Law, Jurisp & Social Thought 273 - The American Prison

The United States currently keeps more of its own citizens behind bars than any other country. While the US’s emergence as the global leader in incarceration rates is a relatively recent development, the prison has loomed large in American public life for 200 years. In this course, we will approach the prison not as a marginal phenomenon, but as an institution central to American culture. We will examine works of literature by and about prisoners alongside an expansive historical archive that includes reformers’ pamphlets, sociological studies, government reports, and inmate manifestos. Over the years, American prisons have been variously described as models of innovation and reform, as hotbeds of unrest and rebellion, as vestiges of slavery, and as vital components in the wars on drugs, crime and terror. These evolving debates about imprisonment have also continually raised questions about what it means to be “free” in America. This interdisciplinary course will trace those debates from the early days of the penitentiary through our present era of mass incarceration.

Limited to 30 students.  Fall semester. Visiting Assistant Professor Dichter.