Book Review: Philip G Schrag, Baby Jails: The Fight to End the Incarceration of Refugee Children in America
| Author | Chiara Galli |
| Published date | 01 January 2022 |
| Date | 01 January 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1462474520972478 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
mediator of knowledge. Therefore a more explicit exploration of the power relations
implicit in research within the context of the colonial roots of ethnography as well the
role of the prison researcher in the field would strengthen the theoretical framing.
There is also a comparative element to the book between Brazil and the United
Kingdom and to a lesser extent the United States. When I first started reading, I was
not sure whether it was necessary. On reflection, the comparative approach works,
because it puts his description of the Brazilian prison system and concepts in a familiar
frame of reference. Darke has a wealth of experience of both the Brazilian and English
prison systems. Hereby he overcomes the challenge many of us face when writing
about a prison system and penal policy outside of the United Kingdom and United
States, namely that concepts are not easily translatable or transferable. An aspect that
should be acknowledged and cannot be underestimated is the additional work and craft
that goes into writing up research where the interview data, primary sources and many
secondary sources are in another language.
Darke’s book should be commended for its breadth. Its most important contribution is
that it adds to the literature in the English language on the Global South and Latin
American penal systems in particular. The book also opens a window to Brazilian
prison ethnographies that provide such a rich account of the interconnectedness of insti-
tutional life with their surrounding communities. It lays the groundwork for further
research that could bring to light both prisoner and staff voices on their experiences of
conviviality and co-governance within the Brazilian context.
ORCID iD
Fabienne Emmerich https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4571-9997
References
Comaroff JComaroff JL (2012)Theory from the South: Or how Euro-America is evolving
towards Africa. Anthropological Forum22(2): 113–131.
Said E (1978) Orientalism.New York:Pantheon.
Fabienne Emmerich
Keele University, UK
Email: f.emmerich@keele.ac.uk
Philip G Schrag, Baby Jails: The Fight to End the Incarceration of Refugee
Children in America, University of California Press: Oakland, 2020; 377
pp. (with index): ISBN 9780520299313, $29.95
Baby Jails by Philip G. Schrag is a meticulously researched and detailed history of the
detention of immigrant children and of advocates’attempts to establish immigrant chil-
dren’s rights in the U.S. immigration and asylum system through impact litigation and
140 Punishment & Society 24(1)
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