Hard Time - 4th Edition by Robert Johnson & Ann Marie Rocheleau & Alison B Martin (Paperback)

About the Book

"This new edition of a longstanding, successful textbook explores the complex issues necessary to understand and reform the prison system. Draws from both ethnographic and professional material, and situates the prison experience within both contemporary and historical contexts Features first person accounts from prisoners and staff - both men and women - explaining what it's like to live and work in prison, and in doing so brings the issues alive for students Includes brand new extensive chapters on prison reform, and on supermax correctional facilities - including research on confinement, long-term segregation, and death row Explores topics including the nature of prison as punishment; prisoner personality types and their coping strategies; gang violence; prison officers' public and private custodial duties; and psychological, educational, and work programs offered Develops policy recommendations for the future based on qualitative and quantitative research and evidence-based initiatives"--

Book Synopsis

Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison, 4th Edition, is a revised and updated version of the highly successful text addressing the origins, evolution, and promise of America's penal system.

• Draws from both ethnographic and professional material, and situates the prison experience within both contemporary and historical contexts
• Features first person accounts from male and female inmates and staff, revealing what it's actually like to live and work in prison
• Includes all-new chapters on prison reform and on supermax correctional facilities, including the latest research on confinement, long-term segregation, and death row
• Explores a wide range of topics, including the nature of prison as punishment; prisoner personality types and coping strategies; gang violence; prison officers' custodial duties; and psychological, educational, and work programs
• Develops policy recommendations for the future based on qualitative and quantitative research and evidence-based initiatives

From the Back Cover

Featuring numerous updates reflecting the latest research, the new 4th Edition of Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison offers compelling insights into the origins, evolution, and future promise of America's prison system. Along with extensive revisions to all chapters, changes for this new edition include greatly expanded coverage of the types of hardships experienced in prison, completely rewritten chapters on prisoner violence and suggested reforms, and a new chapter on "supermax" prison facilities with an assessment of the efficacy of long-term segregation.

The text retains the popular previous edition's vivid and often poignant ethnographic accounts drawn from male and female inmates along with prison staff, giving voice to the complexities of contemporary prison life--and greatly enhances our understanding of the prison experience and urgent need for reform. More timely and important than ever, Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison, 4th Edition, offers illuminating insights into life behind and beyond the prison bars in America--a nation whose criminal justice system incarcerates more of its citizens than anywhere else in the world.

About the Author

Robert Johnson is a Professor of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University, Washington, D.C., and Editor and Publisher of BleakHouse Publishing. His publications include Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process, which won the Outstanding Book Award of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

Ann Marie Rocheleau is an Associate Professor at Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts. She collaborated on research studies on adult and juvenile corrections, community policing, and drug purchase for the National Institute of Justice and the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Alison B. Martin is a Policy Analyst with the Council of State Governments Justice Center. She is the co-author of Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship the World Over and Gay and Lesbian Communities the World Over.

The book includes a Foreword by Francis T. Cullen, Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology at the University of Cincinnati and an Afterword by Alison Libeling, University Lecturer and Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology.