Book Review: Hidden Truth: Young Men Navigating Lives In and Out of Juvenile Prison

• Author: Beverly R. Crank
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811400361
• Published date: 01 December 2011
• Date: 01 December 2011
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

According to Contardo, every effort was taken to protect the respondents. In fact, the project was

approved through institutional review boards at both the University of Maryland and the NCDOC.

As part of her research for this book, the author also employed unobtrusive measures. She con-

ducted a content analysis of over 150 official documents. While much of this material was publicly

available, almost every respondent provided Contardo with documents to review. Contardo utilized

these sources to conclude that North Carolina’s correctional education programs were virtually unaf-

fected by the 1994 Violent Crime Act. She contends that the state developed a number of funding

mechanisms to ensure that inmates were afforded with postsecondary educational opportunities dur-

ing their incarceration. In fact, Contardo asserts that most inmates in North Carolina are given tuition

waivers. A former community college administrator reported to Contardo that tuition waivers are

extremely important, given that inmates are often incapable of paying for college. Contardo argues

that tuition waiversprevent colleges from having to collectmoney from prisoners. She assertsthat this

is advantageous to allparties, since it might be logistically difficult for community colleges to collect

tuition frominmates. Besides tuition waivers,the book suggests that there are other sourcesof funding,

such as, state full time enrollments (FTE) funds, start-up funds, and Inmate Welfare funds.

From reading this book, it is apparent that North Carolina has made great strides in offering

college classes to inmates. According to Contardo, over 30%of the incarcerated population in

North Carolina is currently enrolled in college classes. She attributes this to the unique collabora-

tion between the Department of Corrections and Community College System. Throughout the

book, the author makes a convincing argument that postsecondary correctional education pro-

grams reduce inmate idleness and recidivism. Yet, in spite of these benefits, she acknowledges

that it would not be difficult for political opportunists to dismantle North Carolina’s unique

program. In fact, Contardo writes that she was initially reluctant to highlight the program for this

very reason. She also admits that her study is not generalizable to other states or countries, since

she restricts her analysis to North Carolina. In spite of this limitation, the book is very well-written

and researched. It would make excellent supplemental reading material for a graduate class related

to either public policy or corrections. While it may be politically popular, in some circles, to

restrict prisoner amenities, Contardo makes a convincing argument that society should provide

inmates with meaningful opportunities to acquire an education. This is an important book, and

I recommend it without any reservations.

Beverly R. Crank

Hidden Truth: Young Men Navigating Lives In and Out of Juvenile Prison Berkley,

CA: University of California Press, 2010. xi, 270 pp. $21.95. ISBN: 978-0-520-26267-6

Reviewed by: Beverly R. Crank, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811400361

Adam Reich’s book, Hidden Truth: Young Men Navigating Lives In and Out of Juvenile Prison,

provides an engaging insight into how marginalized young men achieve masculinity and status

through their involvement in opposing games of the social world. In his book, Reich takes readers

on a guided tour of Rhode Island’s sole juvenile correctional facility, where they meet a number of

young men involved in the different games of masculinity. Through the stories of the young men

in the training school, Reich delivers his main purpose of the book by arguing his own ‘‘hidden

truths’’: (a) society is often unaware of the experiences and struggles of disenfranchised young

514 Criminal Justice Review 36(4)