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Breaking Out of Prison and into Print? Rationales and Strategies to Assist Educated Convicts Conduct Scholarly Research and Writing Behind Bars

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Abstract

Some educated convicts want to conduct scholarly research and have the results of their work appear in academic publications. This provides numerous benefits and challenges to the researcher/writer and the academic world. This article outlines these issues in order to assist convicts, scholars, journal editors, and correctional service personnel understand the opportunities and limitations to scholarly research by convicts behind bars. The authors argue that the best strategy to use for inmates in this situation is a team research approach. The discussion provides definitions and examples of the challenges, opportunities, and means of overcoming these obstacles.

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Notes

  1. Items sold through commissary can have a 30 percent (or more) markup.

  2. Some may quibble with our use of the word “systematic.” We are not implying that data gathering is linear, but more so rigorous, and comprehensive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, 1420 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Jeffrey Ian Ross

  2. Federal Correctional Complex Low, P.O. Box 1031, Coleman, FL, 33521, USA

    Miguel Zaldivar

  3. Department of Justice Administration, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Richard Tewksbury

Authors
  1. Jeffrey Ian Ross
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  2. Miguel Zaldivar
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  3. Richard Tewksbury
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Ian Ross.

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Ross, J.I., Zaldivar, M. & Tewksbury, R. Breaking Out of Prison and into Print? Rationales and Strategies to Assist Educated Convicts Conduct Scholarly Research and Writing Behind Bars. Crit Crim 23, 73–83 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-014-9248-1

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