The fourteen contributors to this volume all have had experience in military prisons as psychologists, psychiatrists, penologists, educational advisors, or project officers for correction and for research. The importance of their subject can be realized by noting that when the nation is at war the military correctional and confinement system is larger than the entire federal prison system. Psychiatrists and psychologists, as well as students of criminology and penology, will find here much that is relevant to their professional work. But the question of the military prisoner will excite a broader interest. Every thoughtful person at some time confronts the problem of his respon­sibility for removing great numbers of men from normal civilian pursuits. Events during the last two years have created an urgent need to learn the facts of military imprisonment and the consequences of the widespread military service. This need is now met by publication of this book.

On May 21, 1874, Congress approved the establishment of the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), formerly the United States Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth. The original prison was once a quartermaster depot, supplying all military posts, camps, and stations in the Indian Territory to the West. It has been the "center of correctional excellence" in the military for over 130 years, housing the most notorious service members in the armed forces, including maximum-custody inmates and those with death sentences. On October 5, 2002, retreat was played for the last time in front of the eight-story castle inside the old USDB, and another era started with the occupation of a new modern correctional facility.

"Long Binh Jail was a place so feared that American soldiers would rather face the Viet Cong than be sent there." "Known as "LBJ" or simply "The Stockade," it was officially the U.S. Army Installation Stockade in Long Binh, South Vietnam. Within its confines were Americans whose offenses ran the gamut from drug possession, insubordination, and AWOL, to assault, rape, and murder. Containing up to a thousand prisoners at a time, Long Binh jail was, in effect, the Army's own little penal colony and one sharply divided by racial tensions." "In 1968, these tensions erupted when most of its African-American prisoners took over the prison compound. The riot, which had to be put down by armed American troops using tear gas, was noted around the world as another sign of the sagging morale of U.S. forces. Noted military historian Cecil Barr Currey tells the story of Long Binh jail through the words of dozens of former guards, prisoners, and administrators. They reveal a disturbing aspect of the Vietnam War that has not been examined until now."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved