Description
Book SynopsisHaving gained access to California prisoners and corrections officials and to thousands of prisoners' written grievances and institutional responses, the authors take us inside one of the most significant, yet largely invisible, institutions in the United States.
Trade Review"The authors bring wide-ranging scholarship to bear on the contradictions between the logic of rights and of carceral control... There are no simple truths in this exceptional work of scholarship, which is important for criminology, sociology, law, and political science." -- P. S. Leighton CHOICE "Appealing to Justice provides a powerful and disturbing window into the deprivations of contemporary punishment and a brilliant theoretical argument about the role of law inside of prisons." Punishment & Society "After reading this book, I gained a better understanding of what takes place when a prisoner files a grievance, and the struggle it is to get their voice heard in prison... I highly recommend this book to any social work students or anyone interested in becoming a social worker." The New Social Worker "A valuable contribution to our knowledge of the prisoner society, conditions of confinement and operational realities in the California prison system... [a] highly original book." British Journal of Criminology "Drawing on evidence from several hundred case records and interviews with people who are incarcerated and corrections employees, Calavita and Jenness generate a theoretically rich and broadly relevant account... illuminating." Contemporary Sociology
Table of ContentsList of Tables Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Rights, Captivity, and Disputing behind Bars 2. "Needles," "Haystacks," and "Dead Watchdogs": The Prison Litigation Reform Act and the Inmate Grievance System in California 3. Naming, Blaming, and Claiming in an Uncommon Place of Law 4. Prisoners' Counternarratives: "This Is a Prison and It's Not Disneyland" 5. "Narcissists," "Liars," Process, and Paper: The Dilemmas and Solutions of Grievance Handlers 6. Administrative Consistency, Downstream Consequences, and "Knuckleheads" 7. Grievance Narratives as Frames of Meaning, Profiles of Power 8. Conclusion Appendix A: Procedures for Interviews with Prisoners Appendix B: Procedures for Interviews with CDCR Personnel Appendix C: Coding the Sample of Grievances Cases Notes References Index
