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Prison Violence: Conflict, power and vicitmization
by Carol Martin Ian O'Donnell Kimmett EdgarPrisons are dangerous places, and assaults, threats, theft and verbal abuse are pervasive - attributable both to the characteristics of the captive population and to an institutional sub culture which promotes violence as a means of resolving conflicts. Yet the crimes perpetrated by prisoners on other prisoners have attracted little interest, and criminological research has contributed little to an understanding of situations in which violence arises in penal institutions. This book seeks to remedy this, and to address and answer a number of key questions: how do features of the prison social setting shape conflicts?; what social norms guide the decision to use violence?; what are the personal and social consequences of spending months or years in places where distrust and anxiety are normal?; how do staff respond to the dangers that are part of daily life in many prisons?; is it possible to identify factors associated with risk and resilience?; and what methods of handling conflicts do prisoners use that could prevent violence? Prison Violence adopts a distinctive approach to answering these questions, and is based on extensive research, including interviews with both victims and perpetrators of prison violence; it pioneers a conflict-centred approach, seeking to understand the pathways into and out of situations where there is potential for violence, focusing on interpersonal and institutional dynamics rather than on individual psychological factors.
Prison Violence: The Search for Recognition and Respect (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)
by Kate GoochThis book analyses the nature, causes, logic, and culture of prison victimisation in an English young offender institution for young men aged 18-21 years old. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative research, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the gendered, situational, individual, and moral components of prison victimisation. It explores how wider technological, economic, policy, political, and cultural changes have altered the texture and structure of prison life and prison violence, and with what consequences. Ultimately, the book argues that high levels of prison violence are not inevitable. Rather, the prevention of prison violence requires a just, lawful, humane, and hopeful environment, and failing to create such is tragically life-changing for young prisoners.
Prison Workers' Perception of Self-legitimacy, Relations, and Professional Competencies: A Comprehensive Study in Slovenia (SpringerBriefs in Criminology)
by Gorazd Meško Rok HacinThis book dives deep into the intricate realm of prison workers' self-legitimacy within Slovenia's non-Western prison system. It uncovers how their perceptions of authority significantly influence their interactions with prisoners, especially regarding different approaches to treatment of prisoners, including the use of force. Unlike traditional Western models, this study adapts to the unique challenges present in Slovenian prisons, offering fresh insights and approaches. Through a longitudinal study comparing data from 2016 to 2022, the book illuminates the evolving nature of self-legitimacy among prison workers, shedding light on the impact of changing social contexts. It provides a bridge between theoretical understanding and practical application, contributing valuable knowledge to the fields of criminology and penology. The chapters that follow include comprehensive discussions on theoretical frameworks, methodological intricacies, and the practical implications of these findings for Slovenia's penal system. Ultimately, this book serves as an indispensable resource for those interested in understanding and improving the dynamics of authority and legitimacy within correctional environments.
Prison Writing and the Literary World: Imprisonment, Institutionality and Questions of Literary Practice (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)
by Michelle Kelly and Claire WestallPrison Writing and the Literary World tackles international prison writingand writing about imprisonment in relation to questions of literary representationand formal aesthetics, the “value” or “values” of literature,textual censorship and circulation, institutional networks and literary-criticalmethodologies. It offers scholarly essays exploring prison writingin relation to wartime internment, political imprisonment, resistance andindependence creation, regimes of terror, and personal narratives of developmentand awakening that grapple with race, class and gender. Cuttingacross geospatial divides while drawing on nation- and region-specific expertise,it asks readers to connect the questions, examples and challengesarising from prison writing and writing about imprisonment within theUK and the USA, but also across continental Europe, Stalinist Russia, theAmericas, Africa and the Middle East. It also includes critical reflectionpieces from authors, editors, educators and theatre practitioners with experienceof the fraught, testing and potentially inspiring links between prisonand the literary world.
Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance
by Harvey Arden Leonard PeltierFrom the Book Jacket: "A deeply moving and very disturbing story of a gross miscarriage of justice and an eloquent cri de coeur of Native Americans for redress, and to be regarded as human beings with inalienable rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution, like any other citizens. We pray it does not fall on deaf ears. America owes it to herself." (Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate) "It would be inadequate to describe Leonard Peltier's Prison Writings as a classic of prison literature, although it is that. It is also a cry for help, an accusation against monstrous injustice, a beautiful expression of a man's soul, demanding release." (Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States) "Listen to this fresh, brave voice, then inform yourself about the shameful case of Leonard Peltier." (Peter Matthiessen, author of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse) "This book takes the reader on an emotional and spiritual journey as Leonard Peltier's surprisingly hopeful reflections make the terrible injustice of his imprisonment for 24 years even more difficult to accept. Peltier's important journal details his trial and conviction which was based in part on admittedly false testimony and evidence so inconclusive that reasonable people everywhere have concluded that he should be granted clemency." (Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation, and author of Mankiller) "Leonard Peltier's words reveal a wise man who has become freer than his captors, despite his false imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. His thoughts here remind us of our true mission as Indian people, as human beings here on this humble, beautiful planet. These thoughts cannot be captured or locked behind bars, or destroyed by gunfire. They fly free." (Joy Harjo, Muskoke poet and musician, author of The Woman Who Fell From the Sky) "If you care about justice, read this brave book. If you care about the perpetuation of the white man's justice against the Native American, you must know the Leonard Peltier story." (Gerry Spence, author of Give Me Liberty!) Harvey Arden is the author and co-author of several books, including Wisdomkeepers and Travels in a Stone Canoe (both with Steve Wall) and Noble Red Man. He lives in Washington, DC. Other books by Harvey Arden are available from Bookshare.
Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance
by Leonard PeltierThe Native American activist recounts his evolution into a political organizer, his trial and conviction for murder, and his spiritual journey in prison.In September of 2022, twenty-five years after Leonard Peltier received a life sentence for the murder of two FBI agents, the Democratic National Committee unanimously passed a resolution urging President Joe Biden to release him. Peltier has affirmed his innocence ever since his sentencing in 1977—his case was made fully and famously in Peter Matthiessen’s bestselling In the Spirit of Crazy Horse—and many remain convinced he was wrongly convicted.A wise and unsettling book, Prison Writings is both memoir and manifesto, chronicling Peltier’s life in Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. Invoking the Sun Dance, in which pain leads one to a transcendent reality, Peltier explores his suffering and the insights it has borne him. He also locates his experience within the history of the American Indian peoples and their struggles to overcome the federal government’s injustices.Edited by Harvey Arden, with an introduction by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, and a preface by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark.Praise for Prison Writings“It would be inadequate to describe Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings as a classic of prison literature, although it is that. It is also a cry for help, an accusation against monstrous injustice, a beautiful expression of a man’s soul, demanding release.” —Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States“For too long, both Leonard’s supporters and detractors have seen him as a metaphor, as a public figure worthy of political rallies and bumper stickers, but very rarely as a private man who only wants to go home. I pray this book will bring Leonard home.” —Sherman Alexie, author of Indian Killer
Prison and Social Death
by Joshua M. PriceThe United States imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation in the world. To be sentenced to prison is to face systematic violence, humiliation, and, perhaps worst of all, separation from family and community. It is, to borrow Orlando Patterson's term for the utter isolation of slavery, to suffer "social death." In Prison and Social Death, Joshua Price exposes the unexamined cost that prisoners pay while incarcerated and after release, drawing upon hundreds of often harrowing interviews conducted with people in prison, parolees, and their families. Price argues that the prison separates prisoners from desperately needed communities of support from parents, spouses, and children. Moreover, this isolation of people in prison renders them highly vulnerable to other forms of violence, including sexual violence. Price stresses that the violence they face goes beyond physical abuse by prison guards and it involves institutionalized forms of mistreatment, ranging from abysmally poor health care to routine practices that are arguably abusive, such as pat-downs, cavity searches, and the shackling of pregnant women. And social death does not end with prison. The condition is permanent, following people after they are released from prison. Finding housing, employment, receiving social welfare benefits, and regaining voting rights are all hindered by various legal and other hurdles. The mechanisms of social death, Price shows, are also informal and cultural. Ex-prisoners face numerous forms of distrust and are permanently stigmatized by other citizens around them. A compelling blend of solidarity, civil rights activism, and social research, Prison and Social Death offers a unique look at the American prison and the excessive and unnecessary damage it inflicts on prisoners and parolees.
Prison from Within (Routledge Revivals)
by Richmond HarveyFirst published in 1937, Prison from Within is a first-person account of a prisoner sentenced to imprisonment for eighteen months for fraud. It is a linear narrative honestly recording the various facets of prison culture, along with candid character analysis. The book touches upon philosophical notions of sin and remorse; the social groups of prisoners and the camaraderie shared among them; the poor living condition of prisons and the exploitation of prison labour; and the general politics of the time. The book successfully humanizes criminals and is an excellent reminder of the fact that the prison industry has only worsened with time. Prisons were designed for the purpose of ‘cleansing’ bourgeoise society; therefore, it is important to revisit the institution and question its utility in modern times. This book will be of interest to students and teachers of history, sociology, criminology, criminal justice, literature, and penology.
Prison in Iran: A Known Unknown (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)
by Nahid Rahimipour AnarakiThis book offers a unique look into prisons in Iran and the lives of the prisoners and their families. It provides an overview of the history of Iranian prisons, depicts the sub-culture in contemporary Iranian prisons, and highlights the forms that gender discrimination takes behind the prison walls. The book draws on the voices of 90 men and women who have been imprisoned in Iran, interviewed in 2012 and 2017 across various parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It presents a different approach to the one proposed by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish because the author argues that Iran never experienced “the age of sobriety in punishment” and “a slackening of the hold on the body”. Whilst penal severity in Iran has reduced, its scope has now extended beyond prisoners to their families, regardless of their age and gender. In Iran, penalties still target the body but now also affect the bodies of the entire prisoner’s family. It is not just prisoners who suffer from the lack of food, clothes, spaces for sleeping, health services, legal services, safety, and threats of physical violence and abuse but also their families. The book highlights the costs of mothers’ incarceration for their children. It argues that as long as punishment remains the dominant discourse of the penal system, the minds and bodies of anyone related to incarcerated offenders will remain under tremendous strain. This unique book explores the nature of these systems in a deeply under-covered nation to expand understandings of prisons in the non-Western world.
Prison in Peru: Ethnographic, Feminist and Decolonial Perspectives (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)
by Lucia Bracco BruceThis book expands the field of prison research by drawing on six months of unique, ethnographic research in Santa Monica prison, the largest women’s prison in Lima, Peru. Using feminist and decolonial perspectives, it explores power and the governance system and its implications on how the prison operates and the lived experiences of women prisoners and their interpersonal relationships. It reflects on the intersection of prison, imprisonment and gender from a Global South perspective and includes methodological reflections on how to research prisons in the Global South holistically. It fills a gap and engages with debates on governmentality and women’s agency within the penal context.
Prison, Inc.: A Convict Exposes Life Inside a Private Prison (Alternative Criminology #14)
by K.C. CarceralPrison, Inc. provides a first-hand account of life behind bars in a controversial new type of prison facility: the private prison. These for-profit prisons are becoming increasingly popular as state budgets get tighter. Yet as privatization is seen as a necessary and cost-saving measure, not much is known about how these facilities are run and whether or not they can effectively watch over this difficult and dangerous population. For the first time, Prison, Inc. provides a look inside one of these private prisons as told through the eyes of an actual inmate, K.C. Carceral who has been in the prison system for over twenty years.
Prison, Punishment and Penance in Late Antiquity
by Julia HillnerThis book traces the long-term genesis of the sixth-century Roman legal penalty of forced monastic penance. The late antique evidence on this penal institution runs counter to a scholarly consensus that Roman legal principle did not acknowledge the use of corrective punitive confinement. Dr Hillner argues that forced monastic penance was a product of a late Roman penal landscape that was more complex than previous models of Roman punishment have allowed. She focuses on invigoration of classical normative discourses around punishment as education through Christian concepts of penance, on social uses of corrective confinement that can be found in a vast range of public and private scenarios and spaces, as well as on a literary Christian tradition that gave the experience of punitive imprisonment a new meaning. The book makes an important contribution to recent debates about the interplay between penal strategies and penal practices in the late Roman world.
Prison: A Symposium (Routledge Library Editions: Prison and Prisoners)
by George MikesFirst published in 1963, the original blurb reads: "This may be a unique generation, which has so widely felt the full range of suffering. It is common in London or New York to spend evenings in the company of people who were prisoners of the Japanese, of Hitler, of the Hungarian Communists – or of their own stress and breakdown. Prison, in some form, is the symbol of it. This is an attempt to discover what has been learnt of this whole range of prison experience – taking prison to be any form of enforced separation from the world of normal life. Thus there are chapters on mental asylum and hospital, as well as political prison and concentration camp. And the emphasis is on the return rather than the experience. What is the lesson of that time of separation? Having travelled to the end of fear, was it the death of fear – or its exposure? That is the question each author was invited to answer."
Prisoner Leaders: Leadership as Experience and Institution (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)
by Marion Vannier Paula HarriottThis edited collection sheds light on an under-researched and often misconceived form of prison life, that of prisoner leadership. It offers a fresh approach to understanding the reality of the prison community, seeking out examples of prisoner leaders and their leadership qualities, uncovering new understandings of how such leadership supports and changes the community as well as shedding light on the conditions under which such leadership thrives. It explores a wealth of topics from race to drugs, violence, work, and faith. Each chapter is co-authored by an academic and a contributor with prison lived experience to centralise their knowledge and narratives on different leadership topics. It addresses key assumptions about the meaning and categorisation of what counts as ‘a leader’, why they matter, and what role they play in the implementation and mediation of punishment. This book enriches academic knowledge and provides a crucial intellectual stimulus for rethinking the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of prison research.
Prisoner Radicalization and Terrorism Detention Policy: Institutionalized Fear or Evidence-Based Policy Making? (Routledge Frontiers of Criminal Justice)
by Tinka M. VeldhuisCorrectional policies for Islamist violent extremist offenders are often based on the premise that prisons can be hotbeds of radicalization. The perception that inmates are susceptible to violent extremist belief systems has given rise to a fervent international public, political, and scholarly debate and has led to the introduction of drastic, often expensive policies to counter the threat of prison radicalization. But is the introduction of these policies justified? A key question is whether violent extremist offenders should be concentrated in separate high-security prisons, or whether they should be integrated into the mainstream inmate population. Prisoner Radicalization and Terrorism Detention Policy argues that concentration strategies to manage violent extremist offenders are often flawed – based on untested, potentially false assumptions that are rooted in fear rather than in facts. Little academic evidence has been produced that can valuably inform policy making in this area. As a result, policies to detain violent extremist offenders may be inadequately tailored to achieve their objectives, and could even lead to an intensification of the violent extremist threat. This book is the first to present a detailed and systematic case study of the decision-making and implementation process behind terrorism detention policy. It will be essential reading for students, scholars and policymakers researching criminal justice, terrorism and extremism.
Prisoner Reentry
by Stan StojkovicThis book addresses the core issues in prisoner reentry into society after incarceration. The chapters are written by academic scholars who have much experience researching and writing about prisoner reentry and by people who work in the field of prison reentry. Comprising reviews of empirical literature, this study is also supplemented by the workings of a reentry agency in the state of California. The focus of the work is to provide the best practices within prisoner reentry programs, to explore the barriers experienced by both prisoners and reentry agencies as they work toward the reentry of prisoners, and to discuss critical issues associated with prisoner reentry. The authors broach various topics regarding life after imprisonment, such as: the financial burden, problems faced by sex offenders, changing family dynamics and employment. An engaging and thought-provoking study, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of criminology theory, the justice system and sociology.
Prisoner Reentry in the 21st Century: Critical Perspectives of Returning Home (Routledge Innovations in Corrections)
by Keesha M. Middlemass Calvin John SmileyThis groundbreaking edited volume evaluates prisoner reentry using a critical approach to demonstrate how the many issues surrounding reentry do not merely intersect but are in fact reinforcing and interdependent. The number of former incarcerated persons with a felony conviction living in the United States has grown significantly in the last decade, reaching into the millions. When men and women are released from prison, their journey encompasses a range of challenges that are unique to each individual, including physical and mental illnesses, substance abuse, gender identity, complicated family dynamics, the denial of rights, and the inability to voice their experiences about returning home. Although scholars focus on the obstacles former prisoners encounter and how to reduce recidivism rates, the main challenge of prisoner reentry is how multiple interdependent issues overlap in complex ways. By examining prisoner reentry from various critical perspectives, this volume depicts how the carceral continuum, from incarceration to reentry, negatively impacts individuals, families, and communities; how the criminal justice system extends different forms of social control that break social networks; and how the shifting nature of prisoner reentry has created new and complicated obstacles to those affected by the criminal justice system. This volume explores these realities with respect to a range of social, community, political, and policy issues that former incarcerated persons must navigate to successfully reenter society. A springboard for future critical research and policy discussions, this book will be of interest to U.S. and international researchers and practitioners interested in the topic of prisoner reentry, as well as graduate and upper-level undergraduate students concerned with contemporary issues in corrections, community-based corrections, critical issues in criminal justice, criminal justice policies, and reentry.
Prisoner Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration: Krisberg: American Corrections + Mears: Prisoner Reentry In The Era Of Mass Incarceration
by Daniel P. Mears Joshua C. CochranUnderstanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the “era of mass incarceration.” Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.
Prisoner Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration: Krisberg: American Corrections + Mears: Prisoner Reentry In The Era Of Mass Incarceration
by Daniel P. Mears Joshua C. CochranUnderstanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the “era of mass incarceration.” Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.
Prisoner Rehabilitation: Success Stories And Failures
by Joan EsherickRuss committed thousands of dollars of damage during a two-hour drunken vandalism spree. He never saw the inside of a jail, yet in the thirty years since his first arrest he remains re-arrest free. He's a rehabilitation success story. Manny stole a car at thirteen years of age, a crime for which he was sentenced to a detention center. That was only the first of what would become dozens of arrests, re-arrests, and convictions in Manny's lifetime. Criminal behavior became his way of life. Russ and Manny represent the best and worst of today's American rehabilitation policies. While a few programs and institutions succeed in helping people with criminal tendencies to turn their lives around, many fail. How are people who commit crimes being successfully rehabilitated? What works? What doesn't? Is there hope for change for someone who finds himself behind bars? The real-life case studies provided in this book offer intriguing answers and observations. They may even raise additional questions. In any case, Prisoner Rehabilitation: Success Stories and Failures provides a balanced perspective of what rehabilitation is and how it can better be accomplished.
Prisoner Resettlement
by Anthea Hucklesby Lystra Hagley-DickinsonPrisoner resettlement is high on current political and policy agendas. The high reconviction rates of ex-prisoners have been acknowledged for many years but the rapidly rising prison population has meant that more prisoners than ever before are released. This together with the pressure this puts on to the infrastructure of the prison estate and the publication of two influential reports which highlighted the problems faced by prisoners leaving prison has concentrated attention on attempts to ensure that prisoners do not return to prison once released. The resettlement of prisoners is now a priority policy area linked directly to Government initiatives to reduce reoffending. The renewed policy interest in prisoners resettlement forms the context of this volume, which brings together current knowledge and understanding about prisoners resettlement. The book draws on the contributors extensive experience as researchers and practitioners in the field and includes contributions from acknowledged experts. Prisoner Resettlement provides a comprehensive review and analysis of resettlement policy and practice in England and Wales in the early part of the 21st century. In particular it: critically reviews current policy, theory, practice and research on prisoners resettlement explores practice issues through case studies of two resettlement initiatives and an examination of accommodation provision and voluntary sector involvement in prisoners resettlement; and examines the particular issues raised by the resettlement of different groups of prisoners including women, minority ethnic groups, prolific and priority offenders and high-risk offenders.
Prisoner Resettlement in Europe (Routledge Frontiers of Criminal Justice)
by Frieder Dünkel Ineke Pruin Anette Storgaard Jonas WeberQuestions regarding how to improve the transitional phase from prison to life in society after release have gained major importance in the last decade in criminal policy. All over the world release preparation and resettlement practice are discussed with the aim to reduce negative effects of imprisonment and re-offending rates. Small and large reforms aiming at the improvement of release processes and reintegration strategies have taken place in many European states. This book describes the current European landscape of prisoner resettlement and brings together the results and ideas of leading European academic experts with the ambition of furthering national, European and international reform debates. This book presents national reports about resettlement processes and structures in 20 European countries: written by national scholars, these reports reveal important actors in resettlement processes as well as political decisions about the role of the communities in "taking the prisoners back", or the use of early release as a strategy to motivate the released prisoner to enter into a future without crime. Thematic chapters then concentrate on several aspects of prisoner resettlement that are of importance across borders: ethical, legal and practical challenges are discussed with a view on European developments, and theoretical frameworks of prisoner resettlement are used to develop comprehensive perspectives for future reform debates. The book serves as a fundamental source for researchers, politicians and practitioners in the field of prison and probation reform and practice. It is also useful in the field of social work, in so far that the analyses confirm that prisoner resettlement is not just a problem of criminal, but also of social justice. Sustainable reforms need the will of and good cooperation between all responsible actors and organizations from the justice, social, health and welfare sectors, as well as from society as a whole in the consent for taking released prisoners back.
Prisoner Voices from Death Row: Indian Experiences
by Reena Mary GeorgeDeath penalty has produced endless discourses not only in the context of prisons, prisoners and punishment but also in various legal aspects concerning the validity of death penalty, the right to life, and torture. Death penalty is embedded in Indian law, however very little is known about the people who are on death row barring a few media reports on them. The main objective of this book is to enquire whether the dignity of prisoners is upheld while they confront the criminal justice system and whilst surviving on death row. Additionally, it explores the lived-experiences and perceptions of prisoners on death row as they create meaning out of their world. With this rationale, 111 prisoners on death row in India and some of their family members were interviewed. The theoretical underpinnings of phenomenology and symbolic interactionism coupled with data analysis lead to an understanding of the prisoners on death row with special reference to their demographic profile and the impact of death sentence on their families. George’s research highlights three salient features, namely: poverty, social exclusion and marginalisation are antecedent to death penalty; death penalty is a constructed account by the state machinery; and prisoners on death row situate dignity higher in the juxtaposition of death and dignity.
Prisoner in the Kitchen: The Car Thief, the Murderer, and the Man Hired to Feed Them
by William BonhamWinner of Simon & Schuster's memoir contest in conjunction with AARP and the Huffington Post, the memoir of a man's coming-of-age as a civilian cook in a maximum-security prison.In 1973, recent Montana transplant William Bonham desperately needs a job. Hoping to take advantage of his background working in restaurants and diners, he finally comes across a listing for a position offering great money and benefits--at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. He takes it. As food service supervisor in the kitchen of the maximum-security prison, Bonham oversees a kitchen crew of convicts that prepares and serves each meal. Among his staff are Earl, a homely baker; Aldrich, a timid young dishwasher; Smoky Boy, the prison's most feared and respected convict; Mackey, who claims to have cooked at Seattle's Olympic Hotel in his pre-incarceration life; and Reed, a cook whose calm, witty demeanor wins over Bonham. Over the next year, Bonham comes to care for his crew. Although he knows that these men have committed unforgiveable crimes, Bonham forms a camaraderie with them that borders on friendship--until a late-night incident calls his judgment into question. Told with humor and empathy, A Prisoner in the Kitchen is the redemptive tale of Bonham's transformation from a bright-eyed optimist who sees the good in everyone to a man who understands and revels in the complexities of human nature.
Prisoner of Wars: A Hmong Fighter Pilot's Story of Escaping Death and Confronting Life (Asian American History & Cultu #222)
by Chia Youyee VangRetired Captain Pao Yang was a Hmong airman trained by the U.S. Air Force and CIA to fly T-28D aircraft for the U.S. Secret War in Laos. However, his plane was shot down during a mission in June 1972. Yang survived, but enemy forces captured him and sent him to a POW camp in northeastern Laos. He remained imprisoned for four years after the United States withdrew from Vietnam because he fought on the American side of the war. Prisoner of Wars shows the impact the U.S Secret War in Laos had on Hmong combatants and their families. Chia Vang uses oral histories thatpoignantly recount Yang’s story and the deeply personal struggles his loved ones—who feared he had died—experienced in both Southeast Asia and the United States. As Yang eventually rebuilt his life in America, he grappled with issues of freedom and trauma. Yang’s life provides a unique lens through which to better understand the lasting impact of the wars in Southeast Asia and the diverse journeys that migrants from Asia made over the last two centuries. Prisoner of Wars makes visible an aspect of the collateral damage that has been left out of dominant Vietnam War narratives.