This week’s book review is of Maximum Security (ISBN
978-1-84193-755-7, Arcturus Publishing 2009) by Karen Farrington and has the
subtitle Inside stories from the world’s toughest prisons.
It begins with the history of incarceration, and why many
miscreants found themselves behind bars. Not only that, but the punishments
that were meted out for those who had crossed some societal boundary are
mentioned. For example, flogging with the cat-o-nine-tails was followed by
the “guilty” party’s back being scrubbed with salt water, ostensibly to stop
infection.
Description of the jails of the early days brings to
light the horrendous conditions that convicts were kept under. Disease was
rife, so much so that occasionally an entire courtroom, including the
presiding judge, died within days after exposure to the infected (and
infective) criminal.
From there, the book launches into descriptions of the
penal conditions of today, which if you believe the book, can be quite
dreadful. Overcrowding appears to be endemic as more and more criminals are
sentenced to spend time in jail, and there are not enough jails to deal with
the influx. The answer, all over the world, appears to be to cram more
bodies into the small cells, rather than look at alternative punishments.
Mention is made of various penal concepts, all of which
appear to be abandoned after a few years, but a certain American sheriff
marshal get his moments of fame (infamy?) for re-instituting the chain
gangs, even for women. It is almost unthinkable, that we are still chaining
human beings together and sending them out in that condition to dig ditches.
We have not progressed very far.
However, there were even more horrifying details
presented to the reader. This is the gangs that form in the jails,
ostensibly to look after the members, but in actual fact are merely an
outlet for aggression, and all tied up in the drug trade. For those of us
who have not been “inside” it is almost inexplicable as to how drug barons
can operate from within a prison. It requires ineffective weak management,
corrupt wardens and politicians who turn a blind eye to the situation. A
damning expose of today’s societies. Despite our trappings of ‘democracy’
and ‘charity’ homo sapiens is still an animal. So what can be done about the
situation? Author Farrington does not know, neither do the politicians, and
quite frankly, neither do I.
The book covers riots, rapes and escapes, but many of the
escapes are suicides of younger convicts who are unable to repel the
bullying from the gang members.
The final “escape” is the death penalty and the various
methods are described, from hanging to stoning, and the last meals for some
convicts are recorded.
This is an authoritative tome but the publisher has
decided to give the book a “tabloid” appearance with large typeface headings
and illustrations on the page. A marketing decision no doubt, but the
details revealed in the book deserve a more academic approach, in my
opinion.
Despite my complaints, it was still a very interesting
(and horrifying) book, and at B. 430 not an expensive, yet informative read.
