EBOOK Toughest Beat:Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California

In America today, one in every hundred adults is behind bars. As our prison        population has exploded, "e;law and order"e; interest groups have also grown-in numbers        and political clout. Committed to punitive justice, these organizations perpetuate        America's imprisonment binge. The Toughest Beat forcefully demonstrates how this        cyclical process has unfolded in California.In crisp, vivid prose, Joshua Page        argues that the Golden State's prison boom fueled the rise of one of the most        politically potent and feared interest groups in the nation: the California        Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA). As it made great strides for its        members, the prison officers' union also fundamentally altered the composition and        orientation of the penal field. It promoted extreme punishment and moralistic        conceptions of prisoners, helped institute ultra-tough penal policies such as Three        Strikes and You're Out, obstructed efforts to privatize prisons, and empowered        sympathetic political figures and groups, including crime victims' organizations        that it helped create. To understand the nature, purpose, and scope of California's        penal system, Page explains, we cannot neglect the story of this group so often        known simply as "e;the powerful prison guards union."e;Page draws on years of intensive        research, using the lessons of the CCPOA to illuminate concrete processes that        determine criminal justice outcomes at the state level. He demonstrates how actors        produce and reinforce the penal status quo and considers whether, by making these        mechanisms clear, we might open the door to real and lasting change in the penal        field and beyond. The Toughest Beat is essential reading for anyone concerned with        contemporary crime and punishment, interest group politics, and public sector labor        unions.