1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824368403321

Autore

Sharp Susan F. <1951->

Titolo

Mean lives, mean laws : Oklahoma's women prisoners / / Susan F. Sharp

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, New Jersey : , : Rutgers University Press, , [2014]

©2014

ISBN

0-8135-6277-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (210 p.)

Collana

Critical issues in crime and society

Altri autori (Persone)

OrtizJuanita

Disciplina

365/.608209766

Soggetti

Women prisoners - Oklahoma

Female offenders - Rehabilitation - Oklahoma

Reformatories for women - Oklahoma

Corrections - Oklahoma

Children of prisoners - Oklahoma

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Mean lives: a theoretical framework -- Mean laws: the rise in female imprisonment -- "Mean women" or "mean lives"?: adverse childhood experiences and adult abuse of women prisoners -- The prison experience -- Going back again by Juanita Ortiz -- Coming home and staying out -- The children and their caregivers -- The winds of change -- Lessons learned and moving forward.

Sommario/riassunto

Oklahoma has long held the dubious honor of having the highest female incarceration rate in the country, nearly twice the national average. In this compelling new book, sociologist Susan Sharp sets out to discover just what has gone so wrong in the state of Oklahoma-and what that might tell us about trends in female incarceration nationwide. The culmination of over a decade of original research, Mean Lives, Mean Laws exposes a Kafkaesque criminal justice system, one that has no problem with treating women as collateral damage in the War on Drugs or with stripping female prisoners of their parental rights. Yet it also reveals the individual histories of women who were jailed in Oklahoma, providing intimate portraits of their lives before, during, and after their imprisonment. We witness the impoverished and abusive



conditions in which many of these women were raised; we get a vivid portrait of their everyday lives behind bars; and we glimpse the struggles that lead many ex-convicts to fall back into the penal system. Through an innovative methodology that combines statistical rigor with extensive personal interviews, Sharp shows how female incarceration affects not only individuals, but also families and communities. Putting a human face on a growing social problem, Mean Lives, Mean Laws raises important questions about both the state of Oklahoma and the state of the nation.