Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAmerica's Jails is a rich and thoughtful book. A powerful condemnation of America's jail system, but more than that, a plea to reset the starting point for reform. Jeffreys' call to bring ethics into the policy debate and to ground change in a shared recognition of the inherent dignity of those incarcerated is a challenge to us all. -- Sharon Shalev,Author of Supermax: Controlling Risk Through Solitary Confinement
In this groundbreaking book, Derek Jeffreys demonstrates why the inhabitants of Americas troubled jails are endowed with human dignity. Written by a scholar who has deep knowledge of philosophy and of jails, this work makes a unique contribution. -- Michael B. Mushlin,Author of Rights of Prisoners, Fifth Edition
Jeffreys provides a cogent and highly credible explanation for why American jails are brutal places where humanity is in short order. But it is his argument that all peopleincluding the jailed detaineepossess inalienable inherent dignity that renders his book a powerful and important addition to modern criminal justice scholarship. . . . We must not, urges Jeffreys, accept the assault on human dignity" that takes place every day in our jails and prisons. * New York Journal of Books *
This book is simultaneously a study of detention in the Cook County Department of Corrections, Chicago, and an argument for significant reform of ‘systemic issues’ nationwide. Jeffrey focuses on the role of jails in both containing and exacerbating social senses of ‘disgust, contempt, and fear’ such that incarceration produces a ‘stigma that deeply damages the lives of jail inmates and ex-offenders,’ the overwhelming number of whom are locked away for non-violent offenses. -- Spencer Dew, Wittenberg University * Religious Studies Review *
Jeffreys’s book allows for a unique, interdisciplinary perspective in understanding American jails and highlights the plight of inmates and considers philosophical questions about human dignity in U.S. jails. It will appeal to a wide range of audiences, including policymakers, lawyers, academics, correctional officers, journalists and medical professionals working within correctional institutions. * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *
