Description
| Product ID: | 9780520394940 |
| Product Form: | Paperback / softback |
| Country of Manufacture: | GB |
| Title: | Democracy in Captivity |
| Subtitle: | Prisoners, Patients, and the Limits of Self-Government |
| Authors: | Author: Christopher D. Berk |
| Page Count: | 162 |
| Subjects: | Crime and criminology, Crime & criminology, Constitution: government and the state, Political structures: democracy, Constitutional and administrative law: general, Criminal law: procedure and offences, Constitution: government & the state, Political structures: democracy, Constitutional & administrative law, Criminal law & procedure |
| Description: | Who ought to govern those held in custody, and by what right? Democracy in Captivity examines various efforts to answer these questions, centering on two case studies at custodial institutions: the rise and demise of patient self-governance at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, between 1947 and 1965 and the prisoner-organized governance of Massachusetts's Walpole State Prison following a 1973 prison-guard strike. As Christopher D. Berk shows, the promise of these initiatives was tempered by the custodians' backlash to their wards' attempts at self-rule. This backlash arrived not only in the blunt forms of restraint chairs, riot gear, and a surgeon's scalpel but also as more covert measures taken under the cover of so-called democratic management—which in turn entrenched disenfranchisement and naturalized authoritarian rule. Turning from these case studies to a wider consideration of custody and democracy, Berk explores pathologies that have captured the politics of punishment, with pressing implications for the practice of democracy both inside and outside custodial institutions. |
| Imprint Name: | University of California Press |
| Publisher Name: | University of California Press |
| Country of Publication: | GB |
| Publishing Date: | 2023-08-01 |
