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The Connecticut Prison Association and the Search for Reformatory Justice
Series: The Driftless Connecticut Series & Garnet Books
Sales Date: 2017-01-02
How a groundbreaking advocacy organization has helped shape Connecticut's criminal justice system since 1875
The Connecticut Prison Association and the Search for Reformatory Justice looks at the role the Connecticut Prison Association played in the formation of the state's criminal justice system. Now organized under the name Community Partners in Action (CPA), the Connecticut Prison Association was formed to ameliorate the conditions of criminal defendants and people in prison, improve the discipline and administration of local jails and state prisons, and furnish assistance and encouragement to people returning to their communities after incarceration. The organization took a leading role in prison reform in the state and was instrumental in a number of criminal justice innovations. Gordon S. Bates, former Connecticut Prison Association volunteer and executive director (1980 – 1998), offers a detailed history of this and similar voluntary associations and their role in fostering a rehabilitative, rather than a retributive, approach to criminal justice. First convened in 1875 as the Friends of Partners of Prisoners Society, then evolving into the Connecticut Prison Association and CPA, the organization has consistently advocated for a humane, rehabilitative approach to prisoner treatment.
A Driftless Connecticut Series Book, funded by the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
Introduction: Two Faces of Justice
Connecticut's Cultural Context, 1875
From Newgate Prison to Wethersfield State Prison, 1775–1875
Rehabilitation Rekindled, 1875–1910
Continuity and Regression, 1910–1933
Reform during the Maltbie Era, 1933–1960
The Culmination of Progressive Reform, 1960–1970
Rehabilitation's Last Hurrah, 1970–1980
The Return of Retributive Justice, 1980–1990
The Legacies of Retribution, 1990–2000
Epilogue: Five Critical Questions
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index
GORDON S. BATES is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He was a CPA volunteer; then part of the staff of the Connecticut Prison Association for over 28 years; and now lives in Cromwell, Connecticut.
"Bates has written an impressive history of this remarkable organization, the Connecticut Prison Association (CPA, now called Community Partners in Action."
~R.D. McCrie, Choice
""Bates has written an impressive history of this remarkable organization, the Connecticut Prison Association (CPA, now called Community Partners in Action.""
~R.D. McCrie, Choice
""My Music, My War is a wonderful addition to the scholarship on military folklore...[and] is a testament to the hard work of a diligent folklorist who accomplished much in helping those veterans she interviewed, as well as those who are still struggling with PTSD.""
~Richard Allen Burns, Journal of American Folklore
"This is an excellent book. Gordon Bates is masterful in using his own experience with the Connecticut Prison Association as a platform to analyze the broad social and philosophical currents impacting the rehabilitation movement nationwide. His work is a highly informative, insightful, and enjoyable."
~Thomas Roscoe, PhD, Westfield State University