Routledge Library Editions: Prison and Prisoners – serie

This 18-volume set has titles originally published between 1934 and 1992. Prison as a form of punishment dates back as far as the Romans and has evolved over time into the institution we see today. This collection covers a whole range of issues such as how prisons are run; how imprisonment affects the prisoners themselves; the impact on their families and children; what happens on their release, including employment, social-skills and aftercare. Still an ongoing topic of discussion today, this collection will be of interest to all those interested in criminology and particularly the prison system.

Originally published in 1987, the purpose of Stress, Crowding, and Blood Pressure in Prison was to present, in a single location, the rationale, background, methods, principal results, analyses, interpretations, and conclusions of the authors’ studies at Massachusetts correctional institutions. Employing a longitudinal method for studying 568 inmates, the authors drew on psychological, social and health sciences assessments to identify the effects of housing mode, prison employment, leisure activities, disciplinary actions, and personal and sociodemographic characteristics to identify what was particularly stressful for inmates. A parallel study of prison staff and a specific series of conclusions and recommendations concludes the book.

Originally published in 1987, the purpose of Stress, Crowding, and Blood Pressure in Prison was to present, in a single location, the rationale, background, methods, principal results, analyses, interpretations, and conclusions of the authors’ studies at Massachusetts correctional institutions. Employing a longitudinal method for studying 568 inmates, the authors drew on psychological, social and health sciences assessments to identify the effects of housing mode, prison employment, leisure activities, disciplinary actions, and personal and sociodemographic characteristics to identify what was particularly stressful for inmates. A parallel study of prison staff and a specific series of conclusions and recommendations concludes the book.

Originally published in 1985, Imprisonment in England and Wales is an account of the changing functions and conditions of imprisonment in England and Wales from the Medieval period to the present day. It is designed both as a text for students and teachers of history, law and social science and as an introduction to the subject for more general readers and is one of the few attempts to provide an overall view of the institution of imprisonment in this country over a period of several centuries. The authors have made use of original sources and other research to provide an accessible account of the subject, combining essential factual detail with an analysis of the use of imprisonment. It is therefore particularly of interest to those approaching the subject for the first time and is also intended to provide guidance for further research into particular areas of the subject.The authors draw upon their respective knowledge of four main periods to show how imprisonment has performed a number of different functions: the punishment and reform of convicted offenders, the coercion of debtors, the custody of persons awaiting trial and more generally the containment of society’s undesirables. At the same time, the institution of imprisonment is put into the context of wider social, political and economic forces, and related to the development of an increasingly centralised and incursive system of criminal law, as well as to the use and disuse of other forms of punishment and legal control. This discussion is supported by an account of the characteristics of prisons, the problems of administration and the implementation of penal and reformative policy.

Originally published in 1985, Imprisonment in England and Wales is an account of the changing functions and conditions of imprisonment in England and Wales from the Medieval period to the present day. It is designed both as a text for students and teachers of history, law and social science and as an introduction to the subject for more general readers and is one of the few attempts to provide an overall view of the institution of imprisonment in this country over a period of several centuries. The authors have made use of original sources and other research to provide an accessible account of the subject, combining essential factual detail with an analysis of the use of imprisonment. It is therefore particularly of interest to those approaching the subject for the first time and is also intended to provide guidance for further research into particular areas of the subject.The authors draw upon their respective knowledge of four main periods to show how imprisonment has performed a number of different functions: the punishment and reform of convicted offenders, the coercion of debtors, the custody of persons awaiting trial and more generally the containment of society’s undesirables. At the same time, the institution of imprisonment is put into the context of wider social, political and economic forces, and related to the development of an increasingly centralised and incursive system of criminal law, as well as to the use and disuse of other forms of punishment and legal control. This discussion is supported by an account of the characteristics of prisons, the problems of administration and the implementation of penal and reformative policy.

Prison is seen by most people as an inevitable part of the penal system, but there is a growing awareness that its effects on offenders are rarely beneficial and may be positively harmful. In Prisoners of Society, originally published in 1974, Martin Davies argued that there was still the need in society for a commitment, not to reform its deviant members, but to provide a compassionate service in those situations where it was most needed. He looks at the increasingly important role of the probation service in prisons and borstals, and discusses the likelihood of radical changes occurring within the system at the time.Dr Davies focuses on the concepts of welfare, training, rehabilitation and after-care, and places them in the context of sentencing policy. He asks whether society is deluding itself in expecting imprisonment to be at the same time punishment and the springboard for personal reform. Using case examples, material from prisoners’ autobiographies, official documents and a wide range of research papers, he presents a rounded view of a crucial aspect of the contemporary penal system, and compels the reader to face up to the question: What does society expect of its prisons and its prisoners?

Prison is seen by most people as an inevitable part of the penal system, but there is a growing awareness that its effects on offenders are rarely beneficial and may be positively harmful. In Prisoners of Society, originally published in 1974, Martin Davies argued that there was still the need in society for a commitment, not to reform its deviant members, but to provide a compassionate service in those situations where it was most needed. He looks at the increasingly important role of the probation service in prisons and borstals, and discusses the likelihood of radical changes occurring within the system at the time.Dr Davies focuses on the concepts of welfare, training, rehabilitation and after-care, and places them in the context of sentencing policy. He asks whether society is deluding itself in expecting imprisonment to be at the same time punishment and the springboard for personal reform. Using case examples, material from prisoners’ autobiographies, official documents and a wide range of research papers, he presents a rounded view of a crucial aspect of the contemporary penal system, and compels the reader to face up to the question: What does society expect of its prisons and its prisoners?

Originally published in 1977, Open Prisons presents research carried out in a number of prisons in the UK both ‘open’ and ‘closed’ intended to compare their effectiveness. Information was collected from inmates and prison staff through a number of exercises designed to assess the social atmosphere of the prison and how they felt about it. The book finishes with a chapter which discusses the policy implications of their findings. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1977, Open Prisons presents research carried out in a number of prisons in the UK both ‘open’ and ‘closed’ intended to compare their effectiveness. Information was collected from inmates and prison staff through a number of exercises designed to assess the social atmosphere of the prison and how they felt about it. The book finishes with a chapter which discusses the policy implications of their findings. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1977, Albany: Birth of a Prison - End of an Era attempts to document and analyse some of the changes which happened in the first five and a half years of the prison’s opening and as far as possible account for them. Albany was planned and built as a medium-security establishment but the growth in the prison population meant it ended up, in part, as a maximum-security unit. At the time the prison was notorious, after a stormy series of incidents culminated in an alleged mass escape attempt and a riot, it had become known as the ‘jail of fear’ in which ‘mafia groups’ were said to ‘terrorize’ staff and prisoners alike. Despite the account inevitably being incomplete, it was hoped that lessons could be drawn, both for social research and social policy in regard to prisons.

Originally published in 1977, Albany: Birth of a Prison - End of an Era attempts to document and analyse some of the changes which happened in the first five and a half years of the prison’s opening and as far as possible account for them. Albany was planned and built as a medium-security establishment but the growth in the prison population meant it ended up, in part, as a maximum-security unit. At the time the prison was notorious, after a stormy series of incidents culminated in an alleged mass escape attempt and a riot, it had become known as the ‘jail of fear’ in which ‘mafia groups’ were said to ‘terrorize’ staff and prisoners alike. Despite the account inevitably being incomplete, it was hoped that lessons could be drawn, both for social research and social policy in regard to prisons.

Originally published in 1965, and reissued here with a new foreword, this study, as far as was known, was the first attempt in this country to look at the problems of the families of prisoners on a national scale. It took over three years and is based upon a survey of a representative national sample of prisoners and their dependants, together with an intensive longitudinal study of a smaller sample. The survey attempts to portray objectively the conditions of life for the families of a wide range of men in prison at the time, and covers stars, recidivists, and civil prisoners. Too often in prison work, the family is thought of as some external appendage, remote and irrelevant to the process of treatment and training, rather than as a continuous influence upon the man in custody, and the report aimed to correct this impression. The primary object of this research was to elicit facts upon which penologists and administrators might base future policies. There are three principal issues upon which specific recommendations are made: (1) the financial provision for prisoners’ families, (2) the improvement of social casework in prisons, and (3) the improvement of facilities for contact between the prisoner and his family.In a field in which there was much distress and concern, this study at last offered a real insight into the facts and definite suggestions for progress.

Originally published in 1965, and reissued here with a new foreword, this study, as far as was known, was the first attempt in this country to look at the problems of the families of prisoners on a national scale. It took over three years and is based upon a survey of a representative national sample of prisoners and their dependants, together with an intensive longitudinal study of a smaller sample. The survey attempts to portray objectively the conditions of life for the families of a wide range of men in prison at the time, and covers stars, recidivists, and civil prisoners. Too often in prison work, the family is thought of as some external appendage, remote and irrelevant to the process of treatment and training, rather than as a continuous influence upon the man in custody, and the report aimed to correct this impression. The primary object of this research was to elicit facts upon which penologists and administrators might base future policies. There are three principal issues upon which specific recommendations are made: (1) the financial provision for prisoners’ families, (2) the improvement of social casework in prisons, and (3) the improvement of facilities for contact between the prisoner and his family.In a field in which there was much distress and concern, this study at last offered a real insight into the facts and definite suggestions for progress.

Originally published in 1989, Jail Journeys was a contemporary history of the English prison system in the words of those who had endured it as prisoners or who had worked within it. More than 1000 extracts from more than 150 first-hand accounts of life ‘inside’ chronicle the empty routines of the prison day and tell of the loneliness, the despair, the squalor, the fights, the friendships, the sex, the humour. There are also eye-witness accounts of the Dartmoor Mutiny, of hangings and floggings, of escapes, and personal statements by the well-known – James Phelan, Wilfred Macartney, Albert Pierrepoint, Charles Kray, John McVicar, Jimmy Boyle, Alfie Hinds, Lord Alfred Douglas – and by many others less well known. These testimonies, by turn dramatic, literate and naïve, add up to an implicit sociology of the twentieth-century English prison, depicting a divided social structure with ‘screws’ on one side and ‘cons’ on the other.The book is aimed at anyone with an interest in social issues and twentieth-century history as well as students of law, history, sociology, criminology, and social administration, and at professionals working in all these fields.

Originally published in 1989, Jail Journeys was a contemporary history of the English prison system in the words of those who had endured it as prisoners or who had worked within it. More than 1000 extracts from more than 150 first-hand accounts of life ‘inside’ chronicle the empty routines of the prison day and tell of the loneliness, the despair, the squalor, the fights, the friendships, the sex, the humour. There are also eye-witness accounts of the Dartmoor Mutiny, of hangings and floggings, of escapes, and personal statements by the well-known – James Phelan, Wilfred Macartney, Albert Pierrepoint, Charles Kray, John McVicar, Jimmy Boyle, Alfie Hinds, Lord Alfred Douglas – and by many others less well known. These testimonies, by turn dramatic, literate and naïve, add up to an implicit sociology of the twentieth-century English prison, depicting a divided social structure with ‘screws’ on one side and ‘cons’ on the other.The book is aimed at anyone with an interest in social issues and twentieth-century history as well as students of law, history, sociology, criminology, and social administration, and at professionals working in all these fields.

‘So far we have successfully avoided loss of life during serious disturbances but if the present trend continues there will be a serious loss of control… In such circumstances there is a probability of both staff and prisoners being killed.’ This dramatic warning, given by the prison governors to the Labour Home Secretary, Mr Merlyn Rees, stimulated the setting up of the May Committee in 1978. That Committee then reported and revealed how dangerously explosive the prison system had become. The time was exactly right therefore for a book like Prison Crisis, originally published in 1980, to draw together all of the issues to provide an agenda for public and politicians to use this best chance in one hundred years for a major reform of the prison system.One issue above all symbolises those which affect the prison system and the prison service, and of course the prisoners themselves; for it exposes why the system is dangerously close to breakdown:-‘The extent of prison overcrowding is a national disgrace. In 1978, for the first time, as many as 16,000 inmates in some of the most primitive of Britain’s prisons were forced to live two or three to a cell which the Victorians had built to hold one. They have not even washbasins in their cells, let alone lavatories… Sometime prisoners are locked in together for twenty-three hours out of twenty-four, sleeping, smoking eating, urinating and defecating without privacy in sickening sight, smell and sound of each other.’The author, who had been Home Affairs Correspondent of The Times for ten years, raises, as Sir Robert Marks puts it in his Foreword, ‘all sorts of issues which could and should be of great interest to a caring public’ and which now demand decision and action: how best to hold the top-security prisoners, including terrorists, how prisons are often forced, with psychiatric cases, to do the job of hospitals; ‘the academies of crime’, detention centres and borstals; the rise in female, and particularly juvenile crime; violence in prisons and riot control; the prisoners’ rights movement; discontent among prison officers not just over pay but over the status of their job and the importance of their role in re-educating prisoners; the governors’ position of responsibility without power; the low political priority given by Government. Finally, in a chapter aptly called ‘Rescuing the Prisons’, Peter Evans conducts a wide-ranging, well informed and radical debate on what, at different levels, needed to be done to make a system rooted in the nineteenth century fit for the twenty-first century and still retain the sense that prisons are above all a moral issue.

‘So far we have successfully avoided loss of life during serious disturbances but if the present trend continues there will be a serious loss of control… In such circumstances there is a probability of both staff and prisoners being killed.’ This dramatic warning, given by the prison governors to the Labour Home Secretary, Mr Merlyn Rees, stimulated the setting up of the May Committee in 1978. That Committee then reported and revealed how dangerously explosive the prison system had become. The time was exactly right therefore for a book like Prison Crisis, originally published in 1980, to draw together all of the issues to provide an agenda for public and politicians to use this best chance in one hundred years for a major reform of the prison system.One issue above all symbolises those which affect the prison system and the prison service, and of course the prisoners themselves; for it exposes why the system is dangerously close to breakdown:-‘The extent of prison overcrowding is a national disgrace. In 1978, for the first time, as many as 16,000 inmates in some of the most primitive of Britain’s prisons were forced to live two or three to a cell which the Victorians had built to hold one. They have not even washbasins in their cells, let alone lavatories… Sometime prisoners are locked in together for twenty-three hours out of twenty-four, sleeping, smoking eating, urinating and defecating without privacy in sickening sight, smell and sound of each other.’The author, who had been Home Affairs Correspondent of The Times for ten years, raises, as Sir Robert Marks puts it in his Foreword, ‘all sorts of issues which could and should be of great interest to a caring public’ and which now demand decision and action: how best to hold the top-security prisoners, including terrorists, how prisons are often forced, with psychiatric cases, to do the job of hospitals; ‘the academies of crime’, detention centres and borstals; the rise in female, and particularly juvenile crime; violence in prisons and riot control; the prisoners’ rights movement; discontent among prison officers not just over pay but over the status of their job and the importance of their role in re-educating prisoners; the governors’ position of responsibility without power; the low political priority given by Government. Finally, in a chapter aptly called ‘Rescuing the Prisons’, Peter Evans conducts a wide-ranging, well informed and radical debate on what, at different levels, needed to be done to make a system rooted in the nineteenth century fit for the twenty-first century and still retain the sense that prisons are above all a moral issue.

Originally published in 1934, The Modern English Prison was prepared in the belief that among the growing literature of crime and the treatment of crime, there should be some room for some account of the English prison system as it stood. Its first aim was to give an objective and comprehensive view of the system as it was at the time, rather than as it had been or ought to have been: the historical matter is therefore limited to what is necessary for proper understanding of present practice and no attempt is made to trespass on the ground of the penologist. Here is an authoritative and up-to-date account of the Prison System in England and Wales, prepared with the approval of the Prison Commissioners.

Originally published in 1934, The Modern English Prison was prepared in the belief that among the growing literature of crime and the treatment of crime, there should be some room for some account of the English prison system as it stood. Its first aim was to give an objective and comprehensive view of the system as it was at the time, rather than as it had been or ought to have been: the historical matter is therefore limited to what is necessary for proper understanding of present practice and no attempt is made to trespass on the ground of the penologist. Here is an authoritative and up-to-date account of the Prison System in England and Wales, prepared with the approval of the Prison Commissioners.

First 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."

First 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."

Originally published in 1976, A Taste of Prison deals with a very sensitive area of concern in the system of trial and imprisonment in Britain at the time. It describes the conditions at Winchester Prison and Winchester Remand Centre for both adults and young persons who were held in custody before trial or who were awaiting sentence. Despite the fact that many of these persons would not subsequently be sent to prison by the courts, the conditions they experienced were in many respects no better and in some respects worse than those for persons sentenced to imprisonment. Moreover, as this study shows, the special provisions for these persons embodied in the Prison Rules and Standing Orders of the Prison Department often meant little in practice – either because they remained unaware of their rights or because they were unable to take them up for various reasons.The authors discuss the function of remands in custody within a changing prison system, analyse recent trends in the numbers of persons received into the prison system on remand, and assess their contribution to the prison population. The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of the prison building programme and the uses to which existing buildings could be put. Finally, the authors make a number of proposals for the improvement of the regime for remand prisoners.

Originally published in 1976, A Taste of Prison deals with a very sensitive area of concern in the system of trial and imprisonment in Britain at the time. It describes the conditions at Winchester Prison and Winchester Remand Centre for both adults and young persons who were held in custody before trial or who were awaiting sentence. Despite the fact that many of these persons would not subsequently be sent to prison by the courts, the conditions they experienced were in many respects no better and in some respects worse than those for persons sentenced to imprisonment. Moreover, as this study shows, the special provisions for these persons embodied in the Prison Rules and Standing Orders of the Prison Department often meant little in practice – either because they remained unaware of their rights or because they were unable to take them up for various reasons.The authors discuss the function of remands in custody within a changing prison system, analyse recent trends in the numbers of persons received into the prison system on remand, and assess their contribution to the prison population. The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of the prison building programme and the uses to which existing buildings could be put. Finally, the authors make a number of proposals for the improvement of the regime for remand prisoners.

In the late 1950s crime and its treatment had never been of greater public interest. In The English Prisons, originally published in 1960, D.L. Howard used his knowledge of academic criminology and his practical experience of criminals of all ages to produce a book which would be of value to all who were concerned with crime in this country at the time.The author gives the first full survey of the history of prisons to appear for many years. He describes conditions in the early prisons and prison hulks, the colonial penal settlements, and the part played by outstanding individuals such as John Howard, Elizabeth Fry and Alexander Paterson in the development of the modern prison system. He then discusses, in the light of first-class experience as a trained sociologist working inside an English prison, the changes which were taking place in the treatment of criminals, and the problems which these changes were creating.Mr Howard shows a rare insight into his subject, and this, together with an ability to write vividly and informally, would make his book appeal to both the general reader and all who were studying the social sciences in the universities and as part of their training for social work. Today it can be read in its historical context.

In the late 1950s crime and its treatment had never been of greater public interest. In The English Prisons, originally published in 1960, D.L. Howard used his knowledge of academic criminology and his practical experience of criminals of all ages to produce a book which would be of value to all who were concerned with crime in this country at the time.The author gives the first full survey of the history of prisons to appear for many years. He describes conditions in the early prisons and prison hulks, the colonial penal settlements, and the part played by outstanding individuals such as John Howard, Elizabeth Fry and Alexander Paterson in the development of the modern prison system. He then discusses, in the light of first-class experience as a trained sociologist working inside an English prison, the changes which were taking place in the treatment of criminals, and the problems which these changes were creating.Mr Howard shows a rare insight into his subject, and this, together with an ability to write vividly and informally, would make his book appeal to both the general reader and all who were studying the social sciences in the universities and as part of their training for social work. Today it can be read in its historical context.

In the previous few years English penal policy had undergone considerable change. Originally published in 1975, the contributors to The Use of Imprisonment focus on the use of imprisonment in such a time of transition, and examine various aspects of penal policy – administrative, organizational, staffing, legal, philosophical. The volume provides a valuable introduction to penal policy and administration, and to some of the central issues in the penological debate at the time.Influenced mainly by events in the United States, interest had been growing in England in prisoners’ legal rights and in the laws affecting imprisonment. This complemented an increasing mood of scepticism among many psychologists, sociologists and other social scientists in relation to the aims and methods of reformatory imprisonment. Such thinking, although still largely divergent and amorphous, had gone far towards undermining the penological axioms and aspirations of the last few generations. The precise direction of new policy was still unclear, but the essays in this book make various informed suggestions as to the future, and also provide an examination of the present state of several key areas. They emphasise the failure of the treatment model of imprisonment, while at the same time recognising the need to be cautious about breaking down the prison walls and bringing treatment ‘into the community’.

In the previous few years English penal policy had undergone considerable change. Originally published in 1975, the contributors to The Use of Imprisonment focus on the use of imprisonment in such a time of transition, and examine various aspects of penal policy – administrative, organizational, staffing, legal, philosophical. The volume provides a valuable introduction to penal policy and administration, and to some of the central issues in the penological debate at the time.Influenced mainly by events in the United States, interest had been growing in England in prisoners’ legal rights and in the laws affecting imprisonment. This complemented an increasing mood of scepticism among many psychologists, sociologists and other social scientists in relation to the aims and methods of reformatory imprisonment. Such thinking, although still largely divergent and amorphous, had gone far towards undermining the penological axioms and aspirations of the last few generations. The precise direction of new policy was still unclear, but the essays in this book make various informed suggestions as to the future, and also provide an examination of the present state of several key areas. They emphasise the failure of the treatment model of imprisonment, while at the same time recognising the need to be cautious about breaking down the prison walls and bringing treatment ‘into the community’.

The working of the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act was the subject of much debate in the 1970s. Discussion had been strong on opinion and short on facts; this book, originally published in 1977, supplied some much-needed evidence, based on the results of a research project funded by the Home Office Research Unit. It also discusses the origins of the Act and its consequences for children and their families.The authors describe the way in which two groups of children were dealt with by the police, social workers, probation officers and juvenile courts during the first three months of 1972. Their findings depict a system which decides what to do with ‘children in trouble’ mainly on the basis of their offence behaviour rather than on assessments of their personal needs – a ‘judicial’ rather than ‘welfare’ system of the kind envisaged in the legislation. As a result of these observations, the authors conclude that ‘the idea of the juvenile court has been tried and found wanting, and that it suffers from the congenital defects which fresh applications of money or manpower will fail to cure.’ They recommend the abolition of the juvenile court and the raising of the age of criminal responsibility, proposing a number of controversial alternatives based on principles of non-intervention.

The working of the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act was the subject of much debate in the 1970s. Discussion had been strong on opinion and short on facts; this book, originally published in 1977, supplied some much-needed evidence, based on the results of a research project funded by the Home Office Research Unit. It also discusses the origins of the Act and its consequences for children and their families.The authors describe the way in which two groups of children were dealt with by the police, social workers, probation officers and juvenile courts during the first three months of 1972. Their findings depict a system which decides what to do with ‘children in trouble’ mainly on the basis of their offence behaviour rather than on assessments of their personal needs – a ‘judicial’ rather than ‘welfare’ system of the kind envisaged in the legislation. As a result of these observations, the authors conclude that ‘the idea of the juvenile court has been tried and found wanting, and that it suffers from the congenital defects which fresh applications of money or manpower will fail to cure.’ They recommend the abolition of the juvenile court and the raising of the age of criminal responsibility, proposing a number of controversial alternatives based on principles of non-intervention.