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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 365.973 EAN: 9781567511406 ISBN: 1567511406 Label: Common Courage Press Manufacturer: Common Courage Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 263 Publication Date: July 01, 2002 Publisher: Common Courage Press Studio: Common Courage Press Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: In The Celling of America, inmates in American penitentiaries report on their living conditions and political concerns. They paint a bleak picture of the prison system, describing police brutality, substandard medical care, racism, and extremely crowded conditions. They discuss privately-run prisons, prison labor, weightlifting, and the effect of television on prisoner's lives. Many of them believe conditions are getting worse every year, and their claims are quite credible because no one knows jail like a convict. Most of these articles originally appeared in Prison Legal News, a magazine published by Dan Pens and Paul Wright, two incarcerated men in Washington state. The authors explain that reporters often rely on prison officials as the primary source for information on these issues, which leads them to present a biased view of prison life. State prisons limit and sometimes block prisoners' access to media, making it difficult, if not impossible, for prisoners to tell their side of the story. Inmates are easy targets for politicians because they aren't allowed to vote and can't talk back. These essays compel readers to reevaluate their ideas about the average prison inmate, to think more carefully about that man lounging in his cell watching television. It was interesting to learn that while some states provide each prisoner with a television on the theory that television pacifies people, other prison systems forbid televisions because some believe watching television is a luxury that inmates don't deserve. The book would have been better if it had told more about the people who wrote the essays. I kept wondering what each writer did to end up in the slammer, and that information seems significant. Do you trust a thief to tell you about multinational corporations profiting from cheap prison labor? Do you trust a sex offender? Who do you believe? That is one of the central questions posed by this collection. --Jill Marquis Average Rating:
 Rating:  - "It's beginning to look a lot like prison..everywhere you go."Paul Wright has been reporting on the way we treat our poverty-stricken and incarcerated criminal outcasts(the majority of whom are mentally ill)for over twenty years and every one of his books is essential reading for anyone who cares about human rights here in america, where we now have more people incarcerated than Russia or China, something of which we should be deeply ashamed. I've been to prison, I was there alongside Paul Wright and I wish more people would pay attention to the issues he high ... Read More Rating:  - Some good information, but hardly flawlessA look at the prison industry from the inside is a nice idea, and the articles here are chock full of information one hardly hears in the mainstream media. The responses to criticisms of prison TVs and weightrooms are interesting and thought-provoking. On the other hand, many of the authors seem to believe prisoners deserve as much freedom as those outside, that they should be treated the same. While the rights of prisoners are obviously being abused, the notion that criminals shouldn't be punished ... Read More Rating: - Future textbook for students of American historyHistory will not look kindly on today's prisons. This book outlines how companies and politicians exploit America's most vulnerable citizens, and provides information on how to stop it. The most important non-fiction title in recent memory. Rating: - Disturbing,thought-provoking description of American prisonsThis book presents a truly "inside" looks at prisons in the US. Short articles, mostly written by prisoners, tell the story of how prisons are run, managed, and what's at stake. For anyone interested in crime, punishment, human rights, or criticisms of China for using "prison labor" to manufacture goods, this volume provides plenty of well-articulated food for thought. Rating: - An eye-opening look at U.S. prisons from behind barsConsisting of an anthology of articles from the monthly journal Prison Legal News (edited by two Washington state prisoners), The Celling of America provides a timely overview of the legal, political, economic and social problems plaguing the U.S. criminal justice system. Takes a look at prison issues from an angle rarely if ever presented in the main-stream media, from prison activists to jail-house lawyers to death-row inmates. 
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