Book rewiew
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Newjack Review
Ted Conover, an anthropologist, began a participant observation study of
corrections officers at New York’s maximum-security prison, Sing Sing. Although
Conover’s intentions were to “keep one foot in and the other out,” it’s quite clear
that the experience of working as a corrections officer became much more personal
than he anticipated (Conover, 2000, p. 243). Conover (2000) writes, “Prison got into
your skin, or under it. If you stayed long enough, some of it probably seeped into
your soul” (p. 243).
Although originally intended to be a report of anthropological research,
Newjack reads much more like a memoir. Conover takes the reader through his
yearlong journey from beginning to end in vivid detail, often including startlingly
raw accounts of violence and verbal abuse through the lens of the corrections officer
(CO), and sometimes even the inmates. The most engaging aspect of Newjack is
certainly Conover’s re-creations of conversations between himself and inmates.
Although many are predictably hostile in nature, some- especially those with an
inmate named Larson- are filled with wisdom and even hope. Larson, nicknamed
‘the Savior’, insists that the money budgeted for prison construction:
should all be put back into the poor neighborhoods, back into education for children, to change the things that send people here [Sing Sing]…Anyone planning a prison they’re not going to build for ten or fifteen years is planning for a child, planning prison for somebody who’s a child right now. So you see? They’ve already given up on that child! (Conover, 2000, p. 233).
Larson’s insights are difficult to ignore, and seem hauntingly poignant considering
he had already served 17 out of a 20 month sentence ‘keeplocked,’ or restricted to
his cell for 23 hours a day (Conover, 2000, p. 227).
Although Conover is a researcher, the most academic section of the book is
the chapter titled “Scrap Heap”, a term taken from a quote by Thomas Mott Osborne,
one of the most influential of Sing Sing’s prison wardens. Osborne’s ‘scrap heap to
repair shop’ notion describes the idea that prisons need to be focused on doing
“some good for the people in them, that human lives can be fixed instead of thrown
away” (Conover, 2000, p. 209). The chapter not only focuses on Osborne’s ideals. It
also describes the history of Sing Sing itself, other influential wardens and staff, the
development of electrocution, and the progress (or lack thereof) the prison system
has made since the early 1800s. Although this chapter felt uncharacteristically dry
at times, the information seems relevant in painting a picture of how devastatingly
stressful working in corrections can be. Conover sheds light on the severity of the
moral dilemmas experienced by officers, wardens, executioners, and even chaplains.
Although not necessarily proposed as a political statement, a sickening description
of the electrocution process as well as the autopsy procedure and it’s effect on other
inmates, effectively produces feelings of frustration and even fear in the reader-
possibly providing the seeds for questioning of the necessity of the death penalty,
and even inspiring impatience for the corrections system as it is run today.
Perhaps Conover didn’t set out to write a policy review, or to use Newjack as
his personal soapbox, but it is clear in the “Afterword” that he certainly has ideas of
his own. Conover (2000) writes:
I think we should take the lead of European countries in trying to blur the sharp line that exists in our prisons between guards and other employees…I think it would help to rehabilitate prisons themselves if officers taught some of the classes, did some of the counseling, were allowed to engage their own hearts and minds on the job, instead of just having to pretend they don’t have any (pp. 318-319).
Newjack expertly illustrates the relationships between officers (some familial, some
strikingly hostile), between inmates, and, most importantly, the officer/inmate
interactions that seem to be the backbone of Conover’s experience.
It’s pleasing to read the afterward and hear that many of the officers
responded well to Newjack- saying it’s true to their lives. Conover’s frustration at
the end of his time at Sing Sing lends credibility to his experience. His description of
his frantic and frustrating last day on R & W, one of the most challenging galleries in
the prison, ends with a remarkably revealing quote, “I could have been a great guy
and stuck around to help with the impending chaos. But…in the true, not-my-
problem spirit of Sing Sing, I fled” (Conover, 2000, p. 303). Newjack is as close as
we’ll (hopefully) come to experiencing life inside a prison, and offers a unique and
direct perspective on what problems the prison system faces. If Conover intended to
inspire us to question and be curious about the way prisons are operated and their
effectiveness, he certainly made a deep impression.
