This paper studies the effects of wages and employment on men's prison admission rates in the United States from 1983 to 2001. Research on the effects of the labor market on incarceration usually examines national-or state-level data, but our analysis studies prison admission among black and white men in specific age-education groups. We find a…

On March 13, 1879, the "Salisbury Carolina Watchman" noted that the longest and most difficult tunnel in the struggle to lay a railroad line across the Blue Ridge Mountains has been opened. Convicts from North Carolina's new penitentiary built this transportation system and solved the state's need for a cheap labor force as well as the…

In this article, Bates, the Inmate Programs Manager of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Tampa, Florida, describes her office's Life Skills Project, a comprehensive program that has significantly enhanced three existing programs by adding extensive life skills components. The added life skills modules reinforce the importance of…

There is a growing national movement in corrections embracing offender reentry. In a very brief period of time, innovative and ambitious initiatives have been launched at all levels of government and by untold groups and community organizations to build more effective responses to the myriad of challenges presented by reentry. The International…

This study interviewed 15 incarcerated African American males about their participation in correctional education. The data was considered in light of various motivation theories with particular emphasis on a sociocultural theory of motivation. The largest amount of data described non-educational reasons subjects participate in correctional…

The number of terminally ill prison inmates rises each year. Mental health professionals are uniquely prepared to provide therapy during the end-of-life process with their assessment, training, empathy, and communication skills. This case study examines the six-month therapy of one terminally ill inmate, using a client-centered approach. Drawing…

E. Durkheim (1897) suggested that the societal rate of suicide might be explained by societal factors, such as marriage, divorce, and birth rates. The current study examined male prison suicide rates and suicide rates for men in the total population in the United States and found that variables based on Durkheim's theory of suicide explained…

Hip-hop culture's force as part of globalization in the fields of economics, popular aesthetics, and identity politics has been well documented. However, its articulation to educational practices has received less attention. This article draws upon fieldwork conducted in 1999 and 2002 in a youth correctional facility to analyze how state…

Although much has been written recently about prison "writing" in general (Wally Lamb's Couldn't Keep It to Myself, Mark Salzman's True Notebooks), far less has been written about the efforts and challenges involved in helping prisoners. In this case, females in a maximum-security prison in Westchester County, New York, learn the kind of writing…

This study examines the recent employment history and needs of 110 women held in 2 urban county jails in Ohio. Those who had worked recently were more likely to have a high school education, to have a skill, to have a driver's license with access to a car, and to have dependents. Women who had worked recently were less likely to have a drug or…

The author describes his experience teaching a writing group in Martin Tennessee jail. The faces of most of the inmates showed curiosity. Each was saying not in words, but by gesture, "help make better this boring existence." The first essays the inmates wrote were about themselves and other members of their family. Some have written…

Background: Little information is available on the provision of supportive health environments for persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) in institutions. The aim of this study was to present an overview of supportive environments for health in institutions in Taiwan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to examine the perceptions…

"Common sense" is often used as a powerful rationale for implementing correctional programs that have no basis in criminology and virtually no hope of reducing recidivism. Within this context, we undertake a case study in "common-sense' corrections by showing how the rise of boot camps, although having multiple causes, was ultimately legitimized…

This article profiles Elizabeth Gurney Fry, an English prison reformer, social reformer and philanthropist. Born on May 21, 1780, into a wealthy and prominent Quaker family in Norwich, England, Elizabeth Gurney was the third of twelve children born to John and Catherine Gurney. As Elizabeth was growing and struggling with the meaning of her life,…

This study explored whether child molesters can be differentiated from rapists in their self-figure drawings. To achieve this aim, the Machover Draw-A-Person test (Machover, 1949) was used. A sample of 41 male adult perpetrators of sexual assault, 19 rapists and 22 child molesters (all incarcerated in jail) participated in the study. Participants…