Prison Chaplains on the Beat in US and UK Prisons

by George Walters-Sleyon PhD

Overview

This book is about prison chaplains and their care for aging, dying, and dead prisoners in the penal systems of the United States and the United Kingdom. Since the 18th century, prison chaplains have served as priests and pastoral caregivers to prisoners and prison staff. The book traces the historical roles of prison chaplains in developing the managerial aspects of prisons, focusing on their presence, best practices, and ways of conceptualizing their prison experiences in the modern prison cultures of the United States and the United Kingdom. While prison chaplains have historically provided care to prisoners, prison chaplaincy after 1970 has transformed. This book shows how prison chaplains face new challenges in caring for prisoners under the penal policies and practices of mass incarceration. Prison Chaplains on the Beat demonstrates how prison chaplains have conceptualized the practice of providing pastoral care to aging, dying, and dead prisoners in the United States and the United Kingdom through a person-centered approach. The book is both theoretical and empirical. The empirical aspect focuses on the prison experiences of 31 prison chaplains from the United States and Scotland. The theoretical aspect provides a conceptual understanding of the multi-faceted roles of prison chaplains in the United States, Scotland, and England and Wales. As a research in comparative criminal justice, it argues that prison chaplains are fundamentally indispensable to prison management practices and managerial theories in the United States, Scotland, and England and Wales post-1970.

"Powerfully combines historical and empirical approaches to religion in prisons. Brings new understanding of the pastoral and prophetic roles of prison chaplains and launches a searing ethical critique of mass incarceration. The comparisons between the United States and Britain are instructive for current and future prison policy in both locations." - Dr. David Grumett, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, UK

"George Walters-Sleyon's *Prison Chaplains on the Beat* offers a new perspective on the predicaments of contemporary penal politics and practices, especially their racialized harms. Chaplains are both observers of and participants in the contemporary prison scene, and their perspective is a special, but hitherto under-reported one. By reconsidering our carceral condition through this lens, Walters-Sleyon illuminatingly re-states the moral and political challenges of mass incarceration." - Dr. Richard Sparks, School of Law, University of Edinburgh, UK

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781977238856
Publisher:	Outskirts Press, Inc.
Publication date:	08/09/2021
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Dr. George Walters-Sleyon is an author, professor, and speaker. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland/United Kingdom, where he studied: Comparative Criminal Justice/Criminology, Practical Theology, and Applied Ethics. George has a Master of Divinity and a postgraduate Master from Boston University in Philosophy, Social Ethics, and Religion/Theology. He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) of the United Kingdom and a Distinguished McDonald Fellow at Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion. George serves as a faculty member at Boston University Metropolitan College, where he teaches: Principles of Criminal Justice, Religion and Society, and Criminal Justice: Race and Justice Policy; and at Bunker Hill Community College, where he teaches: Introduction to Philosophy, Applied Ethics, and World Religions. He lives in Boston/MA, with his family.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

Foreword: Harold Dean Trulear, Ph.D

Introduction

Section One: The Historical Vs. The Contemporary

in Prison Chaplaincy

Chapter 1: The Historical Era in Prison Chaplaincy:

The U.S. and The U.K.

Chapter 2: Methodology: A Person-Centered Approach

in Prison Chaplaincy

Chapter 3: Prison Chaplains in Post-1970 Prison Cultures

Section Two: The Normativity of Darkness

Chapter 4: "Punishment After 1970":

Prison Chaplains' Perspectives 1

Chapter 5: The United States Prisons:

Aging and the Death of Prisoners

Chapter 6: Scotland, England and Wales:

Aging and Death in U.K. Prisons

Section Three: Caring for Aging, Dying and Dead Prisoners

Chapter 7: Prison Chaplains' Functional Identities in

the Prison Culture

Chapter 8: Counselors to the "Living Dead"

Section Four: The Future of Prison Chaplaincy

in U.S. and U.K. Prisons

Chapter 9: Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in Prison

Chaplaincy: U.S. and U.K.

Chapter 10: Prison Chaplains' Care for Self in U.S. and

U.K. Prisons

Chapter 11: The Modern Era in Prison Chaplaincy

Post-1970 in the U.S. and U.K.

Bibliography

Index