Prisons as Social Policy, United States

Synomyms

Confinement; Facility; Incarceration; Imprisonment; Prison

Definitions

Deadline: A form of punishment in the nineteenth century, where an inmate would be shot to death if he crossed a particular line in the yard.

Just desert: The theory behind retribution. A convicted criminal will get what he deserves, or his “just desert.”

Lock-step: a form of punishment where an inmate walking in line must keep the toe of the shoe on the heel of the inmate’s shoe in front of him.

Rates of recidivism: the proportion of former inmates who reenter the prison system.

Stocks: A form of punishment used primarily in colonial times through the nineteenth century, where an inmate’s head and hands are locked in place for an indefinite amount of time.

Introduction

America is a land of prisons and prisoners (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016). It ranks first in the world with over 4500 facilities. Russia, second in the world when it comes to the number of prisons, has four times fewer than what is...