A review by tracey_s
Newjack: A Year as a Prison Guard in New York's Most Infamous Maximum Security Jail by Ted Conover
4.0
In the early 1990s anthropologist and journalist Ted Conover applied for access to visit Sing Sing maximum security prison in order to write about it and was turned down. Undeterred, Conover at once applied to become a Corrections Officer as a loophole to gain access, and in 1997 he finally got his chance to be a Newjack (a trainee CO).
He begins by relating his experience throughout the 7 week training camp where recruits had to go through all sorts of rituals, including being exposed to tear gas, in order to know what it will be like for the prisoners on their watch if they had to resort to force.
When it comes to actually starting his new job, Conover is frank about his fear and anticipation about working in one of America's most famous and largest prisons, about perhaps not being able to do the job, about the inmates, about his fellow officers.
The reader gets a definite sense that the author is appealing to those like himself who cannot see the logic and purpose in imprisoning more and more people. His belief is that a Corrections Officer is a misnomer, as the guards are in no way responsible for rehabilitation of the criminals they look after, and are not expected to try to interact with them. State money is not being spent in the right places, is another of his strong arguments.
I rate this book a 4.5- the subject matter is absolutely fascinating, and the author is sympathetic and at the same time at the correct amount of distance from the narration. I think the books suffers a tiny bit from being dated, although there is a very quick afterword written in 2011 (the book was published in 2001).
He begins by relating his experience throughout the 7 week training camp where recruits had to go through all sorts of rituals, including being exposed to tear gas, in order to know what it will be like for the prisoners on their watch if they had to resort to force.
When it comes to actually starting his new job, Conover is frank about his fear and anticipation about working in one of America's most famous and largest prisons, about perhaps not being able to do the job, about the inmates, about his fellow officers.
The reader gets a definite sense that the author is appealing to those like himself who cannot see the logic and purpose in imprisoning more and more people. His belief is that a Corrections Officer is a misnomer, as the guards are in no way responsible for rehabilitation of the criminals they look after, and are not expected to try to interact with them. State money is not being spent in the right places, is another of his strong arguments.
I rate this book a 4.5- the subject matter is absolutely fascinating, and the author is sympathetic and at the same time at the correct amount of distance from the narration. I think the books suffers a tiny bit from being dated, although there is a very quick afterword written in 2011 (the book was published in 2001).