The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the US Prison Industry (Paperback)

by Daniel Burton-Rose (Author), Paul Wright (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In The Celling of America, inmates in American penitentiaries report on their living conditions and political concerns. They paint a bleak picture of the prison system, describing police brutality, substandard medical care, racism, and extremely crowded conditions. They discuss privately-run prisons, prison labor, weightlifting, and the effect of television on prisoner's lives. Many of them believe conditions are getting worse every year, and their claims are quite credible because no one knows jail like a convict. Most of these articles originally appeared in Prison Legal News, a magazine published by Dan Pens and Paul Wright, two incarcerated men in Washington state.

The authors explain that reporters often rely on prison officials as the primary source for information on these issues, which leads them to present a biased view of prison life. State prisons limit and sometimes block prisoners' access to media, making it difficult, if not impossible, for prisoners to tell their side of the story. Inmates are easy targets for politicians because they aren't allowed to vote and can't talk back.

These essays compel readers to reevaluate their ideas about the average prison inmate, to think more carefully about that man lounging in his cell watching television. It was interesting to learn that while some states provide each prisoner with a television on the theory that television pacifies people, other prison systems forbid televisions because some believe watching television is a luxury that inmates don't deserve. The book would have been better if it had told more about the people who wrote the essays. I kept wondering what each writer did to end up in the slammer, and that information seems significant. Do you trust a thief to tell you about multinational corporations profiting from cheap prison labor? Do you trust a sex offender? Who do you believe? That is one of the central questions posed by this collection. --Jill Marquis

Review
...the country's most impeccably professional source of prison news.... Ultimately, one of the most important contributions of The Celling of America is the lesson that prisoners must be allowed to speak and write if society is to understand the realities of incarceration. -- The Nation, Christian Parenti

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Product Details

• Paperback: 263 pages
• Publisher: Common Courage Press (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567511406
• ISBN-13: 978-1567511406
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #183,931 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing,thought-provoking description of American prisons, March 21, 1998

By A Customer

This book presents a truly "inside" looks at prisons in the US. Short articles, mostly written by prisoners, tell the story of how prisons are run, managed, and what's at stake. For anyone interested in crime, punishment, human rights, or criticisms of China for using "prison labor" to manufacture goods, this volume provides plenty of well-articulated food for thought.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opening look at U.S. prisons from behind bars, December 23, 1997

By A Customer

Consisting of an anthology of articles from the monthly journal Prison Legal News (edited by two Washington state prisoners), The Celling of America provides a timely overview of the legal, political, economic and social problems plaguing the U.S. criminal justice system. Takes a look at prison issues from an angle rarely if ever presented in the main-stream media, from prison activists to jail-house lawyers to death-row inmates.

5.0 out of 5 stars "It's beginning to look a lot like prison..everywhere you go.", April 27, 2008

By	Raegan Butcher (RainCity, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Paul Wright has been reporting on the way we treat our poverty-stricken and incarcerated criminal outcasts(the majority of whom are mentally ill)for over twenty years and every one of his books is essential reading for anyone who cares about human rights here in america, where we now have more people incarcerated than Russia or China, something of which we should be deeply ashamed. I've been to prison, I was there alongside Paul Wright and I wish more people would pay attention to the issues he high-lights, because they all point to a deep sickness in the social fabric of this country.