Book Review: The puzzle of prison order: Why life behind bars varies around the world by D. Skarbek
| Author | Bert Useem |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1057567720967071 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
identities that they know will create risks for them because they are in situations in which this helps
them find support in dangerous environments”(p. 77).
In Chapter 3, the author explores how individuals negotiate, perform, and resist the carceral social
order. Racial sorting influences how individuals interact with others, how they dress, and what insti-
tutional spaces they occupy. Using compelling narratives, the author explains that individuals who
resist racial sorting and the carceral social order are punished, “creating a context in which it is
easier and safer for one to go along with this labeling process than to try and resist it”(p. 109).
The second half of this book explores how the carceral social order impacts communities. In
Chapter 4, the author explores how the carceral social order is transmitted into communities.
Existing prison visitation policies force family members to understand and navigate the carceral
social order. The formerly incarcerated are unable to escape prison politics because prison networks
often offer the only reentry assistance available. The existence of prison politics at the street level
teaches youth how to prepare for their perceived inevitable incarceration. Because neighborhood res-
idents learn to navigate prison politics, neighborhood “affiliations are regarded by law enforcement
as ties to criminal gangs, and consequently used as criminal evidence facilitating the incarceration of
neighborhood residents, perpetuating mass incarceration”(p.137).
In Chapter 5, Lopez-Aguado sheds light on the paradox created by racial sorting. “Individuals use
violence to try to protect themselves from the threats generated by the carceral social order, which
ultimately works to reinforce this same system”(p. 153). The author also explores structural violence
and othering at the hands of law enforcement.
In Chapter 6 and the conclusion, the author provides a macro-level analysis of how the processes
outlined in the first five chapters are used to demonize entire neighborhoods. “Framing young people
of color as fundamentally criminal then structures punishment as a default response to address the
social and personal problems they experience, such as drug addiction, abusive households, or mental
health struggles”(p. 167). Neoliberal policies resulted in correctional facilities serving as default treat-
ment centers for these social problems. Additionally, attaching the gang trope to young people of color
allows police to justify harassment, and schools to identify and punish all behavior as “gang-related.”
Once most youth in a community are labeled gang-affiliated, the neighborhood is labeled “gang-
infested,”resulting in diminished home values and increased police presence. The author concludes
the text with concrete policy suggestions to address the issues explored in the book.
This book extends our understanding of mass incarceration and the collateral consequences of
incarceration by identifying and exploring how carceral identities impact life post-incarceration
and life within high-incarceration neighborhoods. Unlike many orthodox criminological studies
that pathologize youth of color, this text uses ethnographic data and scholarly interpretations to
present a nuanced analysis of the criminal justice system’s role in the creation and perpetuation of
violence in prisons and communities of color. The author presents a well-organized, well-written,
and easy to understand book that is ideal for graduate courses and advanced undergraduate
courses in punishment, corrections, juvenile justice, gangs, and criminology.
Skarbek, D. (2020).
The puzzle of prison order: Why life behind bars varies around the world. Oxford University Press. 240 pp. $27.00,
ISBN: 978-0190672508.
Reviewed by: Bert Useem, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
DOI: 10.1177/1057567720967071
Imagine that you have been sentenced to serve time in prison. Above all else, this means you cannot
leave at will: No voluntary exit is a defining feature of prison. What you experience behind bars
Book Reviews 117
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