Inclusive exclusion: Citizenship and the American prisoner and prison

Studies in Political Economy

Volumn , Issue 76, 2005, Pages 111-142

  Czajka, Agnes ^a  

^a YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 28244484367     PISSN: 07078552     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/19187033.2005.11675125     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York: Harcourt, 1951), p. 431.
2. Alan Hyde, Bodies of Law (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p. 192.
3. Ibid., p. 212. Italics in original.
4. Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), p. 169.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 142.
7. Ibid., p. 20.
8. The following statistics are derived from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice, http:// www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/;
9. Thomas Bonczar, "Prevalence of Imprisonment in U.S. Population, 1974-2001," Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/piusp01.pdf;
10. James Stephan and Jennifer Karberg, "Census of Federal and State Correctional Facilities, 2000," Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice (August 2003), http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ abstract/csfcf00.htm;
11. James Stephan, "Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 1995," Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice (August 1997), http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/csfcf95.pdf.
12. This represents the total number of prisoners housed in: federal and state prisons (1,361,258, excluding federal and state prisoners housed in local jails); territorial prisons (16,206), local jails (665,475); facilities operated by or for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (8,748); military facilities (2,377); jails under Aboriginal jurisdiction (1,912, as of midyear 2001), and juvenile facilities (110,284 as of October 2000). Paige Harrison and Allan Beck, "Prisoners in 2002," US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (July 2003), http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ p02.pdf.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Alex Lichtenstein and Michael Kroll, "The Fortress Economy: The Economic Role of the U.S. Prison System," in Elihu Rosenblatt, (ed.), Criminal Injustice: Confronting the Prison Crisis (Boston: South End Press, 1996), p. 22.
18. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice.
19. Marc Mauer, "Invisible Punishment Block Housing, Education, Voting," Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (May/June 2003), http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/mauer_focus.pdf 3.
20. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care issued a report to Congress in March 2002, which found that: on any given day, between 2.3 and 3.9% of inmates in State prisons are estimated to have schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, between 13.1 and 18.6% have major clinical depression, between 2.1 and 4.3% have bipolar disorders, between 22.0 and 30.1% have anxiety disorders, and between 6.2 and 11.7% display symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. For these and other statistics regarding imprisonment and mental health, including state-by-state analyses of mentally ill prisoners, see Sasha Abramsky and Jamie Fellner, "Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness" (New York: Human Rights Watch, September 2003), http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1003/.
21. Ibid.
22. As with general imprisonment statistics, research conducted by Human Rights Watch exposed a significant variation in supermaximum security confinement between states. Arkansas, for instance, reported that 15 percent of its population was in either administrative or disciplinary segregation; Texas reported 6.8% in administrative segregation (and provided no data on disciplinary segregation); and New York reported that 7.8% of its prison population was in disciplinary segregation (and none in administrative). Ibid.
23. Ibid. rffrt As with general imprisonment statistics, research conducted by Human Rights Watch exposed a significant variation in supermaximum security confinement between states. Arkansas, for instance, reported that 15 percent of its population was in either administrative or disciplinary segregation; Texas reported 6.8% in administrative segregation (and provided no data on disciplinary segregation); and New York reported that 7.8% of its prison population was in disciplinary segregation (and none in administrative). Ibid.
24. Gresham Sykes, The Society of Captives: Crime Prevention in Correctional Institutions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 18.
25. Richard Sparks, "Penal 'Austerity': The Doctrine of Less Eligibility Reborn?" in Prisons 2000: An International Perspective on the Current State and Future of Imprisonment (London: MacMillan Press, 1996), p. 77.
26. Ibid, p. 79.
27. US Social Security Administration, Social Securities Act, Section 223(f)(1), http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/oasi/27/SSR-OASI27toc.html.
28. Gresham Sykes, The Society of Captives: A Study of Maximum Security Prison (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958), p. 61.
29. Nils Christie, Crime Control as an Industry: Towards Gulags, Western Style, (London: Routledge, 2000), p. 136.
30. The phrase is borrowed from Sykes, Society of Captives (1958).
31. Under the rubric of camp prisons are subsumed all stand-alone institutions as well as units within institutions ("prisons within prisons") that are rated above the level of maximum security. These include secure housing units (SHUs), supermaximum security prisons (supermaxes), intensive management units (IMUs) and administrative segregation units (ASUs), all of which are characterized by virtually perpetual solitary confinement.
32. Corey Weinstein and Eric Cummins, "The Crime of Punishment: Pelican Bay Maximum Security Prison," in Elihu Rosenblatt, (ed.), Criminal Injustice: Confronting the Prison Crisis (Boston: South End Press, 1996), p. 316.
33. In October 1983, after years of mounting tensions, Marion experienced a week of violence during which two guards were knifed to death and one inmate was murdered. In response, prison officials instituted a "permanent lockdown" in the facility. Marion prisoners spent 23 hours in their cells, exercised in small groups, were denied all work and social programs, were permitted one ten-minute social phone call per month, three showers per week, and could not exit their cells without being handcuffed and shackled. The Bureau of Prisons has noted that since that time, most inmates have been downgraded from Marion and moved to standard institutions. However, the twenty-one original prisoners who remained have been under lockdown conditions for over a decade. Robert Perkinson, "Shackled Justice: Florence - The Cutting Edge of Social Control," in Elihu Rosenblatt, (ed.), Criminal Injustice: Confronting the Prison Crisis (Boston: South End Press, 1996), pp. 334-336;
34. Jamie Fellner and Joanne Mariner, "Cold Storage: SuperMaximum Security Confinement in Indiana" (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 1997), http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/usind/.
35. Jamie Fellner, "Red Onion State Prison: Super Maximum Security Confinement in Virginia" (New York: Human Rights Watch, April 1999), http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/redonion/.
36. Ibid.
37. Fellner and Mariner, "Cold Storage";
38. Weinstein and Cummins, "The Crime of Punishment," p. 311.
39. Fellner "Red Onion State Prison."
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Alvin Bronstein, "Legal and Constitutional Issues Related to Last-Resort Prisons," in David Ward and Kenneth Schoen, (eds.), Confinement in Maximum Security: The Last Resort Prisons in the United States and Western Europe (Toronto: Lexington, 1981), p. 75.
44. Ibid., p. 101.
45. From the Los Angles Times (1 May 1990).
46. Weinstein and Cummins, "The Crime of Punishment," p. 309.
47. Ibid.
48. Christie, Crime Control as Industry, p. 101.
49. From Corrections Digest (27 June 1990).
50. Fellner, "Red Onion State Prison."
51. Perkinson, "Shackled Justice," pp. 337-8.
52. Although Agamben does not provide a precise definition of "bare life," his reflections on this condition indicate that it is the state of existence wherein a human being persists in the abyss that is the liminal space, stripped of everything (identity, politics, rights) but his or her corporeal being, effectively effaced from among humanity.
53. Agamben, Homo Sacer, p. 181.
54. Fellner and Mauer, "Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States" (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1998), http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/.
55. In many jurisdictions of the United States, a felony is any offence carrying a potential penalty of more than one year in prison. In Massachusetts, on the other hand, a felony is any offence that carries any prison time.
56. According to the State of Alaska, felonies and crimes of moral turpitude are "those crimes that are immoral or wrong in and of themselves." The Alaska legislature states that these include: murder; manslaughter; assault; sexual assault; sexual abuse of a minor; unlawful exploitation of a minor; robbery; extortion; kidnapping; incest; arson; burglary; theft; forgery; criminal possession of a forgery device; receiving a bribe; perjury; endangering the welfare of a minor; escape; promoting contraband; interference with official proceedings; receiving a bribe by a witness or a juror; jury tampering; misconduct by a juror; tampering with physical evidence; hindering prosecution; terroristic threatening; rioting; criminal possession of explosives; unlawful furnishing of explosives; promoting prostitution; criminal mischief; misconduct involving a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance; permitting escape; promoting gambling; possession of gambling records; distribution of child pornography; possession of child pornography; stalking; endangering the welfare of a vulnerable adult; fraudulent use of a credit card, and criminal use of a computer. The State of Alaska website cautions that the list in not exhaustive and that many more crimes can be considered crimes of moral turpitude. US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Restoring Your Right to Vote, http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/restorevote/Alaska2.pdf.
57. In North Carolina and Washington the process is essentially automatic, although a formal application for the restoration of civil rights is required. In Connecticut, a former convict must additionally provide written proof of having paid all fines stemming from the conviction, and in Pennsylvania ex-felons must be registered as voters prior to their conviction (in which case the restoration of the franchise is automatic). Alternately, the mandatory waiting period is five years following release.
58. Fellner and Mauer, "Losing the Vote."
59. Sen. Harry Reid, Amendment SA 2879 to Bill s. 565, Excerpt from the Congressional Record (14 February 2002), http://prisonactivist.org/ pipermail/prisonact-list/2002-February/00468.html.
60. "Felony Disenfranchisement Laws In the United States," The Sentencing Project (January 2004), http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/ 1046.pdf.
61. Kweisi Mfume, "Reenfranchisement," National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, http://www.naacp.org/work/voter/ reenfranchisement.html.
62. From the Testimony of Marc Mauer, Assistant Director at The Sentencing Project, before the Constitution Subcommittee, House Judiciary Committee on Felony Voter Disenfranchisement (21 October 1999), http:// www.house.gov/judiciary/maue1021.htm.
63. Alabama; Arizona; Delaware; the District of Columbia; Florida; Georgia; Iowa; Maryland; Mississippi; Tennessee; Texas; Virginia; Washington, and Wyoming. From statistics obtained from "Fact Sheet: States that Bar Ex-Offenders from Voting" (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 1998), http://www.hrw.org/press98/oct/vote_fact1022.htm.
64. Ibid.
65. Fellner and Mauer, "Losing the Vote."
66. Ibid.
67. "Fact Sheet."
68. Reid, Amendment.
69. Patricia Allard, "Life Sentence: Denying Welfare Benefits to Women Convicted of Drug Offences," The Sentencing Project (February 2002), http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/9088.pdf;
70. Mauer, "Invisible Punishment," pp. 3-4.
71. Alabama; Alaska; Arizona; California; Delaware; Georgia; Idaho; Indiana; Kansas; Maine; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; New Mexico; North Dakota; Pennsylvania; South Dakota; Tennessee; Virginia; West Virginia, and Wyoming. See Allard, "Life Sentence."
72. Arkansas, Florida, and Rhode Island.
73. In Colorado; Illinois; Iowa; Louisiana; Massachusetts; North Carolina, and Texas, ex-convicts must either wait a set period before being eligible for benefits or, alternately, are denied either food stamps of welfare benefits, but not both.
74. Hawaii; Kentucky; Maryland; Minnesota; Nevada; New Jersey; South Carolina; Utah; Washington, and Wisconsin.
75. Connecticut; the District of Columbia; Michigan; New Hampshire; New York; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon, and Vermont.
76. Allard, "Life Sentence."
77. Ibid.
78. Mauer, "Invisible Punishment."
79. Allard, "Life Sentence."
80. Alabama; Delaware; Iowa; Mississippi; Rhode Island, and South Carolina.
81. Allard, "Life Sentence."
82. Jeremy Travis, Amy Solomon, and Michelle Waul, "From Prison to Home: The Dimensions and Consequences of Prison Re-entry," Urban Institute: Justice Policy Center (June 2001), http://www.urban.org/ UploadedPDF/from_prison_to_home.pdf.
83. Loïc Wacquant, "Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison Meet and Mesh," in David Garland, (ed.), Mass Imprisonment: Social Causes and Consequences (London: Sage, 2001), p. 100.
84. Travis, Solomon, and Waul, "From Prison to Home."
85. Jeff Johnson, "Felons Want Second Amendment Rights Restored," CSN News (25 January 2002), http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/ 2002/1/24/202310.shtml.
86. Travis, Solomon and Waul, "From Prison to Home."
87. Roger Matthews, Doing Time: An Introduction to the Sociology of Imprisonment (New York: Palgrave, 1999), p. 21.
88. Wacquant, "Deadly Symbiosis," p. 107.