Women in American Prisons: Sex, Social Life, and Families [Paperback]

A fascinating look at the social life of women in prison. Intended to shine the light on prison social life in the face of allegations of all sorts of misconduct and deviant behaviors.Mark Fleisher is a cultural anthropologist and criminal ethnographer and former federal prison administrator and a center for violence prevention and research. He is the author an award winning book on the lives of urban street criminals and two others on related topics, including Crime and Employment (2003)Fleishers new volume makes important points about the US prison system. First is the observation that prisons warehouse felons. Though rehabilitation has long been a goal of prison reform, it remains elusive. Second is his insight that many problems within prisons and prison culture stem from social inequality and the negative life circumstances that incarcerated people experience prior to incarceration&. Fleishers extensive research inside prisons provides interesting insights and challenges many dominant media portrayals of prisons as inhabited by evil guards and beset with senseless violence. Recommended. Choice

Chapter 1. A World Apart
Chapter 2. Hellish Prisons? Not!
Chapter 3. Rights Guaranteed Under the Constitution
Chapter 4. Quality of Life Behind Bars
Chapter 5. Gender, Homosexuality, and Fictive Families
Chapter 6. Loneliness, Manipulation, Sex, and Rape