Volume 21, Number 1 & 2 is a special double issue commemorating the 15th anniversary of Convict Criminology, which "represents the work of convicts or ex-convicts, in possession of a Ph.D. or on their way to completing one, or enlightened academics and practitioners, who contribute to a new conversation about crime and corrections" (see www.convictcriminology.org). Dedicated to John Irwin and Thomas Bernard, who were actively involved in the Convict Criminology Group since its inception in 1997, the issue contains three main sections: 1) Defining Convict Criminology; 2) Prisoners in the...

Taking readers into the darkness of solitary confinement, this searing collection of convict experiences, academic research, and policy recommendations shines a light on the proliferation of supermax (super-maximum-security) prisons and the detrimental effects of long-term high-security confinement on prisoners and their families.

Stephen C. Richards, an ex-convict who served time in nine federal prisons before earning his PhD in criminology, argues the supermax prison era began in 1983 at USP Marion in southern Illinois, where the first "control units" were built by the Federal Bureau of...