Full Description
2013 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
"Supermax" prisons, conceived by the United States in the early 1980s, are typically reserved for convicted political criminals such as terrorists and spies and for other inmates who are considered to pose a serious ongoing threat to the wider community, to the security of correctional institutions, or to the safety of other inmates. Prisoners are usually restricted to their cells for up to twenty-three hours a day and typically have minimal contact with other inmates and correctional staff. Not only does the Federal Bureau of Prisons operate one of these facilities, but almost every state has either a supermax wing or stand-alone supermax prison.
The Globalization of Supermax Prisons examines why nine advanced industrialized countries have adopted the supermax prototype, paying particular attention to the economic, social, and political processes that have affected each state. Featuring essays that look at the U.S.-run prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanemo, this collection seeks to determine if the American model is the basis for the establishment of these facilities and considers such issues as the support or opposition to the building of a supermax and why opposition efforts failed; the allegation of human rights abuses within these prisons; and the extent to which the decision to build a supermax was influenced by developments in the United States. Additionally, contributors address such domestic matters as the role of crime rates, media sensationalism, and terrorism in each country's decision to build a supermax prison.
Contents
Foreword: Probing the Meta-Prison, by Loic Wacquant
Acknowledgments
1. The Globalization of Supermax Prisons: An Introduction, by Jeffrey Ian Ross
2. The Invention of the American Supermax Prison, by Jeffrey Ian Ross
3. How Canada Built Its Supermax Prison, by Jeffrey Ian Ross
4. Supermaxes South of the Border, by Patrick O'Day and Thomas O'Connor
5. The Growth of the Supermax Option in Britain, by Angela West Crews
6. Analyzing the Supermax Prisons in the Netherlands: The Dutch Supermax, by Sandra L. Resodihardjo
7. Supermaximum Prisons in South Africa, by Fran Buntman and Lukas Muntingh
8. From "Secondary Punishment" to "Supermax": The Human Costs of High-Security Regimes in Australia, by David Brown and Bree Carlton
9. The Emergence of the Supermax in New Zealand, by Greg Newbold
10. The Rise of the Supermax in Brazil, by Jose de Jesus Filho
11. Guantanamo: America's Foreign Supermax in the Fight Against Terrorism, by Jeffrey Ian Ross and Dawn L. Rothe
12. A Globalized Militarized Prison Juggernaut: The Case of Abu Ghraib, by Dawn L. Rothe
13. Conclusion: Globalization, Innovation, or Neither?, by Jeffrey Ian Ross
Notes
References
Notes on Contributors
