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Journal Article #1: Sabath, M. J., & Payne, W. (2011). Providing inmate access to the courts: U.S. prison strategies for complying with constitutional rights. The Prison Journal, 92, 45–62.

Abstract: As the federal courts have established the right of inmates to seek post-conviction relief, prisons systems have struggled with a variety of strategies to come into compliance. Using data from a national survey of prisons, this study describes court access strategies employed by state correctional systems and examines how prison contextual characteristics, such as security level, population size, and the court ruling in Lewis v. Casey (1996) affect their use. Results indicate that strategies are influenced by size, security level and demand for legal services, and offer evidence of the adverse effects of the Lewis decision on prison law libraries.

Journal Article #2: Muth, B., Warner, K., Gogia, L., & Walker, G. (2016). A critique of the prison reentry discourse: Futurity, presence, and commonsense. The Prison Journal, 96, 392–414.

Abstract: This study raises basic questions about reentry programs in the United States and the discourses of reentry that currently frame policy, research, and programs. We compare Nordic discourses with those in the United States and illustrate how the latter curtail a more complex understanding of the presence of loved ones in the life of an incarcerated father. We found that U.S. reentry discourses in general are future-oriented and convey hopelessness about the capacity of loved ones separated by prison to be positively present—physically and imaginatively—to each other. We conclude the study with implications for a humanizing curriculum.