Albany: Birth of a prison—End of an era

Albany: Birth of a prison—End of an era

CURRENT PUBLICATIONABSTRACTS 279 hope that with the establishment of planning as a profession, the field will become more technical and mature, and ...

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CURRENT PUBLICATIONABSTRACTS

279

hope that with the establishment of planning as a profession, the field will become more technical and mature, and their book will become obsolete. There are eight chapters in the book. The first three deal with the origin of planning, review and summarize recent literature, and present tactics to minimize obstacles to effective planning. A perspective is gained through the use of concepts drawn from other fields. Many types of methodological tools are discussed: system-rates analysis, JUSSIM model, cost-benefit analysis, basic data sources, and program evaluation. A number of planning tasks are illustrated, and future tasks are suggested. Due to the nature of this book as an introduction, each chapter contains an introduction, summary, dissenting views, index, and reference section.

Albany: Birth of a PrisonDEnd of an E r a by Roy D. King and Kenneth W. Elliott.

Routledge & Kegan Paul (9 Park Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108), 1977, 378 pp., hardcoverD$17.50. Her Majesty's prison, Albany, located on the Isle of Wight, began as a medium-security establishment in April 1967. Within five years it had deteriorated to a "jail of fear" where "Mafia groups" terrorized both staff and prisoners. The initial intent of the study was to observe a new prison over a sustained period with access to staff, prisoners, and documents, and to develop methods to systematically compare prison regimes. Much time was spent understanding the problems inherent in the statement by Sir Alexander Paterson, " I t is impossible to train men for freedom in a condition of captivity." The first part of the book is an introduction to the study. There is an overview of English prison development and a detailed chronological account of the growth of Albany. Past studies of prisons are discussed, along with the problems they encountered in social research. Part Two contains the planning, design, and daily routines of Albany. The third part is entitled " T h e rise and rise of Albany fences" and outlines the increased security, new priorities, and incidents of arson, riots, and demonstrations. The concluding section draws parellels betwen the adaptation strategies of both prisoners and staff. Recommendations for similar fieldwork and observations from this study are presented. Included are twenty photographs of the facilities and incidents at Albany, a bibliography, and an index.

An Introduction to the Courts and Judicial Process by Merlin Lewis, Warren Bundy, and James L. Hague. Prentice-Hall, Inc. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632), 1978, 327 pp., hardcover--$14.95. This text is designed to fulfill a need for a criminal justice curricula in higher education. It is organized into two major sections. Section One is concerned with the court system, and includes chapters on: the historical and governmental perspectives on courts, state judicial systems, federal judicial systems, the Supreme Court, and juvenile courts and processes. Section Two is about persons and stages in the judicial process. It contains nine chapters dealing with: the criminal judicial process, pretrial release, plea negotiation, the grand jury, the trial jury, sentencing, the prosecutor, counsel for the accused, the judge, and court administration and reform. Also included in the text are two appendixes. Appendix A contains selected articles and amendments from the U.S. Constitution. Appendix B contains samples of selected forms used in the criminal process in the federal criminal justice system.