{"product_id":"libertys-prisoners-carceral-culture-in-early-america-early-american-studies-9780812247572","title":"Liberty's Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America (Early American Studies)","description":"\u003cp\u003eLibertys Prisoners examines how changing attitudes about work  freedom  property  and family shaped the creation of the penitentiary system in the United States. The first penitentiary was founded in Philadelphia in 1790  a period of great optimism and turmoil in the Revolutions wake. Those who were previously dependents with no legal standingwomen  enslaved people  and indentured servantsincreasingly claimed their own right to life  liberty  and happiness. A diverse cast of women and men  including immigrants  African Americans  and the Irish and Anglo-American poor  struggled to make a living. Vagrancy laws were used to crack down on those who visibly challenged longstanding social hierarchies while criminal convictions carried severe sentences for even the most trivial property crimes.  The penitentiary was designed to reestablish order  both behind its walls and in society at large  but the promise of reformative incarceration failed from its earliest years. Within this system  women served a vital function  and Libertys Prisoners is the first book to bring to life the e xperience of African American  immigrant  and poor white women imprisoned in early America. Always a minority of prisoners  women provided domestic labor within the institution and served as model inmates  more likely to submit to the authority of guards  inspectors  and reformers. White men  the primary targets of reformative incarceration  challenged authorities at every turn while African American men were increasingly segregated and denied access to reform.  Libertys Prisoners chronicles how the penitentiary  though initially designed as an alternative to corporal punishment for the most egregious of offenders  quickly became a repository for those who attempted to lay claim to the new nations promise of liberty.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651827130421,"sku":"ByrdShop_0812247574","price":86.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780812247572.jpg?v=1781841442","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/libertys-prisoners-carceral-culture-in-early-america-early-american-studies-9780812247572","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}