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"...allowing our experiences and analysis to be added to the forum that will constitute public opinion could help halt the disastrous trend toward building more fortresses of fear which will become in the 21st century this generation's monuments to failure."
-Jo-Ann Mayhew, from JPP Vol. 1:1 (1988)
General Information
For 25 years, the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP) has been a prisoner written, academically oriented and peer reviewed, non-profit journal, based on the tradition of the penal press. It brings the knowledge produced by prison writers together with academic arguments to enlighten public discourse about the current state of carceral institutions. This is particularly important because with few exceptions, definitions of deviance and constructions of those participating in these defined acts are incompletely created by social scientists, media representatives, politicians and those in the legal community. These analyses most often promote self-serving interests, omit the voices of those most affected, and facilitate repressive and reactionary penal policies and practices. As a result, the JPP attempts to acknowledge the accounts, experiences, and criticisms of the criminalized by providing an educational forum that allows women and men to participate in the development of research that concerns them directly. In an age where `crime` has become lucrative and exploitable, the JPP exists as an important alternate source of information that competes with popularly held stereotypes and misconceptions about those who are currently, or those who have in the past, faced the deprivation of liberty.
Current Issues


Volume 21, Number 1 & 2 is a special double issue commemorating the 15th anniversary of Convict Criminology, which "represents the work of convicts or ex-convicts, in possession of a Ph.D. or on their way to completing one, or enlightened academics and practitioners, who contribute to a new conversation about crime and corrections" (see www.convictcriminology.org). Dedicated to John Irwin and Thomas Bernard, who were actively involved in the Convict Criminology Group since its inception in 1997, the issue contains three main sections: 1) Defining Convict Criminology; 2) Prisoners in the Community; and 3) Convict Criminology Beyond Borders. The volume also contains three Response pieces that assess the past and contemplate the future of Convict Criminology.

Table of Contents for Volume 21, Number 1 & 2

Purchase Volume 21, Number 1 & 2


Forthcoming Issues

In 2013, the JPP is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its inaugural issue published in 1988. Volume 22 will feature two general issues. The table of contents for Volume 22, Number 1 is now available.


Table of Contents for Volume 22, Number 1