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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: January 28, 2020 at 3:35:59 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Disability]: Brewer on Parsons, 'From Asylum to > Prison: Deinstitutionalization and the Rise of Mass Incarceration after 1945' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Anne E. Parsons. From Asylum to Prison: Deinstitutionalization and > the Rise of Mass Incarceration after 1945. Chapel Hill University > of North Carolina Press, 2018. 240 pp. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-4696-4063-1. > > Reviewed by Amanda Brewer (Michigan State University) > Published on H-Disability (January, 2020) > Commissioned by Iain C. Hutchison > > _From Asylum to Prison: Deinstitutionalization and the Rise of Mass > Incarceration after 1945_ is a timely work that bridges the two, > largely separate, historiographies of the history of psychiatry and > mass incarceration through the lens of the carceral state. Anne E. > Parsons, an associate professor of history and the director of public > history at UNC-Greensboro, traces how the politics of the social > welfare state and criminal legal system in the United States were > intertwined, arguing that the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric > hospitals and the rise of mass incarceration and the > overincarceration of people with psychiatric disabilities went > hand-in-hand between 1945 and the late 1980s. As the book's title > indicates, Parsons provocatively argues that "the asylum did not > disappear; it returned in the form of the modern prison industrial > complex" (p. 3). > > Parsons's analysis rests on her argument that mid-twentieth-century > institutions "were carceral spaces--sites of social control that > limited people's freedom," which is informed by previous work by > scholars such as Michel Foucault, Erving Goffman, Thomas Szasz, and > Andrew Scull (p. 9). This lens of analysis allows her to examine how > the incarceration of the majority of people in state institutions > shifted from those in mental hospitals diagnosed with a mental > illness to, between 1945 and the late 1980s, those in prison labeled > as dangerous and criminal. The deinstitutionalization of mental > hospitals, beginning during the 1960s, was the major turning point, > and many of those diagnosed with mental illness released through > deinstitutionalization were reinstitutionalized in the prison system. > Parsons gives three reasons for this and the move toward mass > incarceration: the lack of community mental health services, the > recriminalization of mental illness, and the rise of law-and-order > politics after the 1960s. > > While the book's arguments are broad, they are based heavily on a > case study of Pennsylvania, especially the Philadelphia area. Parsons > blends politcal, social, and cultural history in this work. Many of > the archival sources come from state records related to individual > politicians or state agencies in Pennsylvania, while periodicals, > newspapers, novels, and secondary sources help to explain social > change and fill in connections to the national context. Although > Pennsylvania is a strong choice for a case study on this topic, this > book leaves room for further research on how deinstitutionalization, > and reinstitutionalization through mass incarceration, may have had > different paths due to different local politics beyond Pennsylvania > and the Northeast. > > The book is nicely organized into five chapters that advance > chronologically, based on the different periods of change argued by > Parsons. The site of the Pennsylvania State Hospital at Byberry > usefully brings the analysis full circle; the introduction begins > with one man's story of incarceration at Byberry until his release in > 1970 and the last chapter, before the epilogue, ends with Parsons's > discussion of the closure of Byberry as a potential model for future > efforts to remedy the mass incarceration crisis. Chapter 1 provides > an overview of the state of mental institutions and psychiatry > following the Second World War, and establishes Parsons's argument > that mental institutions were carceral institutions. Parsons's > discussion, not only of popular novels such as _The Snake Pit_ (1946) > by Mary Jane Ward (1905-81) but also of conscientious objectors' > writings about mental hospitals, illuminates postwar rhetoric > comparing mental hospitals to prisons. > > Chapters 2 and 3 work together to explain the major factors that > catalyzed deinstitutionalization. Chapter 2 focuses on the growth of > anti-institutional policies related to mental hospitals in the 1950s, > but also shows the growth of state correctional institutions based on > an ideal of rehabilitation of criminals rather than incarceration. > Most convincing is Parsons's discussion of the growth of the juvenile > delinquency system based on concerns about the future development of > both mental illness and criminality among juveniles, particularly for > African Americans. Chapter 3 explains the major factors on the > federal and state levels that influenced deinstitutionalization in > the 1960s, including funding cuts as well as the cultural currents > that led to an "anti-institutional impulse" (p. 16). Court rulings > serve as the most important aspect of this chapter, with Parsons > highlighting the 1970 Pennsylvania case _Dixon v. Attorney General_ > that changed the state's involuntary commitment laws so that a > diagnosis of mental illness alone did not mean that a person could be > institutionalized. While courts did protect people in prisons and > hospitals by identifying important negative rights, explains Parsons, > positive rights such as access to adequate mental health services > were not recognized to the same degree. > > Chapters 4 and 5 hold the most innovative arguments in the book. > Chapter 4 builds on chapter 3 by looking at how > deinstitutionalization impacted prison reform during a brief period > in the late 1960s and early 1970s--turning quickly from > rehabilitation and anti-institutionalism to a "renewed custodialism" > (p. 122). Parsons attributes this to the state government's concern > for public safety over protecting individual freedom during the rise > of law-and-order politics. Because of this shift to people being put > in prison for criminal acts or behavior deemed dangerous, rather than > being institutionalized for mental illness, Parsons argues, mental > illness became criminalized. In chapter 5, she shows how the politics > of social welfare institutions and correctional institutions were > intertwined and how the Pennsylvania governor's choices to cut social > welfare funding for those diagnosed with mental illness were tied to > increased spending on prison construction. Then, in one of the most > innovative parts of the book, titled "The Asylum Becomes the Prison," > Parsons explains this shift and charts how a "reinstitutionalization" > occurred as at least seventy state institutions were directly > converted to prisons (p. 145). The example in Pennsylvania of the > conversion of Retreat State Hospital to the State Correctional > Institution--Retreat during the 1980s is particularly convincing. > > _From Asylum to Prison _also includes an essential analytical theme > of race, with Parsons noting how "as mental hospitals closed and > corrections grew, more African Americans were entwined in the > carceral state" even during the era of civil rights and desegregation > (p. 47). Throughout the text, she discusses the role of racial > prejudice and rhetoric in political and legislative decisions as well > as rising rates of African American incarceration at key points. > However, although Parsons argues that "race, gender, and sexuality > were central" to the changes brought on by deinstitutionalization, > there is very little discussion throughout the monograph of how > gender or sexuality factored into this history, especially given the > large social and cultural changes surrounding gender and sexual norms > that occurred between 1945 and the late 1980s (p. 47). One thing at > which Parsons excels throughout the book is her use of carefully > chosen terminology to describe the historical actors (e.g., as > "diagnosed with mental illness" rather than as "mentally ill"). She > also uses the term "psychiatric disabilities," thus placing the work > in conversation with the larger history of disability connected with > institutions (p. 18). > > Despite any critiques, _From Asylum to Prison _is an important work > that urges scholars to consider how the contemporary mass > incarceration crisis and overincarceration of people with mental > illness in the United States has roots in a longer history of > state-funded custodial institutions. In the epilogue, Parsons reminds > readers that history has much to teach us about the usefulness, or > lack thereof, of incarcerative institutions as a solution for the > treatment of mental illness or of social deviance. This book should > garner much discussion in graduate seminars and would be a valuable > read for anyone interested in the history of psychiatry, > institutions, and the carceral state. > > Citation: Amanda Brewer. Review of Parsons, Anne E., _From Asylum to > Prison: Deinstitutionalization and the Rise of Mass Incarceration > after 1945_. H-Disability, H-Net Reviews. January, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54305 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
