Politics of the Prison and the Prisoner

Susan Easton is a Barrister and Professor of Law at Brunel Law School. She has lectured and published in both sociology and law, specialising in prisoners' rights, and has taught in UK prisons.

• 1. The prisoner as a zoon politikon, 2. Political protest in prison, 3. The quest for citizenship in prison, 4. Losing citizenship in prison, 5. Discovering politics in prison, 6. The treatment of political prisoners, 7. Prisoners as a political problem, Bibliography, Index

This might be a very dangerous book. Dangerous in the best sense of the word because it threatens conventional ways of thinking about prison and prisoners. Each and every chapter gifts the reader some new insight about prisoners and prison life, but it is the overarching theme that is so challenging. Prisoners, at once familiar but perversely fascinating creatures of the imagination, are reconceptualised – as zoon politikon – political animals, citizens, like the rest of us. Easton thus brings them back within the fold of humanity where they belong – not other to, but of, us. Read this book and rise to that challenge.Dr Rod Earle, Senior Lecturer in Youth Justice, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open UniversityProviding an extensive review of literature and policy on a variety of aspects of politics and the prison, Easton's key contribution is to add an analysis of how prison law shapes and is shaped by its political context. Easton's assessment of prisoners' rights and activism offers another way for lawyers and legal scholars to understand the application of the law in the prison environment.Mary Rogan, Associate Professor in the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, The University of DublinThis book offers an innovative perspective on prisons, taking us well beyond well-worn critiques of imprisonment and encouraging deeper reflection on the political dimensions of the use of imprisonment, prisoners’ citizenship, threats from the radicalisation of prisoners whilst within, and more generally, the role of the prison as an incubator of radical political views. Informed by a human rights perspective and drawing on philosophical reasoning as well as up-to-date research evidence and policy developments, Susan Easton has produced a cutting-edge, authoritative and thought-provoking book.Loraine Gelsthorpe, Director and Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge