ABSTRACT
While I was studying Solano State Prison (2000 to 2004), I drew together a group of convict “experts” to supply me with information about prisoner behavior patterns and prisoner social organization and to critique drafts of the chapters I wrote.1 It turned out that all my experts were “lifers,” most of them in prison for homicide.2 They had all served in excess of 20 years. Through my extended association with them, I was convinced that they were intelligent, sincere, and decent human beings. In addition, I became aware of their circumstances, particularly the difficulty they were having in obtaining a parole. I knew from my former experiences with the California prison system that before 1975, persons convicted of first degree homicide served an average of 12 to 13 years. What these shorter sentences for the most serious crimes reflect is that society in the decades before 1980 demanded less punishment for crimes and believed that offenders were redeemable.
