Annotated Bibliography for Prison Industrial Complex

Instructor: Ryan Shanahan

1. Slam! Marc Levin. Vidmark/Trimark, 1998.
This film, by acclaimed urban documentarian, Marc Levin, stars Saul Williams, Sonia Sohn, Bonz Malone and Beau Sia. This film chronicles the life of an urban youth caught up in the game and interacting with the justice system. While incarcerated in D.C., the protagonist hones his poetry skills. Among the acolades: 1998 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

2. Roberts, Dorothy. 1997. Killing the Black Body. New York: Vintage Books.
Roberts examines the social justice implications of reproductive freedom and the racial politics inherant in reproductive politics. Roberts intricately links the unique history of U.S. African American women in slavery and the current racially charged political debates around welfare reform, birth control and the criminalization of pregnancy. Roberts challenges the reader to reconsider the meaning of reproductive liberty to take into account its relationship to racial oppression.

3. Lubiano, Wahneema, ed. 1997. The House That Race Built. New York: Vintage Books.
Critical race theory is the central theme to this collection of essays. Bringing together works by Angela Y. Davis, Toni Morrison and Cornel West, this book sheds insight to the current discussions around the continued signifigance of race in the United States.

4. Girlhood. 2003. Liz Garbus. Wellspring Media This documentary chronicles three years in the lives of two young girls involved with the Baltimore Juvenile Justice System and their subsequent release. This documentray sheds light on issues facing urban female youth today and the state interventions that "interrupt" their girlhood.

5. Davis, Angela Y. 2003. Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press.
As clearly illustrated in the title, Davis questions the American Prison Industrial Complex and advocates for a policy of "decarceration."

6. Abu Jamal, Mumia. 1995. Live from Death Row. New York: Five Avon Books.
This collection of prison writings, encapsulate over twenty years on death row. This collection covers the good, bad and ugly of prison through an intersectional lense. The book takes the racist poltical systemt to task.

7. Peltier, Leonard. 1999. Prison Writings: My Life is My Sundance. New York: St. Martin's Press.
This is Leonard Peltier's chance to tell his story. A recounting of his life the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the events that led to his current incarcation as a political prisoner, this book illuminates the racism emmeshed in the U.S. justice system.

8. Chesney-Lind, Meda and Randall G. Shelden. 1998. Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice: Second Edition. Wadsworth: Belmont.