
Too Easy to Keep
Life-Sentenced Prisoners and the Future of Mass Incarceration
Steve Herbert(Author)
University of California Press
1st Edition
Published on 8. January 2019
Book
Hardback
184 pages
978-0-520-30050-7 (ISBN)
Description
"Some guys don't break any rules. They do their jobs, they go to school, they don't commit any infractions, they keep their cells clean and tidy, and they follow the rules. And usually those are our LWOPs [life without parole]. They're usually our easiest keepers."
Too Easy to Keep directs much-needed attention toward a neglected group of American prisoners-the large and growing population of inmates serving life sentences. Drawing on extensive interviews with lifers and with prison staff, Too Easy to Keep charts the challenges that a life sentence poses-both to the prisoners and to the staffers charged with caring for them. Surprisingly, many lifers show remarkable resilience and craft lives of notable purpose. Yet their eventual decline will pose challenges to the institutions that house them. Rich in data, Too Easy to Keep illustrates the harsh consequences of excessive sentences and demonstrates a keen need to reconsider punishment policy.
Too Easy to Keep directs much-needed attention toward a neglected group of American prisoners-the large and growing population of inmates serving life sentences. Drawing on extensive interviews with lifers and with prison staff, Too Easy to Keep charts the challenges that a life sentence poses-both to the prisoners and to the staffers charged with caring for them. Surprisingly, many lifers show remarkable resilience and craft lives of notable purpose. Yet their eventual decline will pose challenges to the institutions that house them. Rich in data, Too Easy to Keep illustrates the harsh consequences of excessive sentences and demonstrates a keen need to reconsider punishment policy.
More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
318 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-30050-7 (9780520300507)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
01/2019
1st Edition
University of California Press
€30.95
Shipment within 10-20 days

E-Book
01/2019
1st Edition
University of California Press
€28.99
Available for download
Person
Steve Herbert is Mark Torrance Professor and Department Chair of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington. He is the author of Policing Space: Territoriality and the Los Angeles Police Department; Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community; and, with Katherine Beckett, Banished: The New Social Control in Urban America.
Content
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Easy Keeper
1. Becoming Easy
2. Being Easy Isn't Easy
3. When Easy Becomes Hard
4. Let's All Be Easy
Notes
References
Index
Introduction: The Easy Keeper
1. Becoming Easy
2. Being Easy Isn't Easy
3. When Easy Becomes Hard
4. Let's All Be Easy
Notes
References
Index