Total Confinement: Madness and Reason in the Maximum Security Prison

By Lorna A. Rhodes

Book Overview

In this rare firsthand account, Lorna Rhodes takes us into a hidden world that lies at the heart of the maximum security prison. Focusing on the "supermaximums"-and the mental health units that complement them-Rhodes conveys the internal contradictions of a system mandated to both punish and treat. Her often harrowing, sometimes poignant, exploration of maximum security confinement includes vivid testimony from prisoners and prison workers, describes routines and practices inside prison walls, and takes a hard look at the prison industry. More than an expos , Total Confinement is a theoretically sophisticated meditation on what incarceration tells us about who we are as a society.

Rhodes tackles difficult questions about the extreme conditions of confinement, the treatment of the mentally ill in prisons, and an ever-advancing technology of isolation and surveillance. Using her superb interview skills and powers of observation, she documents how prisoners, workers, and administrators all struggle to retain dignity and a sense of self within maximum security institutions. In settings that place in question the very humanity of those who live and work in them, Rhodes discovers complex interactions-from the violent to the tender-among prisoners and staff. Total Confinement offers an indispensable close-up of the implications of our dependence on prisons to solve long-standing problems of crime and injustice in the United States.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520240766
• ISBN13: 9780520240766
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 315 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Not your typical textbook

This provides detailed (and interesting!) insights into the American penal system. Normally, I find textbooks to be bland, and to read like stereo instructions. In Total Confinement, Rhodes interjects a lot of narrative and storytelling with fact-based research, making the entire text accessible and easy to grasp. I agree with the other reviews, that this is a must-read for anyone wondering what prisons do to American society as a whole, and to the prison population itself.

amazing

this book is amazing and so are her classes. i've been lucky enough to take two of her classes. we really are lucky that people like her are writing.

Highly recommended

This is a meticulously researched and theoretically sophisticated expose of a deeply hidden yet increasingly important facet of American culture. As the United States more and more becomes a prison nation, books like this will become essential reading not only for scholars but for average citizens.