker 5. Criminal Mothers: The Persisting Pains of Maternal Imprisonment – Lucy Baldwin, with Mary Elwood and Cassie Brown 6. ‘The World Split Open’: Writing, Teaching and Learning with Women in Prison – Hannah King, Kate O’Brien and Fiona Measham, with Verity-Fee, Phoenix, Iris and Angel 7. Women’s Biographies through Prison – Verity-Fee, Phoenix, Iris and Angel, with Hannah King, Kate O’Brien and Fiona Measham Afterword – Loraine Gelsthorpe

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Book SynopsisNgugi wa Thiong’o’s powerful prison memoir begins half an hour before his release on 12 December 1978. A year earlier, he recalls, armed police arrived at his home and took him to Kenya’s Kamiti Maximum Security Prison. There, Ngugi lives in a block alongside other political prisoners, but he refuses to give in to the humiliation. He decides to write a novel in secret, on toilet paper – it is a book that will become his classic, Devil on the Cross.Wrestling with the Devil is Ngugi’s unforgettable account of the drama and challenges of living under twenty-four-hour surveillance. He captures not only the pain caused by his isolation from his family, but also the spirit of defiance and the imaginative endeavours that allowed him to survive.Trade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of our time -- Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieA tremendous writer... It's hard to doubt the power of the written word when you hear the story of Ngugi wa Thiong’o * Guardian *Ngugi is affording us a glimpse into how a prisoner of conscience, by stubbornly reiterating his convictions, keeps faith with the ideals that those in power want him to betray... This thrilling testament to the human spirit had, for me, a fierce resonance... I could not help feeling that his luminous words were meant for those victims and many others being persecuted across the world, a way of urging humanity to never surrender to the demons of fear and silence -- Ariel Dorfman * New York Times *One of Kenya's greatest storytellers * Financial Times *A visionary writer * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisAccording to Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) 'Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.' Connecting the politics of abolition to wider emancipatory struggles for liberation and social justice, this book argues that penal abolitionism should be understood as an important public critical pedagogy and philosophy of hope that can help to reinvigorate democracy and set society on a pathway towards living in a world without prisons. For Abolition draws upon the socialist ethics of dignity, empathy, freedom and paradigm of life to systematically critique imprisonment as a state institution characterised by 'social death'.Trade Review'For Abolition is a vital response to these darkening penal times It is essential reading for anyone who cares enough to wonder why England and Wales is in sight of a daily prison population of 100,000 … The book makes a challenging case well, and if it is properly digested and savoured its arguments are hard to gainsay.'-- Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor, University of Strathclyde; 'A brilliant intellectual intervention... This book has been so very helpful.'-- Simone Rowe, School of Law, Society & Criminology, Faculty of Law & Justice, The University of New South Wales; 'A thoroughly engaging and passionate challenge to dominant understandings of crime and punishment ... Prisons are revealed as sites of mental and physical brutality, utterly incapable of providing constructive transformative regimes'-- Professor Emma Bell, University of Savoie; 'A timely and urgent reminder of the need for Abolition ... excellently exposes prisons as institutions of domination, repression and power ... A must read for all concerned with the state of prisons'-- Dr Kathryn Chadwick, Manchester Metropolitan University; 'A book that should be cherished by scholars, students, practitioners and activists alike ... it is rare to find a text so sensitively and empathically composed'-- Dr Alana Barton, Edge Hill University.Table of ContentsTable of Cases; Foreword by Joe Sim; The Prison Puzzle and Socialist Ethics - Making the Case for Abolition; Abolitionist Ethical Hermeneutics - Hearing and Interpreting Voice; Invisible Brutal Hands - The Problem of Prison Officer Violence; Phantom Faces at the Window - Prisons, Dignity and Moral Exclusion; Prison is Not a Home - Estrangement and the Prison Zone of Abandonment; Falling Softly to Your Grave - Time Consciousness and the Death-bound Subject; Abolitionism as a Philosophy of Hope - System 'Inside-Outsiders', Freedom and the Reclaiming of Democracy; Ordinary Rebels, Everyone - Abolitionist Scholarship and the Struggle for Freedom; The Abolitionist Imagination - Ethics of Empathy, Dignity and Life; Afterword; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisStories, poems and articles of hope by people in custody and on probation, edited by the Arkbound Foundation. Prison. It is a word that conjures up loss, bleakness and despair. A place where those who have broken the law are kept, both for punishment and for the safety of society. But behind these images are human stories, accounts of tragic mistakes and broken lives, woven in-between with hope. For those inside prison, it is hope that often keeps them going: for the future, for those they care for, and for the chance to start afresh upon release.Trade Review‘The reader cannot help but be moved by some of these stories and it is remarkable that in such times of penal adversity there are those who are able to lift people up and sustain them when all else seems defeated. For many, it is hope that has kept them alive.’ – Eoin Mclennan-Murray, former Prison Governor and Chair of the Howard League for Penal Reform

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Book SynopsisThis Textbook addresses a gap in the market, as currently there are no contemporary books exploring nursing within a prison setting. The main focus is the provision of healthcare in the Prison Service of England and Wales, although examples will also be drawn from the United States of America and Australia. Healthcare within prison settings has changed remarkably to address the needs of the changing prison populations. Thus, this text is clearly structured to support student nurses to understand the role of the nurse within prison and how the different specialities of nursing are applied in this unique setting. This textbook provides an overview of the context of prison, prisoners, and healthcare, as well as the experiences of nurse specialists who work in this field, including adult, mental health, and learning disability nurses across primary care, mental health services, substance misuse and end-of-life care. This volume is informative for both undergraduate student nurses and for qualified nurses and dispels many myths regarding working as a nurse in a prison. Each chapter is written by experts within the field, including nurses who have worked or still working within the prison setting. An important objective of this work is to inform student nurses of the possibility and opportunity of a nursing career within a prison setting. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Prison populations, culture, violence, and drug misuse Chapter 2: Healthcare in prisonChapter 3: The role of the nurse in prisonChapter 4: Primary healthcare in prisonChapter 5: Mental healthcare in prison Chapter 6: Learning disabilities in prisonChapter 7: Substance misuse in prisonChapter 8: Palliative and end of life care in prisonChapter 9: Recommendations and conclusions

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