Dark and Evil World of Arkansas Prisons

The Dark and Evil World of Arkansas Prisons: Transformed Through Federal Court Intervention recounts the transformation of a corrupt, dysfunctional prison system into one consistent with the U.S. Constitution and in line with human standards of decency. The text provides students with a detailed, real-world narrative that reveals the opportunities and challenges involved in criminal justice reform.



The text examines how the social, political, and cultural history of Arkansas produced a plantation-type farm prison characterized by inmate labor, violence, and ineffective healthcare. Over the course of 11 chapters, students learn the how prison system operated prior to its reform, the large-scale controversy in the 1960s that initiated the reform of the system, and how the federal courts intervened and forced change on a resistant state legislature.



Enlightening and highly practical in nature, The Dark and Evil World of Arkansas Prisons is well suited for courses in prison reform and corrections law.

Andrew Fulkerson, J.D., Ph.D. is a professor emeritus of criminal justice and sociology at Southeast Missouri State University and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Mississippi. He earned his J.D. at the University of Arkansas and his Ph.D. in criminology at the University of Portsmouth. Dr. Fulkerson is a retired judge and prosecuting attorney in the state of Arkansas.

Jack Dison, Ph.D. holds a doctorate degree from The University of North Texas and served on the faculty of Arkansas State University for 24 years, including 5 years as department chair. Since retirement, he has participated in various applications of restorative justice.

Linda Keena, Ed.D is the law studies program coordinator in the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies at the University of Mississippi, where she teaches the law of corrections. She facilitates faith-based, restorative justice, and entrepreneurship programs for maximum security prisoners and has a record of scholarly publications, which reflect a variety of topics in corrections.