The Deviant Prison

Reviews / Votes

'Ashley Rubin's fascinating new book is a powerful reinterpretation of one of prison history's best-known episodes: the early 19th-century competition between 'silent' and 'separate' systems of penitentiary discipline. With a sociologist's grasp of organizational dynamics and a historian's concern for individual agency and contingent events, Rubin retells the remarkable story of the world-famous Eastern State Penitentiary with new depth and insight. The result is a sociologically-informed history that reveals the abiding significance of this 'deviant prison' and uses its flawed idealism to point up the abject deformation of American prisons in the age of mass incarceration.' David Garland, New York University 'In a compelling analysis, Ashley Rubin examines how a 'deviant' commitment to solitary confinement persisted in one of the earliest American prisons, Eastern State Penitentiary. She convincingly argues that Eastern State's very outlier status undergirded the deep, decades-long institutional commitment to a doomed system of punishment, shedding new light on how penal aberrations speak to both past and current state punishment practices.' Mona Lynch, University of California, Irvine 'Ashley Rubin has set a new bar for historical social science. Through dogged archival research and incisive analysis, she explains why Eastern State Penitentiary retained its unique system of prison discipline for so long: prison administrators couldn't let go because their status depended on the survival of the deviant prison. Demonstrating the power of personal institutionalization, Rubin shows that forces inside the criminal justice system shape both penal history and paths to change.' Joshua Page, University of Minnesota '... a contribution to the sociology of organizations, to the study of institutional life cycles ...' Lawrence M. Friedman, Law & Society Review '... a welcome and illuminating account ... detailed and well-researched ... Because of its integration of both sociological and historical methodology, Deviant Prisons will appeal to a wide range of scholars interested in criminal justice.' Mary Gibson, CLCJB Review 'Rubin offers a meandering but important history of the limits to this correctional experiment ... Recommended.' R. D. McCrie, Choice Connect 'Deviant Prison is based on remarkable research. Rubin mines every conceivable cache of sources and consults any and all relevant manuscript and published records. Her study reconstructs the logic and operations of Eastern in unparalleled depth, detailing the private, internal discussions of prison authorities, their public statements, and their tenacious defense of a disgraced model of prison operation. To explain their unwavering commitment to this failed experiment, Rubin makes fascinating use of organizational theory, particularly the work of Philip Selznick and his concept of institutionalization. She adapts his theory to formulate the idea of "personal institutionalization, wherein organizational leaders blur the boundaries between their own status and that of their institutions. In her analysis of this failed experiment, Ashley T. Rubin solves a vexing, minor mystery in the history of the prison and institutional reform in nineteenth-century America.' Jerey S. Adler, The Dead Branch in the History of the American Prison 'Ashley T. Rubin has written an unusual, fascinating book ... Deviant Prison is based on remarkable research. Rubin mines every conceivable cache of sources and consults any and all relevant manuscript and published records. Her study reconstructs the logic and operations of Eastern in unparalleled depth ... Rubin solves a vexing, minor mystery in the history of the prison and institutional reform in nineteenth-century America.' Jeffrey S. Adler, Society for U.S. Intellectual History Blog '[a] well-researched and provocative study ... she also enlivens our historical vision with the power of personality and individual will-a biographical and even psychological interpretive practice largely absent in both institutional theory and prison studies. Through this focus on the power of individuals, she prompts readers to acknowledge their own responsibility as political actors with the power to transform or maintain current systems of (in)justice.' Katherine Thorsteinson, Law and History Review '... Rubin's account is immersive and rich in detail, making it well-worth reading for scholars of punishment as well as sociologists of organizations, occupations, and work. I personally admire it as a model for doing archival research and successfully blending historical and social science methods.' Sarah Shannon, Social Forces