Working for Justice

This book is a qualitative, grounded theory study of the efforts of six grassroots prison reform groups, organized in five different states across the United States, where incarceration rates are now the highest in the world. Prison conditions are overcrowded and racially divided, with a constant threat of violence. Stories of 46 members of prison reform groups, most of whom have a family member or a close friend currently incarcerated, represent a unique contribution to the available literature on prisoners' families. Five of the groups included in my study are based in California, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The sixth group, also based in Georgia, is organized around issues related only to Federal prisoners, who can be housed in any state.