"The Hot House"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, to write "The Hot House: Life inside Leavenworth Prison", Pete Earley was given complete access into one of the most secure prisons in the U.S. where he gained insight into prison life because he was trusted by many inmates, many guards (correctional officers) and the warden of Leavenworth Prison. The author points out the problems of race and inequality within the prison, such as frequent race wars between inmates, which are seldom addressed by prison officials. The paper relates one of the underlying concepts of criminal justice called 'prison paradox', which is that the goal of prison is to punish and rehabilitate, but offenders are coming out of prison worse than when they went in by becoming hardened criminals who are unable to function in society.

From the Paper:

"Matthews, though aware of the prejudices, does not seem to be worried about them. When confronted with the idea that the Aryan Brotherhood (AB) was after his life, he barely batted an eyelash. Instead, Warden Matthews went right to the source and asked AB members if they had any problems - to which they responded that they did not and the threat of death disappeared (Earley, 84-87). The racial tension was also clear between warden and guards. In Chapter 17, Warden Matthews is approached with a request for a memorial to a late prison lieutenant, Shoats."

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