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J o u r n a l o f P r i s o n e r s o n P r i s o n s
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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)
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General Information
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The Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP) is 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.
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Current Issues
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Volume 18, Number 1 & 2 (2009) is a special double issue of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons. Edited by Mike Larsen (York University) and Justin Piché (Carleton University),
and dedicated to the memory of Louk Hulsman, the articles examine a range of topics including how language structures relations in prison,
the incarceration of veterans in the United States, life without parole sentences for both adults and youth, three strikes policies and legal self-representation,
the mental impact of solitary confinement, and post-release adjustment. Running themes include reflections on the relationship between life and death in carceral settings,
as well as critiques of policies that produce 'disposable' human beings. The issue continues with a revised Dialogues section featuring five articles discussing the
scholarly merits, limitations, and ethics of prison ethnography and carceral tours. The Prisoners' Struggles section includes material on a variety of resources, organizations and events of interest,
including reports by the MTL Trans Support Group, the UN Special Rapporteur on Education, and Julia Sudbury of Critical Resistance. The issue closes with Book Reviews
of works by Deena Rhymes and Elizabeth Comack.
Table of Contents for Volume 18, Number 1 & 2
Volume 19, Number 1 (2010) is edited by Bell Gale Chevigny, this issue of the JPP features non-fiction pieces by winners of the annual PEN American Center's Prison Writing
Contest that address issues of punishment and creative resistance. Many contributors describe punishment that extends beyond the loss of liberty, and the issue features
articles on three strikes policies, death row, the AIDS epidemic, murderous violence, suicide, incarceration of prisoners with mental health needs, as well as the maddening
absurdity of contraband laws. Others describe creative resistance directly, focusing on proposed non-prisoner involvement in promoting critical thinking among prisoners,
teaching English as a Second Language, the community model of prison, and Michigan's Prison Creative Arts Project (described both by its founder and a female prisoner
transformed by PCAP). The issue also features articles from three documentary film-makers who describe their efforts to break through prison walls. In the Prisoners'
Struggles section, two former prisoners, an artist and a writer, detail their activism in fighting the Rockefeller drug laws and felon disenfranchisement in Rhode Island.
A prisoner and two prison justice activists describe an online magazine written by activists on both sides of the wall. Another advocate lays out the large objectives and
achievements of the Coalition for Women Prisoners in New York. The writers welcome this opportunity to reach an international audience and the PEN Prison Writing Program
members hope that these pieces will stimulate an exchange with people elsewhere who participate in - or are interested in developing - similar writing programs.
Table of Contents for Volume 19, Number 1
Volume 19, Number 2 (2010) is edited by Christine Gervais (University of Ottawa) and Maritza Felices Luna (University of Ottawa). This issue explores experiences of torture and
conceptualizations of justice in recognition of the fact that as we near the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the shadows of state repression still haunt much of the world.
The contributors reflect on how the extreme violence deployed on their body, mind and soul aimed at dehumanizing them is constructed by government representatives as legitimate practices
of justice in detention centres around the world. Furthermore, despite their release, detainees never actually fully obtain freedom, nor does state violence really end. Adrián, Saeideh,
Osiris, Ezat, Minoo, Anahita, Krishnabahawan and Daniel have written poignant and engaging articles candidly sharing their experiences of torture, detention, release and immigration as
a means of reflecting more profoundly on state violence, imprisonment, justice, as well as resistance. In his Response, Alex Neve reflects on the universal and enduring effects of torture
within the context of contemporary political challenges in the fight against torture. The Prisoners' Struggles section presents some of the resources available to torture survivors and
their families in North America and Europe: Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC International), the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT), the Canadian Centre
for International Justice (CCIJ) and Le Centre Exil. The issue closes with book reviews of William Sampson's Confessions of an Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison, Kerry
Pither's Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror, and Richard Matthews' The Absolute Violation: Why Torture Must Be Prohibited.
Table of Contents for Volume 19, Number 2
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Forthcoming Issue
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Volume 20, Number 1 is edited by Jennifer M. Kilty (University of Ottawa), the issue is devoted to exploring the myriad of concerns related to women's experiences of incarceration. Article and poetry
topics include: self-injurious behaviour; mothering in prison; substance use and overcoming addiction through the healing journey; criminalized women, labour and employment/ability;
the ongoing failures of Canadian corrections for women; institutional practices of segregation; women's place in the larger prison industrial complex; and experiences of reintegration.
The Prisoner's Struggles section includes material from CFAD (Continuité-Famille Auprès des Détenues/ Family Continuity for Female Inmates) and the Crossing Communities Art Project -
two community based organizations that strive to work with at risk and criminalized women and girls. The issue also contains a Book Review of the Mean Girl Motive by Nicole E. R. Landry.
This important and special issue is beautifully book ended with paintings by Ojibway artist Jackie Traverse.
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