Annotated Bibliography

 

ACLU. (2019). Abuse of the human rights of prisoners in the United States: Solitary confinement. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/other/abuse-human-rights-prisoners-united-states-solitary-confinement.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) offer information on the current status of solitary confinement in United States prisons. They urge the Human Rights Council to address the violations of the human rights of prisoners and for the adoption of measures to protect their human rights. The ACLU speaks on the necessity of making change in regards to solitary confinement.

American Friends Service Committee. (2011). B. Kerness & B. Breslaw (Eds.), Torture in United States prisons: Evidence of human rights violations 2nd edition. Retrieved from https://www.afsc.org/sites/default/files/documents/torture_in_us_prisons.pdf.
A book on torture in United States prisons. I pulled information from the chapter labeled isolation, which was composed of mentions of articles from the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and various quotes regarding prisoner mistreatment.

Blanco, J. (2018). Prison overcrowding statistics. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/prison-overcrowding-statistics-causes-effects.html.
This website provided statistics on the overcrowding in United States prisons. It also offers other information on it, but requires you to pay to access any more than the statistics so I saw only the freely offered information.

Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2018). Bureau of justice statistics – Sexual victimization reported by adult correctional authorities, 2012-15 – Press release. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/svraca1215pr.cfm.
This website provided statistics from the Bureau of Justice on sexual victimization in adult correctional facilities in the United States.

DuVernay, A. (Director). (2016). 13th [Motion Picture]. United States: Netflix.
The film, 13th, is centered around how the current prison system, mass incarceration, historical policies on crime reform, and current movements all affect minorities but specifically looking at African American men. With multiple speakers ranging from Angela Davis to Grover Norquist, they look at how history of the clause of excluding criminals from the protections of the 13th amendment and the laws that follow shaped how slavery changed into the prison system. They start their analysis with the ending of slavery through to the Black Lives Matter movement with coverage of the 2016 election races. DuVernay overall has a wide range of sources and expert speakers sharing their information about subjects around mass incarceration. This film appears credible to the diversity of sources and their different sponsoring organizations. They are biased about the subject of how race and the prison system intertwine but that does not affect the information they are presenting. The clear passion on how they present the information and having speakers such as Angela Davis truly impact the way they convey their information to the audience. With the use of music and clips of controversial topics, including videos of police brutality, the audience’s emotions are used to have the information stick with the audience for longer and be more impactful.

Ferguson, C. (2015). Kids with parents in prison often deal with untreated trauma. Retrieved
from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/catferguson/parents-in-prison.
This article speaks on the trauma induced by having an incarcerated parent and the long-term effects it has. It offers statistics and information surrounding the topic. The article covers specific situations to provide an example and then discussed the result of having an incarcerated parent over long periods of time.

Furst, G. (2011). Animal programs in prison: A comprehensive assessment. Boulder, Colorado ; London, [England]: FirstForumPress.
This chapter talks about the long history of animals being present at, or in prison systems. It looks at what it means for prisoners to have animals in their lives. In it, G. Furst brings up many people’s hesitancy to allow animals around inmates and some of their reasons for that hesitation. It then goes on to look at a study that was done in the early 2000s on canine programs at prisons. In these programs’ prisoners were training service dogs for the community. These dogs would spend the whole day with the prisoners and the prisoners reported many positive benefits from the companionship and responsibility of caring for these animals.

Gilna, D. (2018). Prison legal news. Retrieved from https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/may/8/qualified-immunity-doctrine-needs-be-reexamined/.
This article explained what qualified immunity is and what it is used for. It provides examples of its use and argues for the need for it to be reexamined. It explains the legality of its use and urges for the Supreme Court to reconsider its support for qualified immunity.

Gilson, D. (2019). What we know about violence in America’s prisons. Retrieved from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/attacks-and-assaults-behind-bars-cca-private-prisons/.
This article focuses on primarily sexual assault in prisons, providing a wide range of statistics and facts. It compares private versus public institutions and goes into depth about the current conditions of violence at Winn Correctional Center.

Gotsch, K., & Basti, V. (2018). Capitalizing on mass incarceration: U.S. growth in
private prisons. Retrieved from https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/capitalizing-on-mass-incarceration-u-s-growth-in-private-prisons/.
Gotsch and Basti breakdown and study private prisons. The number of people housed in private prisons has increased fivefold from 2000 to 2016. Using facts and studies, they look into how private prisons have grown since 2000. They also look into how private contractors are expanding into this profitable sectors. They have several recommendations on what to do to reduce the prison industrial complex. They are biased in their information. They do not explore how private prisons and for-profit contracts could be beneficial to the United States and several systems. It could be beneficial to the economy and potentially international trade systems due to the factories making products in the United States. They write extensively with research to back their claims. They specifically write about certain companies that are some of the largest companies that profit off of these prisons.

Human Rights Watch. (2004). Prisoner abuse: How different are U.S. prisons? Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/05/13/prisoner-abuse-how-different-are-us-prisons#.
This article starts with mentioning “the sadistic abuse and sexual humiliation by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison” which has shocked most Americans, but goes on to say it is not a surprise to those who are familiar with the cruelty of prisons in the United States. It goes on to describe in detail the mistreatment and abuse of prisoners, offering specific examples. It speaks on the failure of both higher up correctional staff and of political figures in controlling this violence.

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. (2017). Black mold and toxic prisons. Retrieved from https://incarceratedworkers.org/news/black-mold-and-toxic-prisons.
This website provides three letters from incarcerated individual who are living in conditions where they are exposed to toxic black mold. They detail the conditions, speak on its lack of humanity, and urge for change.

Lagemann, E. (2015). 2015 AERA distinguished lecture: College in prison: A cause in need of advocacy and research. Educational researcher, 44(8), 415-420.
This article explains how, though there are many programs of all sorts inmates a prison, ” there are very few degree granted college programs and only a handful that offer a rigorous, liberal arts curriculum”. E. Lagerman explains that this is in a large part due to the 1994 decision to remove Pell Grant eligibility from prisoners. It highlights the high amounts of recidivism in the prison system and the of tax money it costs to imprison the unnecessarily High numbers of inmates. She explains that one way to fix this problem is by offering degree programs for people in prison. Lagerman also highlights the extremely low recidivism rate of people who have completed degrees while in prison. She points out that when college-educated men and women come back to their neighborhoods from prison with a college education and better their lives they are seen as good role models in their community which is a double benefit.

Miller, J. (2019). As Utah jails embrace video technology, in-person visits are being eliminated. Retrieved from https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/11/02/utah-jails-embrace-video/.
Miller writes about how recently jails have been implementing video chatting services for prisoners to be able to talk to people without having an in-person visit. Miller reports how it can help people who live further from prison while others talk about how it removes people more from society. The technology is marketed as a safer way to have visits with the reduction of prisoners being moved yet it does cost people money to have these video chats with varying prices. It isn’t affordable for all people but it is becoming more popular in Utah. Miller wrote primarily unbiased but did write negatively about the idea of charging people for these calls and some parts of the contract that Securus Technologies requires. Miller uses different interviews and personal stories to illustrate different perspectives on how this integration affects different people. Miller tries to incorporate different viewpoints to keep it unbiased writing.

Prison Pet Partnership. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.prisonpetpartnership.org/index.html
This website outlines the prison Pet Partnership Program at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, Washington. It highlights their many programs. Their dog training program trains service dogs for people in need. They also do obedience training for people’s dogs in the community. On top of all that they also do boarding and Grooming. Through this program, women get not only the benefit of working with animals while they are in prison, they also get lots of job experience in the Animal Care industry, not only while working with the animals but also working in the office, which they can use upon release as some women already have.

Rakia, R. (2019). Alabama prisoners say they’ve been punished for trying to reduce violence. Retrieved from https://theappeal.org/alabama-prisoners-say-theyve-been-punished-for-trying-to-reduce-violence/.
This article details the violent behavior of correctional staff in Alabama prisons. It goes on to further explain how Alabama prisoners are being punished, violently, for trying to end the mistreatment by reaching out and involving themselves in social justice movements.

Thompson, H. A. (2012). The Prison industrial complex. New labor forum, 21(3), 39–47. doi: 10.4179/nlf.213.0000006.
Thompson writes about how prisons have made millions of dollars while harming the United States economy and labor force. Thompson also writes about the factors that affect prisoners such as low wages, unfair compensation, and hazardous working conditions. They cite how some state prisons only pay prisoners $0.13 to $0.32 per hour. Thompson also cited the BP clean up in the Gulf as a hazardous working condition because prions did not supply proper protective gear to the prisoners. Thompson is very biased about the topic. Thompson adamantly speaks out about prison labor and how it is terrible for the United States. They do not expand on positive parts while effectively using logistics to argue their points. Thompson tries to relay the effects to the reader by tying prison labor to how it affects jobs and how they decrease available jobs. While relaying this information, Thompson also writes about how the jobs in the prison sector are also not as well as they are portrayed.

T’ruah. (2015). Timeline of the rise of the modern American prison system. Retrieved from http://www.truah.org/wp-content/uploads/MIH/MIH-18-20-timeline-modern-american-prison.pdf.
This is a pdf that provides a timeline of important dates in regards to the history of United States prisons. It gives specific dates then a short description of what occurred and in most cases why it is significant.

Turner, L. (n.d.). What has caused an increase in prison populations? Retrieved from https://classroom.synonym.com/caused-increase-prison-populations-7898.html.
This article details why the prison population has increased so much. It focuses on mandatory minimums, the impossibility of parole, changing from adolescence to adulthood, the finalization of the Constitution in regards to the listing of federal crimes, and the War on Drugs.

Sawyer, W., & Wagner, P. (2019). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html.
Sawyer and Wagner write about mass incarceration as it is today. They cover how most people in jails have not been convicted of a crime but are there for pre-trial detention. There are 540,000 people in jails for pre-trial detention. They also cover what they call the five myths of mass incarceration; releasing “non-violent drug offenders” would end mass incarceration, private prisons are the corrupt heart of mass incarceration, prisons are “factories behind fences” that exist to provide companies with a huge slave labor force, expanding community supervision is the best way to reduce incarceration, and people in prison for violent or sexual crimes are too dangerous to be released. Sawyer and Wagner also break down the parts of the prison system and the demographics within those parts. Sawyer and Wagner are biased when writing about the prison system. They do write how the system needs reform but the write about a lot of the misconceptions with the prison system and the prison industrial complex. They try to bring in other views but it is in a way that truly discredits them. They present facts and statistics in an effective way that argues their point with clarity.

Sfendla, Anis, Malmström, Petter, Torstensson, Sara, & Kerekes, Nora. (2018). Yoga practice reduces the psychological distress levels of prison inmates. Frontiers In Psychiatry, 9, 407.
This article looks at yoga’s effect on prison inmates through yoga programs in prison. They approached this topic from the standpoint that many people in prison suffer from mental illness and we need to look at all ways to help alleviate mental illness for prisoners. It outlines a study that was done over a few years with over a hundred fifty inmates. The study compared reports from inmate groups that practiced 90 minutes’ worth of yoga per week vs. a control group that utilized that time for “free-choice” physical exercise ( Basketball, football or Gym exercise). The results showed that yoga had a significant and larger positive impact on the prisoners Mental Health then that of the control group.

Smith, A. (2018). Momentum for prison education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/06/colleges-push-more-resources-support-prison-education-programs
This article demonstrates a number of ways and reasons that College in Prison Programs are working and in the best interest to inmates and ordinary citizens as well. It argues that College in prison is one of the best ways to stop recidivism and the likelihood of criminal behavior after leaving prison. It spells out the cost savings as far as tax dollars being spent in keeping people in prison versus paying a little extra for them to go to school while in college and the decreased cost from the decreased recidivism education creates. This article explains how and why funding for college in prison programs got cut by Bill Clinton in the 1994 crime bill. It goes on to highlight the second chance Pell Grant introduced by the Obama Administration in 2015. It ends by telling the stories of a few students who are in or have benefited from college in prison programs.

Washington’s College in Prisons Program. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/programs-services/prisons/default.aspx
This webpage explains that lack of Education and employment skills are the reasons why so many prisoners do not succeed when they re-enter free society. It argues that College in Prison Programs are not only a way to increase former prisoners chances of succeeding upon release, but also is in the best interest for all citizens of Washington State. The web page highlights how there is a ” direct correlation between education level and recidivism: the higher the education level, the lower the recidivism rate.” The video on the website show some of the stories of people in college prisons at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary in Washington. The video talks about how funding for college in prison programs was cut in the mid-90s but has been reinvigorated with some money from Warren buffets sister Doris through the Sunshine Lady Foundation.

Yoga Behind Bars. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://yogabehindbars.org/
This website outlines the yoga Behind Bars program started in Seattle Washington in 2003. Yoga Behind Bars brings yoga to many of the prisons across Washington State. They focus on what they called “trauma-informed yoga” which they define as “accessible embodiment practices that encourage participants to reclaim their agency through choice, inclusion and nervous system regulation”. They have three main programs which they operate through. Adult programs in which they work with adults at prisons. Youth programs where they bring yoga to juvenile detention centers across the state, and finally yoga teacher training programs for incarcerated people. These programs allow prisoners to become yoga teachers themselves which gives them a sense of empowerment and pride. So far there have been over ten men and women who have graduated this program and they are currently teaching at four different prisons.

Youth.Gov. (n.d.). Children of incarcerated parents. Retrieved from https://youth.gov/youth-topics/children-of-incarcerated-parents.
As so many children in the United States are affected by the incarnation of one or both parents, there is a need to have systems for children and families to access reliable people and resources to help them through these difficulties. Many of those affected by an incarcerated person have resources through websites cited above, and many others, they can access during these transitions.