Book Reviews : Hard Time, Understanding and Reforming the Prison. Robert Johnson. Brooks Cole Publishing Company, 1987. 200 pp

• Author: Barbara Bloom
• Published date: 01 June 1987
• Date: 01 June 1987
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/088740348700200213
• Subject Matter: Articles

210

from

public

and

private

agencies.

Additionally,

these

programs

might

be

construed

as

punishing

youths

before

they

have been

adjudicated

delinquent.

The

chance

that

children

could

be

mistakenly

or

routinely

labeled

&dquo;at-risk&dquo;

by

school

administrators

and

then

channeled

into

special

programs

is

troubling.

It

appears

that

more

research

is

required

before

policy

and

meaningful

programs

are

initiated.

Alida

V.

Merlo

Westfield

State

College

Hard

Time,

Understanding

and

Reforming

the

Prison.

Robert

Johnson.

Brooks

Cole

Publishing

Company,

1987.

200

pp.

The

major

thesis

of

Hard

Time

is

that

imprisonment

can

be

a

&dquo;conservatively

painful&dquo;

experience

which

the

author

contends

can

result

in

the

rehabilitation

of

offenders.

He

also

maintains

that

the

punitive

dimension

of

prison

offers

opportunities

for

the

development

of

mature

coping

skills

on

the

part

of

some

offenders.

Robert

Johnson

believes

that

imprisonment

is

a

punishment

from

which

the

offender

can

learn

something

of

value,

namely

how

to

deal

with

pain

and

loss

in

mature

ways.

He

can

at

once

pay

his

debt

to

society

and

learn

to

cope

more

responsibly

with

the

many

pressures

and

constraints

found

in

prison

and

the

free

world

alike.

Hard

Time

contains

an

extensive

review of

prison

literature

focusing

on

prison

life.

It

is

divided

into

three

sections:

the

history

of

prisons

(from

the

penitentiary

to

modern

time),

living

and

working

in

prison

(adjustment

to

prison

life)

and

prison

reform

(stress,

coping

and

programs).

Essentially,

Johnson’s

model

for

prison

reform

suggests

an

environment

in

which

prisoners

and

staff

work

together

to

create

a

supportive

prison

culture

where

constructive

citizenship

evolves

within

the

prison

walls.

This

environment

includes

programs

which

are

supported

by

both

staff

and

prisoners.

The

prisoners

ally

themselves

with

staff

whose

express

purpose

is

to

promote

better

coping

by

training

prisoners

in

the

use

of

alternative

ways

of

responding

to

the

pressure

of

living

in

both

prison

and

society.

Whereas

Johnson

appears

to

genuinely

believe

that

the

keepers

and

the

kept

are

not

at

odds

with

one

another,

and

that

the

officers

are

not

hostile

towards

or

prejudiced

against

prisoners,

John

Irwin,

a

prominent

penologist

believes

otherwise.

Irwin

states

in

his

book

Prisons

in

Turmoil,

that

&dquo;guards

are

more

racially

prejudiced

than

the

average

citizen;..guards’

racism

takes

three

forms.

First,

they

due

not

like

and

often

hate

nonwhites.

Moreover,

most

white

guards

believe

that

nonwhites

are

inferior.

Finally,

the

guard

force,

with

a

rural

background

and

poor

education,

misunderstand

the

perspectives

or

subcultures

of

most

prisoners.&dquo;

One

has

to

wonder

how

realistic

the

author’s

premise

is,

given

the

historical

nature

of

prisons,

the

severe

overcrowding

and

warehousing

of

prisoners,

the

cutbacks

in

positive

prison

programs

and

the