Escape to Prison

Download or read book Escape to Prison written by Michael Welch and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The resurrection of former prisons as museums has caught the attention of tourists along with scholars interested in studying what is known as dark tourism. Unsurprisingly, due to their grim subject matter, prison museums tend to invert the ÒDisneylandÓ experience, becoming the antithesis of Òthe happiest place on earth.Ó In Escape to Prison, the culmination of years of international research, noted criminologist Michael Welch explores ten prison museums on six continents, examining the complex interplay between culture and punishment. From Alcatraz to the Argentine Penitentiary, museums constructed on the former locations of surveillance, torture, colonial control, and even rehabilitation tell unique tales about the economic, political, religious, and scientific roots of each siteÕs historical relationship to punishment.