By Christia Mercer On a recent Friday night, a student and I were playing dead on the cold linoleum floor of a prison. The woman standing over us was proudly proclaiming the cold-blooded murder of her no-good husband and his unwilling mistress. As a professor at Columbia University, I’ve asked lots of students to act
The study, conducted by legal commentator Christopher Zoukis, concludes that offering post-secondary and academic education to prisoners can cut $60 billion from the national budget every year – without scrapping existing programs. Zoukis has compiled his research and findings into College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons, a game-changing new book
The term “gadfly” was used by Plato in The Apology to describe Socrates’s relationship to the Athenian political scene, which he compared to a slow and dimwitted horse. Essentially, Socrates was a goad, a poignant reminder of right and wrong. So a gadfly is someone who upsets the existing state of affairs by asking uncomfortable
While it is still early yet, I have an announcement to make concerning my book Education Behind Bars: A Win-Win Strategy for Maximum Security. As you know, Sunbury Press published this title in early 2012 to rave reviews from the prison presses. Since its publication, we’ve been approached by several publishers, who are enthusiastic to give this project new life and enhanced exposure; two of which are McFarland and Company and Prisology. I’d like to touch upon both today.
As you know from previous posts, I decided to divide Education Behind Bars into two books: one for academics and one for prisoners. This way both texts could be completely revised and updated, then more effectively marketed to their target markets. Well, the revisions are now complete on both books and publishing contracts have been signed for both, too.
McFarland and Company picked up the academic book and are publishing it under the title College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons. And Prisology has picked up the prisoner correspondence guide, which is tentatively titled College for the Incarcerated. Both publishers seem enthusiastic about the projects.
If you’re interested in the academic version (for the general public and law makers), please head over to McFarland and Company’s sales page for College for Convicts, where you can pre-order your copy today. This book will be out either late this year or early next year.
As all of you know, several months ago, I signed a contract with McFarland and Company for my book on college for prisoners, College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons. This book presents the current state of prison education, the reasons why policymakers and the American public should support higher education
It is with great pleasure that I share with you — the Prison Education News readers — some recent developments in our prison education advocacy efforts. This news concerns several long-term projects that we have been working on behind the scenes and several new projects that we are preparing to engage in. It has been some time since I have provided such an update, so please allow me to update you sufficiently.
Surprise: “College for Convicts” To Be Published By McFarland!
The big news of the month concerns my College for Convicts manuscript. Several months ago I announced that Middle Street Publishing — the same nonprofit which owns and operates PrisonEducation.com and PrisonLawBlog.com — had acquired the rights to my latest prison education text College for Convicts: The Case for a Safer, More Prosperous Country. Well, it appears as if I spoke too soon. Several weeks ago McFarland and Company — a very large nonfiction publisher located in North Carolina — approached us concerning this very text. After several weeks of discussions and negotiations, we’ve come to an agreement. McFarland and Company will be publishing College for Convicts! We are currently in the process of signing the contracts and making the requested revisions. Image courtesy mcfarlandbooks.com
We’re thrilled with this news because McFarland and Company has a significantly larger reach than we do, and they will be able to put College for Convicts into the hands of academics, public policy makers, and libraries the world over. Their expert backing will allow the College for Convicts project to reach much greater heights and will ensure enhanced staying power. This is truly a win for the prison education lobby and incarcerated students everywhere.
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