Cruel and Unusual: The Culture of Punishment in America.

Cruel and Unusual: The Culture of Punishment in America, by Anne-Marie Cusac, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 2009, 318 pp.

Like oil and water, journalists seldom mix harmoniously with prison administrators. Anne-Marie Cusac, an award-winning journalist and assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Roosevelt University in Chicago, has ventured into the dark recesses of corrections. She has set her sights on the punishment aspects of the criminal justice system--and her aim is accurate.

Her recitation and analysis of the culture of punishment in the U.S. is colorful, detailed and includes a wealth of useful footnotes--42 pages of them. Her flair for writing is evident throughout the book. The first chapter, titled "When Punishment Is the Subject, Religion Is the Predicate," provides a searing look at the influence of religion on the historic evolution of punishment.

The fourth chapter, "Punishment Creep," speaks volumes on the evolution of the abuse of punishment. Cusac writes about 19th-century punishments in closed societies, which are "locations--such as schools, ships, and plantations--without extensive public oversight and where one group of people controls another. Partly because of the lack of outside regulation, partly because of the intensive day-in and day-out nature of relationships in closed environments, punishment there can acquire an extreme cast."

This "extreme cast" theme continues when Cusac writes about contemporary issues. Rare in other criminal justice literature is such an in-depth analysis of the forces of pop culture, literature and television on the delivery of punishment. She deftly intertwines the influences of religion and the media to provide ample justification that, "The United States after three decades of punishment TV, punishment religion, and punishment politics is a more punitive country than it was. Many of us, a much larger spectrum than those we house in our Big Houses, may live to regret the new America we helped invent."

In answer to how this could have happened in the U.S., Cusac writes, "Particularly in the last couple of decades, with the rise of ever-harsher criminal justice laws, Americans have become hardened to the people we put in detention or behind bars. We have acquired a set of unexamined beliefs: 1) people who land in jail deserve to be there; 2) criminals are bad people--almost subhuman --who can't be rehabilitated; 3) therefore, punishment can be as harsh as possible; and 4) we don't need or want to know the details."

Knowing these details is essential for success in the corrections profession. Particularly timely are Cusac's 10th and 11th chapters creatively titled, "Stunning Technology" and "The Return to Restraint." These chapters, replete with numerous detailed examples of abuse--many including settlement or judgment amounts--should be incorporated in the staff training curriculum of all jails and prisons. There is no more effective way to reinforce constitutionally mandated standards of care than to provide illustrations of needless deaths with the price paid for professional malfeasance.

Regrettably absent from Cusac's comprehensive depiction of the evolution of punishment, current trends and the endemic abuses, is a chapter with recommended solutions. There is brief mention in her epilogue of correctional programs with promise, but I would like to know more of this author's ideas on how to fix the many areas that she so meticulously illustrates are broken.

Along with the explosive growth of jails and prisons throughout the last two decades, the experience level of staff has diminished. Staff and administrators are focused on surviving the storms of volatile detention and prison operations and seldom have the luxury of time to reflect on the past. As we learn time and time again--often by over-the-top plaintiff verdicts--there is no substitute for an intelligent leader with the ability to influence the conduct of their many subordinates to whom authority is so freely delegated. A comprehensive knowledge of history is essential for leaders to establish a solid foundation for moving forward, and this excellent book is highly recommended for those with noble ideals.

Cusac is an ingenious researcher and talented writer. Her innovative book offers a fresh and rare perspective on punishment throughout history and provides clarity on how we got to where we are today. It will enrich the perspective of any thinking person and should be required reading for prison leaders and those who aspire to such positions. As Spanish philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Reviewed by Joel Goodman, who retired in 2008 after 31 years with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He now does litigation consulting from his home in Colorado.