23/7 cover art

23/7

Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement

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23/7

By: Keramet Reiter
Narrated by: C.S.E Cooney
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About this listen

Originally meant to be brief and exceptional, solitary confinement in US prisons has become long-term and common. Prisoners spend 23 hours a day in featureless cells, with no visitors or human contact for years on end, and they are held entirely at administrators' discretion. Keramet Reiter tells the history of one "supermax", California's Pelican Bay State Prison, whose extreme conditions recently sparked a statewide hunger strike by 30,000 prisoners. This book describes how Pelican Bay was created without legislative oversight, in fearful response to 1970s radicals; how easily prisoners slip into solitary; and the mental havoc and social costs of years and decades in isolation. The product of 15 years of research in and about prisons, this book provides essential background to a subject now drawing national attention.

©2016 Keramet Reiter (P)2016 Tantor
Freedom & Security Politics & Government Social Sciences Crime Human Rights Law Social justice Mental Health

Critic reviews

" 23/7 tells a compelling story of the banality of evil in correctional planning and penal confinement." (Franklin E. Zimring, University of California, Berkeley)
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