A Plague of Prisons

September 12, 2011
At its best, public health researcher Drucker's impassioned argument for prison reform offers a primer on epidemiological methodology. At its worst, his attempts to repackage incarceration as a "modern plague" overshadows the clearly pressing need for new inquiry and viable solutions. Drucker begins by explaining epidemiological tools and terminology (such as an "agent, host, and environment" framework), and demonstrates how these tools are used in case studies that suggest parallels to the "mass incarceration epidemic." Well-written chapters on cholera, and his own groundbreaking research on AIDS, allow him to demonstrate his storytelling skills. Though Drucker's elevated terminology and reliance on epidemiology stresses the magnitude of the issue, he neglects to analyze the implications and limits of this semantic maneuver. His final Public Health Model reflects the dead end of his reframing exercise, offering only vague solutions that range from changing society's attitudes about incarceration to the lightweight "implementing community-based truth and reconciliation dialogues and forums." Drucker's honesty in opposing epidemiology's social science goal of "describing the suffering of human beings âwith the tears removed'" limits its social science usefulness. As a result, the book preaches solely to "plague fighters" and others who agree with conventional liberal wisdom on the U.S. prison system.

October 1, 2011

Drucker (scholar in residence, John Jay Coll. of Criminal Justice; epidemiology, Columbia Univ.) traces the field of epidemiology from the 1854 London cholera outbreak through the AIDS crisis. The prison industrial complex resembles the outbreak of a horrific disease, Drucker argues, and should be dealt with in the same manner. He contends that instead of solving crime, mass incarceration has infected our communities and stricken them with devastating symptoms. Prison costs have skyrocketed, inmates' families have been torn apart, and the system is overwhelmingly stratified by race and class. The final chapter offers several proposals for curing mass incarceration, including a reevaluation of the U.S. government's "War on Drugs," responsible for a vast majority of arrests leading to incarceration. VERDICT This material is not new, but the metaphor of prisons as plague is certainly novel. Drucker states his case in a clear, readable style, and the book should appeal to readers interested in criminal justice, especially those who enjoy revisiting an old subject in a new light. Not essential, but a good addition to the existing body of prison-reform titles.--Frances Sandiford, formerly with Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY

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