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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1973)
doilu o Author exposes prison weaknesses, myths Kind and Usual Punishment by Jessica Mitford Thp Lincoln Telephone Directory lists the f. bru.kfi State Penitentiary as one of Lincoln's "I'V-hts of Interest." Jessica Mitford, in Kind and 'J ,iul Punishment is more than interested in prisons, : ' i 's angry about them. Ten yrars ago Mitford joined the group of elite truck rakers with her expose of the funeral business in T!:-j An-orican Way of Death. Fortunately for the A "let iCtKl public she has continued that tradition in t;.ir, book on prisons. She begins with the relationship between guard and prisoner and a short account of a voluntary stay in puson in which she participated. Ma foid casts a critical eye on crime s'. :ics, !.. i Ls.cina ihem as a game which the FBI plays with !;.; An-'rican public. She states that "at least three . s:t is . .f American prisoners could not have been i. :;. ur-ii fifty years ago, since the acts for which v, v.. ((: convicted were then not criminal , .Lilians." Mitford points out that indeterminate sentence:;, which remove the exact duration of punishment from the whims of a judge to civilians, has resulted in li.-rxjer sentences and is used by many prisons as a threat to prisoners waiting for parole. The two best chapters in the book deal with the of prisoners by pharmaceutical companies to test n, w (iruris and the "Prison Business." In the first chapter Mitford details the abuse which prisoners suffer at the hands of science. They get the opportunity to be the "volunteers" for new drugs of which more than 90 per cent never get into medical practice because of the drug's toxicity. She draws an analogy between the doctors tried at Nurembuerg and some of the scientists in bruce nelson ex libra America, one of whom was quoted as saying: "Criminals in our penitentiaries are fine experimental material-and much cheaper than chimpanzees." The second chapter is concerned with the industries and goods which prisons are involved in producing. This chapter is a financial breakdown of wn re the money goes in prisons and how it is used. Prisons have a higher profit realization than any business or industry in the United States. Yet every year many prisons plead for more money. Mitford concludes that the majority of the money benefits those running the prisons, not the prisoners. Mitford ends her book by discussing whether there should be prison reform or abolition. She begins a cmind araument for abolition of prisons, but somewhere near the conclusion she seems to change her mind and opts for some institutional control o those who are violently dangerous. Mitford is a aood muckraker. She has done an immense amount of research and everything is noted so her findings can be checked. In her interviews with prison officials she has the knack of drawing them into saying things which are both illuminating and damning. She is blunt and satirical; a behaviorist stated that if he could have had Oswald when he was young a "major tragedy of this generation could have been averted." Mitford notes that the behaviorist is speaking of Lee Harvey Oswald not "Russell G. Oswald, the New York commissioner of Corrections who ordered the troous into Attica, as a result of which 43 perished by gunfire." Mitford is not selective in her attacks. They hit liberals and conservatives alike. She is habitually distrustful, and if the evidence is scanty or non-existant she'll be sure to point it out. She also manages, despite the short length of the book, to study prisons in remarkable depth. Mitford's book probably will emerge as a leading work on penal problems but not on solutions, for hers are weak. It's a shame, for in the last analvsis only solutions count. 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SI .98: not bad for a pen you may use the rest of your life. $1.98 hit ,1t : , : i j : i 1 i 'M 4 1 a : Ui :-: J - W ! lei f; 111 SMI All I HdKI I) V.IDI Hijfonll OMfANt Album 'real gem,' features top artists Moon Germs Joe Farrell With jazz albums, one usually can predict the quality of what lies in the grooves by looking over the collective artists for favorites and stand out musician;;. Moon Germs, with Joe Farrell on flute and soprano sax, Hot bio Hancock on electric piano, Stan Clarke on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums, is an obvious winner. But something more happens on this album that can't quite be deduced from the personnel, and it turns Moon Germs into one of the best albums to come out all year. The songs, two by Farrel, one by Clarke and one by Chick Corea are monsters and give each man a chance to explore just what he can do. bill kolhoose stick it in your eor The opening cut, Great Gorge, is a prime example. It opens with Farrell stating the theme in tones that only Joe could get from his soprano. Underneath him, Hancock, Clarke and DeJohnette are playing as if funk was something they kept in their back pocket. Suddenly, the tide changes, .ind it's Farrell playing at rip-tide strength. Then Hancock plucks us from the sea and propels us to the farthest reaches of space at blitzing speed. Clarke has tuned in and the two battle for cosmic supremacy until Herbie kicks in the modulator, transcending time and space in dimensions never dreamed of. Hancock flies out of the range of hearing, and we are left with DeJohnette slashing his way down until he brings us back to earth. Farrell has had it there all the time, and the great odyssey dissolves back into the ihcme. Obviously I'm excited about this album. It's an album that generates a lot of excitement and much more. Not picking this one up is a major mistake. is a genuine masterpiece of staggering proportions." -Edward Dehr, Newsweek is not a 'dirty' movie. The film is stark, sensitive and completely shattering in its intensity. Yes, by all means, see Last Tango'." -Aaron Schlndler, Family Circle OS) United Artists daily nebraskan Wednesday, October 10, 1973