The Ghosts Inside
The Historic Struggle to Reclassify Prison Labor, 1967–1979
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21373174 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Gibson-Light (0000-0003-2445-2389, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 489-512 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Prison Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-8855 • E-ISSN: 1552-7522 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00328855231188430 |
| OpenAlex | W4384697444 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 21 |
The 1970s saw incarcerated laborers engage in an unprecedented battle to secure recognition, rights, and protections. This article traces the rise of the Prisoners Union, the largest and most prominent organization of its sort, as it endeavored to elevate the standing of captive labor. Through qualitative analysis of archival materials, this work unpacks penal laborers’ classification struggles aimed at advancing status in the penal field and rejoining the ranks of the working class. Investigating this movement's successes and failures enhances empirical knowledge of prison organizing as well as theoretical understandings of classification struggles, and helps contextualize historic penological developments
Battle · Criminology · Field (mathematics) · Political science · Prison · Sociology · Work (physics) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Engineering · History · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Race, History, and American Society
Rethinking the American Prison Movement
Dignity at Work
The Crisis of Imprisonment
The field of cultural production
Blood in the Water
The Toughest Beat
Punishment and Social Structure
From Black Power to Prison Power
Governing Through Crime
The Prison and the Gallows
Rethinking Working-Class Struggle through the Lens of the Carceral State
Developing Poverty
The Rise and Fall of California's Radical Prison Movement
The Prison Industrial Complex
Whose Side Are We On
The Transformation of America's Penal Order
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |