Prison Life is Different

Cloth 8vo, 337pp. Complete with 8 black and white photographic plates printed on coated paper. Very Good- with quarter-inch loss to the spine head, light sunning and rubbing to cloth. Small corner tear at p.9-10. Lacking dust jacket.

James A. Johnston was warden of CA state prisons Folsom and San Quentin before being appointed the first (and longest-serving) warden of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, 1934-48. He was recognized to be strict but humane, restricting the use of straitjackets and blackout solitary confinements. His tenure ended a year after the 1946 "Battle of Alcatraz," during which the US Marines were deployed to control the rash of prison riots and escape attempts that led to the death of 2 guards and 3 inmates. An intimate portrait of one of the most influential prison administrators during a period of considerable revolt and reform in American penitentiaries.