Some questions for reading Jacobs:
Discussion Questions for Stateville Chapters 1-3
1. Why are we reading and discussing Stateville after Foucault and Welch?
2. Are there connections between reformers like Bentham and Howard and the
necessity for a new prison in Illinois during the early 1900's?
3. Why do you think the architectural design of Stateville was so appealing to
reformers and legislators in Illinois?
4. How did reform efforts change the way staff would look at prisoners?
5. How could creating a non-integrated reform effort, undermine the whole
idea of reform?
6. Is there a relationship between the power of political appointment and what
Foucault described as the "monarchial super-power" (pg.80 Foucault)?
7. How could the aim of providing employment rather than inmate services be
harmful to the treatment of prisoners?
8. What were some of the obvious conflicts between theory of what the prisons
were supposed to be and the actual practice of inmate treatment in
Stateville?
9. Would you classify Ragen as a conservative, radical, or liberal? Why?
10. What does Jacobs mean when he says Ragen established a "patriarchal
organization based upon his own charismatic authority?"(pg. 31)?
11. How did overcoming the spoils system of politics bolster absolute authority
for Ragen?
12. How did the mechanism of surveillance serve to gain control over staff?
13. How did the rule system set inmates up for failure? Or did it?
14. What philosophical change did Ragen have to make during the mid 50's?
Did this change affect the system of total control he had established?
15. Was there a dichotomization between the notion of rehabilitation and total
control or were these two principles integrated under the reign of Regan?
16. Would you describe Frank Pate as a conservative, liberal, or radical? Why?
17. How was absolute authority and control now being compromised under the
reign of Pate?
18. "Political prisoners, since they have, liked delinquents, a direct
experience of the penal system, but, unlike them, are in a position to be
heard, have a duty to be the spokesmen of all prisoners."
(Foucault pg 288). How does this relate to the impact that Black Muslims
had in Stateville?
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