The Voluntary Sector in Prisons: Encouraging Personal and Institutional Change

by Laura S. Abrams (Editor), Emma Hughes (Editor), Michelle Inderbitzin (Editor), Rosie Meek (Editor)

Overview

This volume examines how volunteers and non-profit programs encourage institutional change in prisons and offer individual support and services to people who are housed behind bars. Through a diverse set of chapters, including two that are co-written by current prisoners, the volume spans the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and juvenile and adult facilities. The book showcases the exciting, groundbreaking, and yet often unrecognized work that the voluntary sector provides in correctional settings. Collectively, the chapters highlight beneficial practices while raising critical questions about the role of the voluntary sector in prison and reentry settings. The chapters also offer useful information about how to implement innovative prison programs that promote health, education, and peer support. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137542151
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	05/25/2016
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	374
File size:	813 KB

About the Author

Laura S. Abrams is Professor of Social Welfare at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, California, USA. She is the author of Compassionate Confinement: A Year in the Life of Unit C (2013) and Life After Juvie: Young Men and Women on Desistance, Survival, and Becoming an Adult (forthcoming). 

Emma Hughes is Associate Professor of Criminology at California State University, Fresno, USA. She is the author of the book Education in Prison: Studying through Distance Learning (2012). She has contributed book chapters on offender rehabilitation to edited volumes and previously lectured at Birmingham City University, UK. 

Michelle Inderbitzin is Associate Professor of Sociology in the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University, USA. She is the lead author of the books Deviance and Social Control: A Sociological Perspective (2013) and Perspectives on Deviance and Social Control (2015).

Rosie Meek is Professor, Chartered Psychologist, and Head of the Law School at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. She is the author of Sport in Prison (2014) and is a Fulbright distinguished scholar, University of California, San Diego, USA. 

Table of Contents

Part I: Background.- Chapter One Introduction The Significance of Voluntary Sector Provision in Correctional Settings Laura S. Abrams, Emma Hughes, Rosie Meek, Michelle Inderbitzin.- Chapter Two Non-Profit and Voluntary Sector Programs in Prisons and Jails: Perspectives from England and the United States Emma Hughes.- Part II: Prisoners as Volunteers.- Chapter Three.- Learning and Practicing Citizenship and Democracy Behind Bars Michelle Inderbitzin, Joshua Cain, and Trevor Walraven.- Chapter Four Leading by Example: Ways that Prisoners Give Back to their Communities Michelle Inderbitzin, Trevor Walraven, and James Anderson.- Chapter Five Movements Towards Desistance Via Peer-Support Roles in Prison Christian Perrin and Nicholas Blagden.- Chapter Six The Development of a Peer-Based Approach for Promoting Prisoner Health in an English Male Young Offender Institution Anita Mehay and Rosie Meek.- Part III: The Non-Profit Sector and Prison Culture: Interactions, Boundaries, and Opportunities.- Chapter Seven.- The Involvement of Nonprofit Organizations in Prisoner Reentry in the UK: Prisoner Awareness and Engagement Rosie Meek, Dina Gojkovic and Alice Mills.- Chapter Eight Carceral Devolution and the Transformation of Urban America Reuben Miller and Gwendolyn Purifoye.- Chapter Nine From Ex-Offender to New Contributor: An Examination of How a Community-Based Reentry Program Addresses Racial Barriers to Employment.- Charles H. Lea III and Laura S. Abrams.- Chapter Ten Penal Assemblages: Governing Youth In The Penal Voluntary Sector Abigail Salole.- Part IV: Supporting the Supporters: The Voices of Volunteers.- Chapter Eleven “Volunteers Welcome, thatis, Some Volunteers”: Experiences Teaching College Courses at a Women’s Prison Kristenne M. Robison.- Chapter Twelve Crossing The Color Line into America’s Prisons: Volunteers of Color Reflect on Race and Identity in a College Service Learning Project Jennifer R. Tilton.- Chapter Thirteen Developing Self-Care Strategies for Volunteers in a Prison Writing Program Tobi Jacobi and Lara Rose Roberts. 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Acting on one’s own volition is the essence of being human, so it is striking to read about the remarkable volunteerism of prisoners and other citizens taking place in that most involuntary of institutions, the prison. Read together, the insightful contributions to this first-of-its-kind volume represent a real testament to some of the best of humanity working in some of our least humane institutions.” (Shadd Maruna, Professor of Education and Dean of Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, USA)

“Criminologists and sociologists who study punishment and rehabilitation have always tended to assume the centrality of the state and its penal institutions in their analysis. Despite Durkheim’s enduring influence, the role of civil society in both punishment and reintegration has often been neglected. This excellent collection of essays begins to remedy this neglect by examining the role of volunteers, volunteering and non-profit organizations in these processes. Spanning multiple perspectives and reflecting on both research and lived experience, this book provides a rich resource both for deepening academic analyses and for practical projects of penal reform.” (Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology and Social Work, University of Glasgow, UK)