Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison, 4th Edition, is a revised and updated version of the highly successful text addressing the origins, evolution, and promise of America’s penal system. Draws from both ethnographic and professional material, and situates the prison experience within both contemporary and historical contexts Features first person accounts from male and female inmates and staff, revealing what it’s actually like to live and work in prison Includes all-new chapters on prison reform and on supermax correctional facilities, including the latest research on confinement, long-term segregation, and death row Explores a wide range of topics, including the nature of prison as punishment; prisoner personality types and coping strategies; gang violence; prison officers’ custodial duties; and psychological, educational, and work programs Develops policy recommendations for the future based on qualitative and quantitative research and evidence-based initiatives

本書は、米国の監獄という極限状況を舞台に、人間の尊厳と制度の歪みを克明に描いた魂の記録です。膨大なデータと現場の肉声を交錯させ、壁の向こうの「生」を文学的とも言える洞察力で浮き彫りにしています。受刑者や職員が吐露する剥き出しの言葉は、読者の倫理観を激しく揺さぶり、社会の暗部を直視する勇気を与えます。 超厳重警備施設の深淵にまで踏み込み、隔離が精神に及ぼす影響を冷徹かつ情熱的に分析する筆致は圧巻です。処罰の本質と更生の可能性を問う本作は、単なる学術書を超え、自由の重みを再定義する思索の旅へと誘います。制度に抗いながらも失われない人間性の輝きを、ぜひその目で確かめてください。