Jeffreys’ letter on prisons to appear in ‘Times’ Sunday Book Review

Readers of The New York Times Sunday Book Review might recognize a familiar name Sunday (June 1), when Prof. Derek Jeffreys’ letter on prisons appears in print. Jeffreys, Humanistic Studies (Religion), has extensively studied and written about the U.S. penal system, including his latest book, “Spirituality in Dark Places: The Ethics of Solitary Confinement.” He tells us his letter is a response to David Cole’s review of “Inferno,” Robert Ferguson’s book on prisons. In it, Cole claims that the causes of contemporary mass incarceration have little to do with American traditions and values. Jeffreys says this is a deeply mistaken view, and in his letter describes the long history of prisoner abuse and cruelty in American prisons and jails. The Times Book Review is available online at www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/.