Behind Bars: American Prison Literature
R12 S05 H81
Sept. 1: 9-10:30, 12:30-2:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6
Sept. 2: 9-10:30, 12:30-2:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6
Sept. 3: 9-10:30, 12:30-2:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6
Sept. 5: 9-10:30, 12:30-2:00
The vastness of American prison literature testifies to many ills in American society. Among these are the Puritan need for old-testament punitive retribution, including the notion that solitary confinement would bring about penitence (yes, that’s where the term “penitentiary” originated.) Race and racism in the penal system, the “war on drugs” the privatization of prisons, the irony that the “land of the free” has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceration rate are among the issues we will explore.
Students should purchase the following:
Caryl Chessman, Cell 2455, Death Row: A Condemned Man's Own Story (1948, rpt. 2006)
Jack Henry Abbott, In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison (1991)
Fauziya Kassindja, Do They Hear You When You Cry (1998)
James Forman Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (2017)
Ashley C. Ford, Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir (2021)
The following are useful supplementary materials:
https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/literary-works-penned-in-prison/
https://nicic.gov/history-corrections-america
https://www.statista.com/topics/1717/prisoners-in-the-united-states/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/an-artist-on-how-he-survived-the-chain-gang
Sam Cooke, “Chain Gang” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRyDlVOE86U
https://www.vera.org/blog/dispatches-from-germany/what-german-prisons-do-differently
Thursday, 1 September
9:00-10:30: Introduction to the class, prison writing, American prisons and prison writing. Begin Caryl Chessman.
12:30-2:00: Caryl Chessman, Jack Henry Abbott: Introduction, student talks.
2:30-4:00: Discussion, writing, talks on Chessman and Abbott.
4:30-6:00: Discussion, writing, talks on Chessman and Abbott.
Friday, 2 September:
9-10:30 Finishing Jack Abbott, beginning Fauziya Kassindja. Immigration and American law; gender-based violence, essential similarities and differences between these two writers
12:30-2:00 Discussion, writing, talks on Abbott and Kassindja.
2:30-4:00 Discussion, writing, talks on Abbott and Kassindja.
4:30-6:00 Discussion, writing, talks on Abbott and Kassindja.
Saturday, 3 September
9:00-10:30 Introduction to Forman’s writing; theories about race and racism in the American criminal justice system. If time, look at Michelle Alexander’s writing (The New Jim Crow) or a summary of it.
12:30-2:00 American law, Jim Crow, Forman in context.
2:30-4:00 Discussion, writing, talks on Forman.
4:30-6:00 Discussion, writing, talks on Forman.
Monday September 5
9:00-10:30 Introduction to the effects of prison on families and on woman.
12:30-2:00 Discussion, writing, talks on Ford .
- Lehrende(r): Melissa Knox-Raab